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http://news.yahoo.com/rutgers-ma ... -him-130427954.html
Rutgers makes professor teach class he is clueless about, suspends him for telling students
- Firm 1 hour ago
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Not surprising. My wife, a Theatre Arts and Debate teacher with 30 years experience, was told that she would be teaching only English, while another teacher with only 2 years experience, not certified in Theatre, would handle the Theatre classes (the other teacher is the sister of the Assistant Superintendent of the district). They also would not let her transfer to another school that needed a Theatre teacher. My wife quit and found a much better job in another school district. More
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Clear 1 hour ago0
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Usual admin BS where they 'can't' discuss their side but blast all that negative stuff about the prof. Better a PhD learn with the students than an idiot try to teach them something wrong. Trouble with out education systems is that admins want teachers to teach what they are not experts in. I have two friends that quit locally after 30+ years each because the admins wanted them to do things that they felt were against good practice for the kids. Partially it was more bookkeeping about performance than actual teaching so the admins could prove their worth.
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Trekfan 1 hour ago0
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He's 70 and they are trying to force him out. Maybe they don't like him, maybe he doesn't get along with his colleagues, but his students are learning from him and think he's great and that's what matters. They had an expert in this subject matter who took over the class? Then that's who should have been teaching it from the beginning. Students aren't paying for them to assign a professor with no experience in an area to teach them, they are paying for professors with expertise to teach them. Whoever assigned the professor to teach this class, despite his telling the administrator it was not his area, should be the one suspended. He was honest with his students. So, Rutgers suspends professors who are honest with the people who pay to be there? Noted.
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George 53 minutes ago0
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Almost the same thing happened to me. I have been nationally honored five times for excellence in teaching and six times internationally honored for excellence in writing. The university called on a Wednesday and asked me to teach a course (for education majors) in linguistics. I was on my way to Seattle for major surgery, and my head was swimming from pain medication. I have some background in linguistics, but not much, but I figured that I could put a course together by the next year. So (groggily) I stupidly agreed, since the university insisted they had no one else to teach that particular course. The next day, Thursday, I saw the physician and the surgery was scheduled for the next day. That afternoon I received a phone call from the university telling me the class was starting Monday. (I teach online, so it's possible to be somewhere else and still hold class.) I protested, saying I was having major surgery in the morning. The university "relented" and said that the class therefore would start the following Wednesday. I taught the course, including the first three classes from my hospital bed, and then and thereafter had to throw things together as I went. What made it especially difficult was that I was on major pain meds for six weeks. Worst course I ever taught. My evaluation for the year said that my teaching in linguistics wasn't up to par. Good thing I'm tenured, or else that evaluation could have cost me my job. I have been teaching for 39 years, and I can tell you that this stuff goes on far, far more than the general public realizes. More
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MahneeD 58 minutes ago0
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Hospitals use a similar process to get rid of doctors that put quality medical care and patient’s wishes ahead of hospital profit. It is called a Sham Peer Review. A hospital in Tarpon Springs, FL did it to a popular OB/GYN because she would not pressure her Medicaid patients into a quick C-section. The hospital gets more money for a C-section than a natural delivery and patient safety along with quality medical care be damned. Do a search for dinsmoredefense to read a truly shameful story. More
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afnewsview 40 minutes ago0
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If there was a professor at Rutgers who had taught this class in previous semesters, why didn't they just give the class to him/her, rather than assign it to a professor who had not taught it before and did not have the expertise in the course's subject matter?
I don't know for sure, but it sounds to me like Professor Trivers was being set up to fail deliberately by both his department chair and the university's administrators. They set him up, and unfortunately, he played right into their hands. The instant he admitted to his students that he was clueless on the subject matter, Rutgers gave him the shaft.
My advice to Professor Trivers at this point would be to hire a lawyer; a good lawyer. More
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Angie 56 minutes ago0
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I have read several of these comments about how big business makes it miserable so people will quit, etc., instead of being fired. Let me tell you, it's definitely not just big business. I work for a small business where the owner is on hand daily, etc. There are only about 13 of us working there. Anyway, they have made it very well known that he does not "fire' anyone (or rarely write anyone up either). They just make it absolutely miserable for you until you leave on your own. He says they do this so most won't be able to get unemployment causing his unemployment taxes (or whatever they are called) won't increase because he can't afford for them to. I have seen them bring some to tears (me included) trying to do this. Personally, I refuse to give them the satisfaction. In addition, once they see it isn't working, they move on to the next one eventually. Personally, I think it's a despicable way to run a business but what can a person do. You are pretty much at their mercy if you want to have a decent job.
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david d 18 minutes ago0
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As a former college history professor I don't know whether to applaud or grieve the actions of Rutgers. Like Trivers I, too, am bi-polar and as any competent health care provider will tell you the human body developes "immunity" to medications, and something new must be tried. And the only way any one knows that the meds aren't working is to exerience a breakdown. Mine took place in the summer of 2001. I requested and received a leave of absence for a semester. When I was approved by my skrink to return to work the Director of Human Resources said the college didn't require my services any longer and I was fired despite having tenure. So, I applaud Rutgers for giving Trivers "3 strikes" but grieve their decision to assign him to a subject they knew he couldn't teach. I suspect that what they really wanted him to do is to resign. He is after all 70. Maybe he should write a sequel to his Folly of Fools which came out last month. This one could focus on how society allows those who are incompetent as teachers to become college administrators.
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