Ugh, I hate the way some professor's work...

[DreXxiN]

Okay, so here I am, doing double the work I'd normally have to do tonight after an 8 hour shift at work.

Alright, so basically, everyone in the class gets a chapter out of the book and presents it to the class. BOOM! That right there sends alarms through me; what if some of the classmates are incompetent and I don't learn as much as required to prerequisitely ace the exams?....Stupid...but anyway, basically we all wrote down which chapter we were interested in...and without warning, whoever else is interested in your chapter..is your partner! WOW! This was exciting.

Me and my partner take a moment before class is over to get to know each other...

...Looks like I hit the fricken' Jackpot! All she does is tell me about how she chose the chapter because it has drugs in it and how she hasn't even started reading for the course yet(!!!) because she's been busy.

She just recently got fired for her job and claims all she does is go to parties and get completely shitfaced every night.... Excuse me, Mrs. Professor, but is the quality of my education really so vigorously enforced based on luck? Is this what you call efficient?

Alright, anyway I try to have some faith in my partner and ask her to email me. Mind you she has no job or anything like that. One day passes, nothing. Next day, can't even contact her. Well fuck. Here I am doing BOTH of our work, and I only have a night to do it (this particular class is every 2 days, I had to study for another course the day before, and I work full time on weekdays generally). If I forgot to mention already in my blind rage, this is a project..so it's not just some write up, I need visuals and I need to present this.

Unfortunately, my professor basically admits that it's based on luck with who you get, claiming that "It's your responsibility no matter what happens! You must get it done, there is no 'I did my part and my partner didn't do theres.'". Wow, and you tell us this..2 days before this write-up is due?

....Who the fuck in their right mind thinks this is a good policy?

Really, I'm seriously flabbergasted as to how this should work. Why didn't we all just get extended times to do double the work? I don't give a fuck if it's your class and you want to do cutesy cool little expiriments with people and random chance to amuse yourself, This is not fair.

So, I'm pretty much enraged as I haven't had a good ample amount of freetime in awhile, which is expected when working retail and as a student, but I hate that I'm subject to DOUBLE the work now...and I had NO way of knowing besides just losing faith in my partner instantly, which isn't very fair (if I turn it in on my own, she gets a Zero). Sometimes I hate being sympathetic and forgiving.

God, and I paid good money for this shit since my Financial Aid status is STILL pending after quite a few months...I knew I should have dropped the class as soon as I noticed "Psychology" mispelled on the board in class. Seriously, who fucks up the spelling on their major subject? *Sigh*

/rant

[HAYABUSA-FMW-]

Is there even a clause to get a new partner in case the person which they should do or end up doing, drops out of the class leaving you hanging?

Try to work that angle, instead of 'making a grade for the other person - you kids figure it out, I'm a professor now.'

[Tetsaru]

Man, I fucking hated college because of shit like this. Maybe it was just because I went to Arkansas State University, but here's some of the stuff I went through:

- One year in an American History class, where there's hardly any grades recorded other than the tests/exams, I miss one of them (it was an early class, and my roommate liked to stay up late and keep me up, not to mention I am NOT a morning person anyway and I have weird sleeping patterns as it is), and my teacher says we can make it up on the study day before finals. I try to go to bed early and rest up in preparation... fucking fire alarm goes off at 3 AM, so we have to evacuate the building and stand around like dumbfucks outside for forever and a half. I end up missing the make-up time due to not being able to sleep properly, and end up with a D in the class, lowering my GPA just enough to forfeit my academic scholarship - incredibly ironic, seeing how I was Valedictorian of my high school class with a 4.0.

- I was taking computer programming courses my first year, which consist of a lecture class and a lab class. No biggie, right? Apparently our lab teacher keeps changing, at one point being some Middle-Eastern chick who can speak English at 90 MPH but has such a bad accent you can't understand what she's saying half the time, and our lab work consists of coding that was never mentioned in the lecture class, so most of the class is "WTF" and can't get any help, myself included.

- Later on, I start taking some drawing and graphic design courses. At first, it was pretty awesome - I got to draw almost-nude female models in the same class with my best friend, who I was rooming with at the time, and our teacher was very laid back and taught us useful techniques. Well, he ended up retiring soon afterwards, leaving us with some of the less popular teachers. A lot of them were biased in their grading and critiquing, only giving us A's based on what THEY liked rather than the amount of effort put into the project. If I recall, one of my graphic design teachers even went missing around the time we were supposed to have a big test or project due, I forget - turns out he went to New York City, probably to get away from our Arkansas redneck asses, the damned Yankee. Even after I left and my friend continued to pursue his art degree, he had to take a "Creative Drawing" course... and they didn't even DRAW.

