WWYD: My daughter's college professor is constantly cancelling class

[goofy4tink]

Apples and Oranges. Actually not even the same fruit.

It is far different to step in and help after your child has done everything right and hit a wall. Sometimes our young ones are not taken seriously and need the clout of somebody more experienced to step in and move that wall. The difference is that your daughter tried it by herself first. You did not go behind your daughter's back without her knowledge and interfere with her schooling.

A more similar scenario to the OP's would have been that your daughter had secured housing and had not complained. But you were not satisfied with her accommodations and went behind her back to complain to the housing department that her housing was not up to your standards and you were not getting your money's worth on the type of housing she was assigned.

I don't think anybody here has said parents need to be completely hands off. But, the new adult does need to learn to solve problems for themselves, learn to advocate for themselves, and then know when to bring in the big guns when things get stalled or they are hitting an impasse. The important part is that it should be young adult driven. Parents should not step in without being asked, without discussing the plan of their involvement with their adult and absolutely should not be done behind the young adult's back.

True...but parents are still involved. You have no idea what criteria a school would use to define 'those moments and daddy's' when penalizing a student for their parents behaviour.
I agree...there is no way I am doing anything without my dd's permission. I can't imagine parents doing that...well, I guess I can. I've been seeing more and more moms doing things their children should be doing! Filling out applications for them, talking to professors, choosing classes, even roommates! Boggles my mind.
I understand your point...my issue is looking at that post about penalizing students for parental behaviour, and what that particular person felt was appropriate 'interference' by parents.

 

[Allons-y!]

It's not my job to try to interpret another poster's insult. She said an unprofessional act was something she would "expect to see in an elementary school, not college", so I rightly defended elementary school professionals.

I'm sorry if the truth offends you.

Um, what "truth?" That you clearly have little to no respect for college professors, as evidenced by your previous post? Yes, I think you are offending the many professors out there. Sorry, but slamming one profession to try to paint yours with a martyr-like status is hardly a reasonable or intelligent defense.

 

[handinpocket]

Um, what "truth?" That you clearly have little to no respect for college professors, as evidenced by your previous post? Yes, I think you are offending the many professors out there. Sorry, but slamming one profession to try to paint yours with a martyr-like status is hardly a reasonable or intelligent defense.

Yes, and I would expect a "teacher" to understand the poster meant elementary school LEVEL as opposed to TEACHERS.

 

[leebee]

Regarding Rate My Professor, which several posters have mentioned- JOKE. The most prevalent poster is the disgruntled student who doesn't want to work or didn't like the grade received for the class so the professor must be at fault and is going to get slammed. This site is not monitored or fact-checked at all, so anyone can post anything they want. I have an acquaintance who wanted to feel more secure in her job, so she posted highly positive reviews of herself on RMP- about 10 per semester. No problems doing this, they are still all there, and she appears to be a very popular professor. Administration doesn't even look at RMP! College/university departments and administrators do not use RMP as any source of information at all (that's why end-of-course evaluations were developed)- except perhaps as a source of amusement! We have had great laughs at dinner parties about the comments found under DH's and many, many of his colleagues'/our friends' names. I have a friend who is extremely amused to have achieved the comment, "If Dr. XYZ is teaching Class ABC, who is guarding the gates of Hell?" If some kids were as prolific and productive in classes as they are on RMP, perhaps they wouldn't feel the need to post there!

Oh yes... this site also lets kids rate a professor's "hotness" by assigning chili peppers. Yeah, definitely a site to consider seriously! (where IS that sarcasm emoji??)

 

[Nettester]

My parents would not even have a clue when or if my college classes were cancelled. Are you seriously monitoring this, how did you even know? If your DD told you, perhaps she was just venting. Maybe she wanted your opinion, sympathy, or advice. Sometimes when people vent, they even stretch the truth a little bit for effect. Consider you likely don't have all the facts. I think the fact that you are hiding this from your daughter is a strong indicator that you shouldn't have called, sorry.

 

[Disney Doll]

Yeah. There's a mom on the budget board who has a tracking app on her dauggter's phone so she can make sure the daughter goes to class.

Actually, all she really knows is that her DD's phone is going to class.

