F-ing TA's

[buckiprof]

So, granted, my equation was wrong (I had 5R1 + 7R2 - 13 instead of 5R1 + 7R2 + 13), so I get a negative answer for R1 and R2. Worthy of point loss, I agree, but I got a 5/25 on that problem. Wtf?

I had an Indian professor for a Real Analysis (like advanced calculus) at OSU. First exam was one question with like 13 parts. Actually it was well conceived as you needed part (a) for part (b); part (b) for part (c), etc. Anyways, I made a minor transcription error in part (c) that caused everything after part (c) to be incorrect. My score on that test was around 15/100. I thought he was too harsh in taking off all points in all parts, so I approached him about it. He tersely told me, "Part (c) is wrong and all parts after that will obviously be wrong". I asked if I had used the incorrect part (c) correctly in part (d) and he said "Yes, but answer wrong." I had him look at each and every part after part (c) to see if I had done things correctly. I had. I then told him, "I understand that you are some sort of visiting professor and may not be completely familiar with the US Constitution. You see, we have this thing in the Constitution that states you cannot be punished twice for the same crime. I understand taking points off in part (c), but to then take all points off in all parts after that, when the work was correct, is really punishing me than once for one mistake." Amazingly, he got slightly flustered, apologized, and proceeded to give me all of the points due to me for everything after part (c). Ended up with a 95 on that test.

Building off what Savante said, I wish more TAs actually spoke English.

I had a student come up to me at OSU after the first day of class and say, "Yes! There is a God. I prayed for an American TA and I got one." In my area, it seems that English speaking TA's are somewhat rare. I basically taught myself Calc IV due to the prof having too heavy of a German accent and the TA did not speak; just wrote the problem on the board and wrote the solution and smiled at us when done.

I guess it comes down to the old saying you get out of your education what you put into it. Sure, if you don't look for any value in the GECs then you probably won't find any. If you simply took classes to boost your GPA, you aren't going to get anything out of them since you took what was "easiest", not what would interest you the most.

Well said buckeyegrad!! You have also answered that the purpose of these courses is to provide a well-rounded education. While I may have bitched about taking those courses when an undergrad at OSU, the number of times that I have been at some sort of social gathering and thanks to some of those courses, could have interesting conversations with all sorts of people.

 

[RugbyBuck]

A couple of, well maybe a few, times when I was a TA, I had reading days when it was obvious to me that most of my students had not read (and let's face it, were probably not otherwise going to read) the material. I made them sit there and at least stare at the pages, which was more than they would do otherwise. They were all going to have to have some idea of the material at exam time, so I figured wtf? The other TAs blew gaskets when I told them about doing that, like I was some kind of slack ass. Now, I liked getting up in front of a crowd and doing the RugbyShow for an hour, but that wasn't always what I thought the kids needed. What's the use in listening to me try to explain something about which you have no frame of reference, I figured. My overall assessment of the other TAs with which I dealt was that they were there to take their own classes and watch Star Trek. They couldn't have given a shit about their students. How in the world are you gonna get laid with an attitude like that?

 

[Savante]

I guess it comes down to the old saying you get out of your education what you put into it. Sure, if you don't look for any value in the GECs then you probably won't find any. If you simply took classes to boost your GPA, you aren't going to get anything out of them since you took what was "easiest", not what would interest you the most.

Maybe it is a little different because of my majors, but I really enjoyed and benefited personally from my Arts and Humanities GECs which were Modern Hebrew Literature in Translation, Colonial and Early American Literature, and Introduction to Theatre. The last course was a cake walk, but the other two were pretty difficult as GECs go. I also took a second foreign language because of the personal benefit I received from the first one...I've yet to use Latin or French in my career. The only two GECs I thought were complete wastes of time were English 110--I didn't learn a thing about writing in that class, and Macroeconomics--because the professor made the class too easy...I didn't learn anything I couldn't have learned by just reading the book on my own.

I think it is funny that you seem to think Econ, PolySci, and History are legit courses, but not others. I have had numerous students say these very topics aren't worth their time. So, I guess that is just a matter of preference.