- My biology teacher was a total bitch. I had a B in the class after the final exam, but she dropped it to a D simply because I had too many absences, mostly due to sleeping problems I had similar to the fire alarm incident (you wouldn't believe how many false alarms and random drills we had), and also because my sleeping patterns are just wonky in general. This was especially lame, since all of her Powerpoint-based lectures were AVAILABLE ON HER OWN WEBSITE FOR US TO LOOK AT ANYTIME. She also deducted points for me not making it to the beginning of a movie she scheduled OUTSIDE OF NORMAL CLASS TIME because I had marching band practice.

- And then there's my percussion teacher. FUCK HIM. That guy was so nit-picky and anal about the stupidest things. When I decided to become a music major (possibly the biggest mistake of my life so far) during the last year I was at ASU, I wanted to be a COMPOSITION major, NOT a PERCUSSION major, meaning I wanted to WRITE music, NOT be skilled at percussion instruments, but apparently he thought otherwise. Apparently, he thinks that, just because I'm a music major, he has to force more practice time on me, on instruments I have no desire whatsoever to play. Now, keep in mind, along with the academic scholarship, which I lost, I also had a band scholarship (which was being stripped away from me, partially because I left and came back after a while, and also because there was a new band director who thought it would be cute to limit the scholarship to so many semesters, which I was running out of), and one of the upkeep requirements of that scholarship was to take private lesson courses with the professor associated with whatever instruments you normally played - fair enough. BUT, as a composition major, I was also having to take composition lessons (ironically from one of the coolest and nicest teachers I've ever had). Add on top of that having to write new music every week, practice playing piano as well, learning chord structures/progressions/scales (which I struggled with, since for the majority of my music career in school, I played mostly non-pitched percussion), rehearsals for marching band and drumline (in which I was one of the pitched bass drums, so I had a unique part from everyone else), getting recital credit by going to concerts, AND having to do the work of the other non-major courses I was taking, and he's wanting me to do KEYBOARD PERCUSSION EXERCISES. When I finally got fed up with everything and decided to drop out, all of my other music teachers were cool with it because they knew I was struggling, except him. I caught him outside of his office, and when I told him I was dropping, he said to me in the most asshole tone of voice, and I quote, "Gee thanks, thanks a lot!" and stormed off. I swear, I don't normally wish bad things on people, but I hope he gets his fucking fingers chopped off one by one so he can't play an instrument ever again and suffers for the rest of his God-damned life. :argh:

Man, if I had the past 6 or 7 years of my life back, I would've done things a lot differently. Hell, as much as hated English classes, I might've tried some writing courses instead; I actually won a prize in an essay-writing contest while I was up there. On the other hand, one of my art teachers thought I would've been a good actor, lol. It's been nearly a year since I got out, and I'm still unemployed because there's just nothing much around here for people like me, and my folks have had to pay back my band scholarship money and any other loans/debts. As far as I'm concerned, only go to college when you're ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SURE that you know what to major in, and you're not subjected to random bullshit like I was, or else you'll pay dearly for it. :disapprove:

[Palle]

I have to go back to school. I do not look forward to my GPA being determined in part by other peoples' shitty work.

My only weapon will be ratemyprofessors.com and that is pretty weak.

[BIG OLAF]

Me and my partner take a moment before class is over to get to know each other...

...Looks like I hit the fricken' Jackpot! All she does is tell me about how she chose the chapter because it has drugs in it and how she hasn't even started reading for the course yet(!!!) because she's been busy.

She just recently got fired for her job and claims all she does is go to parties and get completely shitfaced every night....

Oddly enough, this is a common trend with every one of my friends that goes to college around here. Their partners for class projects are always burnout losers, or just plain, old fashioned idiots. How do these kids even get into college in the first place? Well, good luck to you.

[Sayara]

Do both parts.
Don't include their name and tell said professor they contributed nothing to the project whatsoever and shouldn't get credit.
????
Profit

[Outrider]

Do both parts.
Don't include their name and tell said professor they contributed nothing to the project whatsoever and shouldn't get credit.
????
Profit

Aaaaaand here's the easy answer.

Actually, in my experience, if you made it clear that your partner or team member was not doing their share of the work, the professor always made sure to keep that in mind when it came time for grading.

[Sayara]

it actually happened to me and my partners in this one speech class.
We did our three parts... one didn't do anything. We all ended up getting A's
he got a D

[Sinue_v2]

...Looks like I hit the fricken' Jackpot! All she does is tell me about how she chose the chapter because it has drugs in it and how she hasn't even started reading for the course yet(!!!) because she's been busy.

Did you ask her why she is even in collage in the first place? I'm not opposed to recreational drug use, and I still enjoy a good buzz from time to time myself... but I haven't felt that way since I was a sophomore in High School, back when drugs were taboo and a cool new subculture to explore and associate with. We're drug addicts by our very nature, because our brains are fully loaded with consciousness altering motivational chemicals like dopamine and adrenaline as a part of it's basic function. Getting high, whether naturally or by using substances, is something which isn't any more significant or worth more interest than breathing or pissing. Some people are fascinated by breathing and pissing, and specialize their education in those areas... but if the only reason why she's interested in the material is because it aligns with her subculture, then she might as well not even be taking the class. If she has no desire to learn something new for her own sake primarily, or exploring/expanding her interests, then she might as well drop out and attend a diploma mill collage.