 

[Flight]

The professor WILL find out you complained and make your daughter's life harder.

A college professor is going to exact revenge on a student because of a concern by the parent? And there seems to be universal agreement that is how business is conducted in the classroom?

This is how the highest members of great educational institutions act?

 

[Melissa_E]

A very good friend of mine went to a college where students were refunded part of their tuition if a class was canceled. The college did view itself as providing a service and if that service wasn't provided because of weather, professor not showing up, etc... money would need to be returned to the student. I don't know how much this turned out to be. But if I had a professor canceling multiple classes, I'd be angry that I wasn't getting "my money's worth." Someone should be there to teach in his/her place.

 

[already]

A very good friend of mine went to a college where students were refunded part of their tuition if a class was canceled. The college did view itself as providing a service and if that service wasn't provided because of weather, professor not showing up, etc... money would need to be returned to the student. I don't know how much this turned out to be. But if I had a professor canceling multiple classes, I'd be angry that I wasn't getting "my money's worth." Someone should be there to teach in his/her place.

What college was that?

 

[mamacatnv]

While I understand the reason behind this M&D category, this action is in no way professional or how any institute of higher learning should be reacting to parents or treating their students. Keeping track for statistics or a study is one thing, keeping track to penalize the student is just wrong.
Many kids of helicopter parents cannot prevent their parents behavior and to penalize them for "slights" by their parents, often I would guess unbeknownst to the student, is just wrong. This behavior is juvenile and something I would expect to see at an elementary school, not a college/university.

Please don't slander elementary school teachers. Just because we teach children, doesn't mean we act like children. Elementary school teachers typically have a more demanding job than college professors, anyway. We can't just cancel our classes when something comes up- ever. We are held accountable (at least in my state) for our students' learning; we can't just put the onus on them to show up, behave & learn on their own. We have to take responsibility for all three.

We also have to deal with more helicopter parents than you could ever imagine. Most parents are normal & nice, but the 5% each year who are not can make our jobs very hard. My colleagues complain more about unreasonable parents than anything else. Difficult kids we know how to work with & we love them, but parents who act like difficult kids, that's really something else.

Nope - never said teachers. Post was meant as the behavior is juvenile and something I would expect to see at an elementary school (where there are many parent volunteers who stick their noses where they do not belong) not at a college/university (staffed by paid professionals who deal with paying customers, the students)

It's not my job to try to interpret another poster's insult. She said an unprofessional act was something she would "expect to see in an elementary school, not college", so I rightly defended elementary school professionals.

I'm sorry if the truth offends you.

I guess when one is looking to be insulted, they can find a slight in just about any sentence.

Yes, it is your job to interpret a post if your going to respond. Your response makes no sense because you did not read and comprehend what that poster was saying and that just makes you look foolish. She was referring to helicopter parents being juvenile and something expected more at elementary level and not at college. Nothing to do with college or elementary teachers. So after you pry the foot out of your mouth go back, read what she posted and see the error in your interpretation.

Well, actually I was referring to the actions of the persons in the Univ/College office who somehow thought it was OK to penalize kids for their parents by keeping some silly score that was later used against said student. That action is juvenile and unprofessional. This is the type of behavior I would expect to see from Elem. parents who often volunteer etc at their snowflakes schools.

The way that it was written was in reference to how the college handled helicopter parents, not the actual helicopter parents themselves. I can see why the poster felt like it was an attack against elementary school instructors. That may not have been what was intended, but it was not talking about the helicopter parents.

Never said a word about instructors/teachers but I did mean that the actions of the staff was unprofessional.

I did not interpret it that way, but I'm not the op of that post so only they can say for sure. Either way if I take something as offensive and someone offers me another perspective I try to see it from both sides and clarify. To each their own though.

The gist of the post was interpreted by most correctly - this was not a slam towards teachers, it was a slam towards staff of a college who behaved like many elementary parents

Yes, and I would expect a "teacher" to understand the poster meant elementary school LEVEL as opposed to TEACHERS.

Amen

 

[Hikergirl]

To be fair you did not specifically say parents in that post. Since you say it was a slam on the behavior of the staff of the college, this particular sentence does make it easy to assume you are slamming the behavior of elementary school staff as well. I'd cut that pp some slack, your point wasn't crystal clear.
This behavior is juvenile and something I would expect to see at an elementary school, not a college/university.