In addition, as I said, I was an academic adviser at OSU (for 4 years), so I could tell you about 50+ stories that were similar to my friend's. No knowledge is worthless and it is surprising when it will come up in your life. Personally, I never would have imagined needing to know logarithms for my job as an administrative aide at the statehouse, yet they popped up and I was glad I had studied them beforehand.

I take what I can fit in my schedule. I have to work 25 hours a week to stay in school and CIS classes don't fit well with the GECs. Since most GECs are two days a week, 1:48 a day, and most CIS are 3 days a week, :48 minutes, it doesn't work very well. So this quarter, I need one GEC and the only ones that could reasonably fit were EALL 131 and Medieval Studies 250. Not a whole lot I can do. If I didn't have to work, things might be different.

If History, Econ and Poly Sci aren't taught well I can't say anything. But to me, politics, economics and history are a whole lot more relevant than what happened in the 800's. Is that information important? To some people, sure. But I'm not sure what it has to do with my choice of major. It's fine that they make you take basic classes outside of your major. But I'm sorry, there isn't anything on the Visual/Performing Arts that will help me in the future. Studying Korean culture may be interesting but I don't see what it has to do with my future. The GEC courses are pretty more focused towards majors that have literature and culture interest. Mine doesn't and as a result I don't feel I should be taking it.

Put it this way -- every CIS course I have taken at OSU, I have taken with me something that I will use in my job. I haven't done that in any of my GECs. So why make me waste a lot of money and 45 credits when I could be learning more programming languages, more strategies or working on more projects? I don't get it. If I want to be well-rounded, I will be. I think I am. I read a lot of books and magazines and the newspapers. But I'm not interested in paying money to take classes that I don't need and won't use.

I understand your point, but from my point I think it's a waste. It might not be for everybody, but for me, it is.

 

[AKAK]

I understand your point, but from my point I think it's a waste. It might not be for everybody, but for me, it is.

Then you probably should go to DeVry or something.

 

[Savante]

Then you probably should go to DeVry or something.

I'd rather not. I like the life at OSU and the class diversity that I get to pick. I just don't think the GEC stuff is fair. Like I said, if I could take things thta I felt helped me, I would be far more interested. I took History and Poly Sci and they were fine. Econ would be fine. But those are only one class out of the 30 that I get to pick from. Why not a Business GEC? Or more English? Or an introductory language? Spanish, Japanese, I can understand. But we don't have to take a foreign language, and the only ones that count are the 103s, which means you need classes before that don't count. I'm not saying classes don't exist that won't help me, I just don't get to pick from them.

I just think they need to look into different classes. I'm more interested in business and technology, so why isn't that available? The writing series is awful, too. I'd take more English but the two English classes I took were so bad, I'm not interested. I want something I can use. I don't feel that there's a lot of classes I can use.

 

[AKAK]

Savante... bad news then pal.. you're going to be a well rounded person, whether you like it or not.

 

[Savante]

Savante... bad news then pal.. you're going to be a well rounded person, whether you like it or not.

You obviously haven't met me, I am already well rounded.

I realize I'm probably asking too much which is why I'm not crusading for it, just bitching about it on a message board. I just get so much out of my major classes that I feel anything less than that is wasted. The only real bright side is my Sociology 110 class, where it was mostly chicks, me, and a few football players. I got plenty of ass from there.

 

[NorthShoreBuck]

Savante

I felt the same way.

Strange thing is now I go out of my way to learn of the things you dislike.

Of course I come here to counter act that accumulated knowledge.

 

[VprHis]

I always looked at the GEC's as my 'relaxer' classes. Easy as hell, not too much work involved, and certainly don't stress your brain like the Major/Minor sequences. It's all about finding the right classes. Psych sucked, but at least it was easy. History was great... storytime twice a week. English? no problem. I took shakespeare and intro to film. Cake. The list goes on. Bottom line, stack the GEC's up against your major, and just be glad that they're sleepers.