Cheaper, easier, and somehow.. I get the feeling her career path just might not require much more than a McDonalds grade diploma.

Is this what you call efficient?

To his credit, he probably put a lot more consideration into his system than many employers put into their workplaces. You just got shafted with twice the workload and no backup, and I take it the responsibility of making sure one of the dimmer bulbs shines at least as bright as yours.

Welcome to your future work environment. Consider this shit scenario as field training for incompetent bosses, apathetic co-workers, and doing twice the work of others just to keep your job. You can try to weasel around and find little "tricks" to making the situation more bearable, turn it to your favor, or get out of it altogether. Try what HAYABUSA-FMW- suggested. Problem solving is one of the most vital skills you can acquire, and not just when applied to a task you are given... but also when applied to the parameters of the given task itself.

Unfortunately, my professor basically admits that it's based on luck with who you get, claiming that "It's your responsibility no matter what happens!

Yep, you just got served a shit sandwich and stuck with the bill. You have every right to be incensed by it, and I'm certainly not defending his "system", but there's not much you can do about it. Gotta learn to get used to them, cause it won't be the last. If you're not particularly concerned with your pride, you could try to be a kiss ass and get an easy ticket that way.

Really, I'm seriously flabbergasted as to how this should work.

Wow... flabbergasted. I haven't heard that word used in a coon's age.

I don't give a fuck if it's your class and you want to do cutesy cool little experiments with people and random chance to amuse yourself

Maybe he's doing a secret research project on you guys in conjunction with another department, like social psychology or statistics? You know, kind of like being the control group to the Milgram Experiment or something, just to see how you'd react?

which isn't very fair (if I turn it in on my own, she gets a Zero). Sometimes I hate being sympathetic and forgiving.

It's a bitch if your a softie or by nature generous, yeah, but you have to look out for yourself when it comes down to it... because she sure as fuck isn't going to look out for you. It's a lot harder to be a dick about it and cut someone loose who is genuinely busting their ass to try to keep up, but still ends up dragging you down because other demands and obligations in their life prevent them from giving due attention to their education. That scenario really sucks. But this girl from your class? I don't think you should feel too bad about it. If she's squandering her education, then that's on her. But you have no obligations to let her squander yours as well.

I knew I should have dropped the class as soon as I noticed "Psychology" mispelled on the board in class.

Yeah, that's a bad sign. Are you sure you're not already at one of those diploma mills? Psychology is a fascinating subject, and it's becoming more and more empirical... more real science, than soft science... since the invention of fMRI, DTI, and other imaging techniques which allow us to correlate neural activity with controlled stimulus. Some of the shittier collages I've heard people complain about are still 20 to 30 years behind though, and pumping out glorified councilors for "Blame your dad, have a pill" shams like Bowen Center.

Check out some of the Psychology courses at the more prestigious universities via Open CourseWare and see if their teaching methods are any better. If nothing else, they make great supplementary material. OCW Homepage (http://ocwconsortium.org/)

Seriously, who fucks up the spelling on their major subject?

Dyslexics?

[KodiaX987]

I only ever had one good partner in school, and it went something like this:

On the first day, he pulled me off to the side and said: "I am here because I have to take this class again. Last time, my partner plagiarized, it caused a shitstorm, and I dealt with the teacher that I wasn't interested in battling it out, so we agreed on a replay. We're gonna work together. If you copy someone else's work and get me in trouble, I'm gonna destroy the living shit out of you. We have a deal?"

He ended up being one the best damn dudes I ever met. He's now working on a contract somewhere in Alberta for mucho dinero.

Usually, teamwork alone isn't enough to allow someone to leech off and pass the class, so cases where someone can freeload off other people without consequence all the time are thankfully rare - they fail the class, they have to take it again, they usually then just quit the program.

Your best bet here is to do the work yourself and tell the teacher that you did it yourself and that the partner took no interest or attempt in doing it. Make sure you give a token chance to the partner. The teacher isn't an idiot - chances are he knows of the partner's poor track record and won't be surprized to hear you say your dude hasn't done anything. I did a team project involving five persons, and I was alone by the time we finished it. The first two partners ran out of cash and couldn't pay their semester. I fired the third (and the teacher was expressly waiting for my announcement too!), while the fourth vanished into the fog and I never heard from him again. The three disappearances failed the class. The guy I fired had to restart all over on his own - and amazingly, he somehow pulled himself together and passed the class. By the skin of his teeth, but he passed.