 

[LilyWDW]

Nope - never said teachers. Post was meant as the behavior is juvenile and something I would expect to see at an elementary school (where there are many parent volunteers who stick their noses where they do not belong) not at a college/university (staffed by paid professionals who deal with paying customers, the students)

I guess when one is looking to be insulted, they can find a slight in just about any sentence.

Well, actually I was referring to the actions of the persons in the Univ/College office who somehow thought it was OK to penalize kids for their parents by keeping some silly score that was later used against said student. That action is juvenile and unprofessional. This is the type of behavior I would expect to see from Elem. parents who often volunteer etc at their snowflakes schools.

Never said a word about instructors/teachers but I did mean that the actions of the staff was unprofessional.

The gist of the post was interpreted by most correctly - this was not a slam towards teachers, it was a slam towards staff of a college who behaved like many elementary parents

Amen

If the majority of posters (and in this case, vast majority) read a post the way you meant it, then there is nothing wrong with the post. No point in defending yourself as it's just not worth it in these cases. I knew exactly what you meant and had a great laugh from it.

 

[sam_gordon]

If the majority of posters (and in this case, vast majority) read a post the way you meant it, then there is nothing wrong with the post. No point in defending yourself as it's just not worth it in these cases. I knew exactly what you meant and had a great laugh from it.

If only one person read a post a certain way and everyone else read it a different way, I'd agree with you. At least a couple people (me included) read it the same way as the "offended" poster.

 

[Melissa_E]

What college was that?

Bowdoin

 

[Mkrop]

Boston College told us last year when we were touring they were working really hard to figure out how to reschedule their Monday classes. They got hit with all their big storms on Sundays and Mondays. They were working on getting those kids into the classroom to learn. I was impressed by that

 

[scrapquitler]

But if I had a professor canceling multiple classes, I'd be angry that I wasn't getting "my money's worth." Someone should be there to teach in his/her place.

But depending on the college and the class involved, there might not actually BE someone else to teach in place of the professor. Upper level classes can be extremely specialized, and the professor teaching the class might be the only one on campus qualified to teach it. Or it might be a case of a small college: I attended a very (VERY) small college. I took a German class one semester, and there was only ONE German Professor on campus. If she wasn't there, there wasn't anyone who could even attempt to teach the class. The language department had two spanish professors, one German professor, and one French professor, and no TAs. Who could be there to teach the class? Sure, intro to Psychology or Calculus 1 there would be multiple professors or TAs who could pick up the slack, but that's not always the case.

 

[Hikergirl]

Bowdoin

How funny, I was just reading about them today, something about Sombreros. I'd never heard of them and here they are mentioned 2 times in one day.

 

[acebatonfan]

As a parent, calling your child's college is really out-of-line. I'm surprised that they allowed you to talk, particularly when colleges have to abide by FERPA guidelines (though I don't 100% know the exact implications of it). If your daughter is really concerned about the cancelled classes, then she needs to be the one to contact her professor or his/her higher up (or an academic adviser) and/or make a note about it in the course evaluations.

I had probably close to 15 classes cancelled so far (over half of them were planned and announced on the syllabus at the beginning of the semester, 2-ish were from bad weather causing the professor to be unable to make it to class, and 4-5 were personal emergencies/illness), but only one of those instances was made up. It's often said that at least 75% of the material covered is to be learned outside of class (using the general rule that 1 credit hour of lecture requires at least 3 hours of additional study time per week), so those classes being cancelled aren't deterring too much from learning (many professors would also hold additional office hours if we have any questions about the material missed from lecture).

