Dr Le Grades On A Curve example essay topic

August 19th, 2002, 4: 00 pm: The first day of school. I am sitting in a classroom waiting for the instructor to arrive. The class was Philosophy 2: Introduction to Logic. There were dozens among dozens of students. Most were enrolled, but quite a few of the students were hoping to add the course.

The classroom setting was more than familiar to me. My Economics class was held in this room the previous semester. The room was on the west side of the building, and since it was late in the afternoon, the rays from the setting sun blaze down into the classroom like a heat lamp at full blast. "It feels like a sauna in here", I think to myself. The instructor arrives a few minutes later.

Son M. Le was his name. He looked like your average businessman wearing a suit and tie, and carrying a briefcase everywhere he went. He was a frail old man, and it seemed quite obvious that he dyes his hair to cover any gray hairs he might have. He was no taller than 5'5", and he wore prescription glasses with lenses so thick that it made his squinty eyes look big like how Japanese animation artists draw their cartoon characters. He had a nose like Michael Jackson's nose before all the cosmetic surgery; in other words, big. He had a grin or a smirk that made him seem like a sarcastic, condescending, and unfriendly person.

Dr. Le asked the students to sit as close to the front of the room as possible. At first, I wondered why he wants the students sitting close to the front of the room, but I quickly found the answer. He talks very softly with a strong accent. Students sitting in the back of the room would think that he mumbles because they wouldn't be able to hear what he says. I sat in the front of the room, and I still could barely comprehend what he says. He begins the lecture, and starts to write on the chalkboard.

His handwriting goes hand-in-hand with his speech. Chicken scratch doesn't even begin to describe his handwriting. From this moment, I knew I was in for a long and difficult semester. To add insult to injury, Dr. Le wrote the textbook for this class. Aside from the grammatical and typographical errors, terms and definitions were poorly outlined. The textbook was poorly written.

I recall students would ask Dr. Le questions regarding contents in the book they could not understand. He would explain, word-for-word, as written in his book -- basically reading off his own book, which did not help the situation. There were times when he would actually try to explain a formula, and his answer would contradict the answer in his own book. Is his answer correct, or is the answer in the book correct? Again, he wrote the book, therefore both answers are his. Which answer was correct was open to discussion.

Contradiction was prevalent in most, if not all his lectures. It was the week prior to our first major exam, and Dr. Le spent the class time reviewing for the exam. One particular student was flabbergasted at the many terms needed memorizing for the exam. "How are we supposed to remember all these terms?" she asked. Dr. Le responded with a condescending and sarcastic tone. "Well, you know what 2 + 2 is, right?" That student eventually dropped the class shortly after the first exam.

I remember a classmate telling me that Dr. Le grades on a curve. At first, I did not believe it, but I later confirmed it after reading over the syllabus that was passed out at the beginning of the semester. Imagine my surprise when Dr. Le said that he would not grade on a curve. His reasoning was that a few students were passing the class with extremely high grades, and that he could not grade on a curve because of that. At this point, I began to wonder why I enrolled in this class. Granted, this class is a required transferable course, however, there are a few other classes that meet the same requirement.

Dr. Le gives private conferences for each student following the week of an exam. He would discuss with each student the grade for the exam and give an up-to-date progress report. I had a conference with Dr. Le following the midterm exam. "Andrew, you did very poorly on the midterm. You are failing the class". He said.

I sat there at a loss for words. I knew I performed very poorly on the exam, but I found it a shock that he said that I was failing. "What didn't you understand in the chapters?" He asked. "I didn't understand any of it, Dr. Le.

The reading was too confusing, and your lectures did not help me understand the chapters."Well, at this rate, you are going to fail the class. I will give you some extra credit assignments to do to make up for the midterm."What do you want me to do?" I asked "I want you to write 3 essays. The essay questions are at the end of Chapter 5 in the book. Pick any 3 essay questions, and I want at least 2 pages per essay. You have two weeks. You do these essays, and you will more than likely pass the class".

I turned in the essays two weeks later, just in time to prepare for the final exam. Thankfully, the exam was not cumulative, as it only covers the last two chapters in the textbook. However, Dr. Le gave an implication that the exam was going to be very difficult and said, "If you fail this exam, you fail the class". If that wasn't a threat, then I don't know what is.

Dr. Le held private student conferences in his office following the final exam. I came in expecting to hear that I have failed the course. "Ah, Andrew. Come in, and sit down".

He said. My heart was pounding and my legs were shaking. I was too afraid to hear what my final grade was. "You did quite poorly during the first half of the semester. I don't really know if you actually learned anything or got anything out of this course.

But you did extremely well on the final exam, and your extra credit essays were good. You pass the class". Imagine my surprise when I heard him say that. For this one moment, Dr. Le showed a lighter side to his dark personality. After 4 months of frustration with this class, the worst was finally over. As I walked away from Dr. Le's office, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.