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May 14, 2008 10:12

Professor fails students, loses job

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | Comments (4) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

Who is to blame when students fail? If many students fail — a majority even — does that demonstrate faculty incompetence, or could it point to a problem with standards?

Here's what allegedly happened: Steven D. Aird lost his job teaching biology at Norfolk State University because he failed too many students. To make things murkier:

A subtext of the discussion is that Norfolk State is a historically black university with a mission that includes educating many students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The university suggests that Aird — who is white — has failed to embrace the mission of educating those who aren’t well prepared. But Aird — who had backing from his department and has some very loyal students as well — maintains that the university is hurting the very students it says it wants to help. Aird believes most of his students could succeed, but have no incentive to work as hard as they need to when the administration makes clear they can pass regardless.

Yikes. According to The Virginian-Pilot, 22 of the 24 students in his biochemistry course got Ds, Fs or dropped the class during his first semester of teaching in 2002. School officials told him his pass-fail rate was "unacceptable." But here's what else seems unacceptable: according to U.S. Education Department data, only 12% of Norfolk State students graduate in four years, and only 30% graduate in six years. As for the school, spokeswoman Sharon Hoggard tells InsideHigherEd, “Something is wrong when you cannot impart your knowledge onto students. We are a university of opportunity, so we take students who are underprepared, but we have a history of whipping them into shape. That’s our niche.”

Should a teacher lose a job because he refuses to pass underperforming students? Or is his abominable pass-fail rate a result of his lousy teaching? Hard to say. But I suspect the problem is bigger than this one guy and his biochem class.

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Reader Comments (4)

Grad Student Life:

What year are these students? Most students take biochemistry later in their college careers or not until graduate school. If these students are under-prepared, what is the school doing to prepare them for biochemistry? Plus, this professor probably teaches more than one class... what's the pass/fail rate for those classes? My point is if these students are later in their college careers, they should have the skill set to at least know when they are in over their heads and ask for help. If they are allowed to take biochemistry without the proper background (usually, biology, general chemistry, calculus and organic chemistry), then that is the school's fault, not the professor's.

I had a teacher who once told me that if the majority of the class failed, then he didn't do his job. If there are a select few who failed, he did do his job. However, at the college level, this isn't as simple. I don't know how to fix the problem, but given what the article states about the college, maybe Norfolk should look at its own practices first.

Posted by Grad Student Life | May 14, 2008 1:42 PM

BinhN:

I once had a professor in Organic Chemistry who just couldn't teach. He couldn't explain these complicated concepts well enough. We were just as confused after the lectures as before.

Posted by BinhN | May 14, 2008 2:26 PM

Kool-Aid:

I clicked over and read the entire original story, and I am apalled. This sounds like one of the most egregious examples of grade inflation I can think of - grade inflation at the institutional level. If a university cannot graduate half of its students in 4 years, which NSU cannot, it should lose accreditation and be forced to rework its admittance and teaching policies. Kudos to Dr. Aird for sticking to his guns and attempting to teach properly. He can rest assured in the knowledge that a real institute of higher learning will snap him up in a second.

Posted by Kool-Aid | May 14, 2008 2:38 PM

DorotaS:

Just thought I would add this.. when I was in college one of my professors admitted that he got heat from the admins when people did too well in his class. Who cares if it's because he's a good teacher or the students are all intelligent and bright enough to do well. It was "encouraged" that some people fail, most do moderate, and only a rare few excel.

It's sad, in both instances, because it does nothing for the students.

Posted by DorotaS | May 14, 2008 4:31 PM

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Nina Subin

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a staff writer for TIME. She blogs about work. Why? Because TV was taken. Think of her as the grumpy colleague ranting by the water cooler.
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