I might be a weird college student -I'm disappointed when classes are cancelled and don't like online classes, especially when it's one of the classes for my major. One of my nursing classes last semester was half in-person lectures and half online recordings, which was a big pain (the professor made us jump through so many hoops for those credits, had a ton of projects that required us to read her mind in order to do well, but gave off the attitude that she didn't want to teach the class in the first place). Of course, I commented about it in the course evaluations, but it seems like now my school is relying more and more on "flipped style" learning. I have a class this semester that is all online recordings with a 2 hour lab once a week (the lab is where we're supposed to discuss any questions from the videos and application of the practical skills), and I'm banging my head because the 2 hours given simply is too little time (the TAs for the lab are AWOL because of scheduling conflicts, so what was originally a class taught by a professor and 1-2 TAs is now done by only 1 professor). I don't want to complain too much, but at the same time other people's lives will be in my hands, I need to learn the material, and I don't feel like the flipped style courses are working out. My family has heard me complain about it, but I would be mortified if one of them would call the school about my complaints.

 

[AnAmericanInDisney]

I had a new adjunct in grad school for Business Law who would cancel or send her interns to substitute teach. I complained and got credit from the University toward taking a new class with the same number of credit hours, and I got a grade. Work was paying for the class so that didn't really matter, but the Dean had no idea this was happening until people complained.

 

[LisaR]

Regarding Rate My Professor, which several posters have mentioned- JOKE. The most prevalent poster is the disgruntled student who doesn't want to work or didn't like the grade received for the class so the professor must be at fault and is going to get slammed. This site is not monitored or fact-checked at all, so anyone can post anything they want. I have an acquaintance who wanted to feel more secure in her job, so she posted highly positive reviews of herself on RMP- about 10 per semester. No problems doing this, they are still all there, and she appears to be a very popular professor. Administration doesn't even look at RMP! College/university departments and administrators do not use RMP as any source of information at all (that's why end-of-course evaluations were developed)- except perhaps as a source of amusement! We have had great laughs at dinner parties about the comments found under DH's and many, many of his colleagues'/our friends' names. I have a friend who is extremely proud to have achieved the comment, "If Dr. XYZ is teaching Class ABC, who is guarding the gates of Hell?" If some kids were as prolific and productive in classes as they are on RMP, perhaps they wouldn't feel the need to post there!

Oh yes... this site also lets kids rate a professor's "hotness" by assigning chili peppers. Yeah, definitely a site to consider seriously! (where IS that sarcasm emoji??)

I think Rate My Professor has its place. I don't disagree with you regarding some of the reviews, but I remember looking often when my DD was dual enrolled and I found many to be helpful. You have to completely ignore the ridiculous ones. "This guy is an iddiot (spelled incorrectly which tells you something). He yells at you when you are on your cell phone or late." REALLY? lol I was able to find many teaches at the local community college who did seem to have plenty of intelligent reviews and it served DD well during her dual enrollment days.

As a parent, calling your child's college is really out-of-line. I'm surprised that they allowed you to talk, particularly when colleges have to abide by FERPA guidelines (though I don't 100% know the exact implications of it). If your daughter is really concerned about the cancelled classes, then she needs to be the one to contact her professor or his/her higher up (or an academic adviser) and/or make a note about it in the course evaluations.

I don't know if anyone will agree with me on this one, but it is my belief that many colleges enable helicopter parenting. They will talk to parents as the OP'er and others have noted. Not that my parents would have even considered calling my college, but if they did, I'm thinking they would have laughed at them and hung up back in the day. I remember reading on the Dis about a mom who calls regularly and asks about her daughter by first name because it is a small college and they know everyone so it "isn't a big deal."

They hold parent orientations now because so many parents needed to get every single detail about the college their adult child is going to. 99% of that information can be found online or simply isn't something a parent really needs to concern themselves with since their kids are now adults.
I also find dorm rules to be far more strict than they were in my day. It just seems like they perpetuate the "child" in many cases.

DD rents a home off campus. Her lease expires July 31st and she only needs a place until December when she graduates. She has a couple friends in the same position. Since most places require a one year lease, these kids will have to move into campus housing where they can break their lease when they graduate. The school has off campus apartments. There's only one RA per building, it's 2 miles off campus, and it's for upperclassmen only. Seems like the school is allowing them to be more adult like which is great. However, they are not allowed to have males and females live together. It doesn't matter if they are all 21. It doesn't matter if they are just friends (not that that matters since BF/GF aren't prohibited from spending the night). I just think it is silly and it treats them like kids instead of the adults that they are supposed to be. But don't worry, I have no intention of calling the college and complaining! lol