Who Is Smarter?!

In my last post I stated I made 100 points out of 100 on my JAVA programming assignment.  I just saw that the mean score for this assignment is 73.2.  Upon reflection of my grades, I must surmise education courses must be at a high difficulty level compared to computer science courses. Thus, education professors are so very smart and computer science professors not so much.

Boo Yah!

Former graduate student unsuccessful in $1.3 million lawsuit against Lehigh

The integrity of this process, however, rests with the institutions and their ability to maintain high standards. 

"The grades are what the academics in the academic institutions say they are," Hamburg said.

Blah, blah, blah.

In the graduate course Exploration of Education I received an F from Jamie Baker.  Compare my work, the first entry in our Pedagogical Notebook for secondary students, to a student in the same class that Jamie Baker gave an A.

HERS ("A" Student):  When students enter a classroom for the first time, a decision of where to sit is immediately presented to them....in a circular fashion Alex shares and then tosses the "ball" to Leslie who then shares and tosses the ball to Jill. Once a student has shared, the ball needs to be passed to five other students before that student may share again.

MINE ("F" Student):  Shifting the pedagogical podium from passive learning to active learning within a high school entrepreneurial classroom juxtaposes the core academic curriculum with real world relevance...apply math concepts to business concepts by transfiguring mathematical ideas into business ideas.

This same student was in SPED 500 the following semester with me.  A major assignment was our Disability Resource Notebook.  When our grades were released for this assignment many of the students, upset with the grade they received, e-mailed everyone.  This same student (as I compared myself to above) replied saying she had received an even lower grade than they had received (they had received a C).  I was given the FULL 50 POINTS (out of 50).  

That same semester as SPED 500, my Technology and Pedagogy professor stated in regard to my postings, "Your postings were well articulated, and you incorporated the readings into the discussions to support your arguments.  I have enjoyed reading your excellent insights on these chapters - keep it up!".  

This semester I am taking Java Programming (online).  I thought there would be support like the math department does for its math students with free tutoring available in the Math Lab, but there is not this kind of support for computer science.  So I figured out how to do the first assignment all on my own by referring to the textbook.  I turned my assignment in on time as the syllabus stated, "no late assignments will be accepted".  I then got an e-mail from the instructor stating, "Some students meet difficulties in doing assignment.  There are 31/46 submissions.  I have just extended the time".  He gave us a whole other week to turn the assignment in.  I received 100 points out of 100 on this assignment that 15 students couldn't even do.

Remember, by giving me an F in Exploration of Education I cannot get a teaching license.  

The integrity of this process, however, rests with the institutions and their ability to maintain high standards. 

"The grades are what the academics in the academic institutions say they are," Hamburg said.

Blah, blah, blah.

Lawsuit over bad grade

Lawsuit over Lehigh University student's bad grade to continue

 By Tom Shortell | The Express-Times 
on February 13, 2013 at 6:10 PM, updated February 13, 2013 at 7:57 PM

Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano expressed uneasiness over potentially changing the grade of a Lehigh University graduate student suing over the mark.

But, he allowed the case to continue this afternoon over the requests of university lawyers.

"I remain unconvinced the judiciary should be injecting itself in the academic process," Giordano said.

Attorney Richard Orloski rested his case after a day and a half of calling witnesses to testify. Orloski argued his client Megan Thode unfairly received a C-plus in her therapy internship course because then-student-teacher Amanda Eckhardt disagreed with her views on gay marriage. When Thode appealed the grade, the department's faculty did not properly handle the appeals process, he argued, failing to provide her with a student advocate.

As a result, Thode earned not a master's degree in education in counseling psychology but a master's in education in human development. Thode is requesting the judge change the grade to a B so she can pursue her career goal of becoming a licensed therapist.

A licensed therapy degree would be worth $1.3 million in earnings over a lifetime, according to testimony at the non-jury trial.

Giordano said he could not find a single example of case law showing a court possessed the power to overrule an instructor. Orloski acknowledged he was not familiar with one either, but he argued the case amounted to a breach of contract, which would grant Giordano wide latitude in settling the matter as he saw fit.

Once Orloski rested, Lehigh attorney Michael Sacks asked Giordano to dismiss the case. In the hours of witness testimony and thousands of pages of evidence submitted into evidence, he argued Orloski failed to show there was a breach of conduct on behalf of the school or unfair punishment on the part of Eckhardt.

"There is no evidence this is anything other than an academic discussion with which Ms. Thode does not agree," Sacks said.

Giordano denied the request, ruling Orloski had met his burden of proof to continue with the case.

While the judge did not cite a specific example, one of the stronger pieces of evidence may be the apparently unprecedented nature of how Thode was awarded a C-plus. Eckhardt scored Thode's participation grade as a zero out of 25, bumping her from a B-plus. None of the professors who testified, including Stephen Thode, Megan Thode's father and a Lehigh University finance professor, could ever recall giving a student no points for participation.

Lehigh's legal team called two more professors from the school to the stand. Arpana Inman, program director for counseling psychology at Lehigh, said Eckhardt opted to appeal the grade rather than take steps to correct the problems Eckhardt had identified.

Arnold Spokane, a counseling professor, said Eckhardt, who taught under the name Amanda Carr at the time, reached out to him throughout the fall 2009 semester over her concerns with Megan Thode's unprofessional behavior.

Spokane said Thode tearfully came to his office for advice on how to handle the situation. When he suggested he meet with Eckhardt and discuss strategies on how she could improve, she became quiet, he recalled. He described the conversation as awkward and said he later learned Megan Thode responded to Eckhardt in a three-sentence letter defending herself, he testified.

The trial is slated to continue Thursday.

The Third Time's A Charm!

One of my customers knows Tucker Carlton, Daily Caller and Fox News contributor, and I had the privilege of conversing with him.  He lined me up with one of his reporters, Eric Owens, who was doing a story on education.  Eric told me if something happened three times then you were on to something.

I have met a third person who has been discriminated against by Heather Oesterreich and Jamie Baker because of age.  The third time's a charm!

I Got An A+

I took just one Curriculum & Instruction graduate course last semester and I got an A+.  I am having a hard time finding my identity as a New Mexico State graduate student.  I have received grades of B or higher (mostly As) in my graduate courses with instructors that are African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, female, male, young, old, and in between.  Yet, I cannot be a secondary teacher because the white, lesbian, liberal elite feminist (director of secondary education) stood by the F her sidekick Jamie Baker (assistant director of secondary education) gave me.

What is College Curriculum?

I find it hard to believe that New Mexico State University charges me $848 to be taught who to vote for.  This is a required course in the secondary teacher education program through the Department of Curriculum & Instruction.

The Liberal's Nemesis

One of the required readings hand picked by the bully professor haughtily stated, "The Super Bowl has become the cultural event of American life."  I say with great pride in the American culture...Are you ready for some football?  It further stated, "Although women may watch the Super Bowl in growing numbers, football idolizes that other thing that women can never have-muscle mass."    Okay I admit it...I like manly muscle mass.  Come on you hoity-toity liberals and bully professor, where is your compassion for people with different critical perspectives?