<p>Same reason why a lot of doctors look down upon Pharmacist, Physical Therpaists, etc. and lawyers look down on mediators. They think that they know everything, and that they should be doing the job of the other.</p>
<p>@eurekameh,</p>
<p>What was the exact problem/question you were asked on the exam?</p>
<p>It has been some time since I’ve had to do this sort of thing, so I don’t know offhand if equations in hyperbolic sine or cosine format are considered to be in canonical form. But I was able to use a partial fraction expansion, the method of undetermined coefficients, and some linear algebra to obtain a function in the s-domain that was the sum of terms with denominators of degree 1. My guess is that’s what your professor wanted. It does seem a bit harsh for him to give you zero credit, if you applied all of the other concepts correctly and consistently.</p>
<p>How well are you doing in the class? If this could move you down a letter grade (say from A- to B+), perhaps you should pursue this. However, before contacting the dean or anyone else, think about talking to the professor again, indicating that you are concerned about your grade, and that you’d at least like to understand why you received no credit. If the professor is totally unreasonable, then it might make sense to talk to someone else. However, consider that you may not want to rock the boat too much over this, e.g. if you want to go to grad school at your university, or if any of these professors might otherwise have some influence over your career.</p>
<p>I’m going to agree with Yagotta’s final statement, but not with the rest. It may seem harsh, but professors grade their way. If the better answer was obviously one way, there is no reason not to use it, and even if the answer wasn’t clearly better, he can grade how he wants. Going to the Dean would be a pointless action; the professor graded it wrong because it was done wrong in his eyes.</p>
<p>Most likely everyone’s got a “professor from Hell” story, and likely it all ends the same way - adapt to the nutcase and move on. As a previous poster mentioned, you’ll deal with that sort of thing for the rest of your life, so the best you can do is stay professional and composed. Crying to the dean seems like a very, very bad idea.</p>
<p>I had a professor who docked 2/3 points on questions for not writing down units in side work equations, nevermind that the final answer was impeccable. Yeeeesh.</p>
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<p>I have several professors that take off points for stapling incorrectly.</p>
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<p>You have several professors who are fools then. I have never in my years at universities heard of that happening. Ever. Given, that only spans 8 years and 2 universities, but it is a decently large sample size.</p>
<p>I will inform the Colorado School of Mines Board of Trustees immediately!</p>
<p>Your answer is wrong…It was not the answer the professor was looking for and therefore wrong…If the professor’s policy is that wrong is wrong, you can’t do anything…</p>
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I had professors who always had quirks (like one who would dock 3pts every time you failed to clearly note which direction your indicated current was flowing), but only one “professor from Hell”:</p>
<p>My guy was coming to academia from a couple of decades in industry, took over the core microcontroller course for my major (EE). I had not yet taken it when I ordinarily should have (I knew I was not going to take any electives requiring it) and was taking it in my last semester. </p>
<p>He had no freaking clue.</p>
<p>He had a few homeworks easy homeworks at the start of the semester, then they petered off. The real problems were the labs and the tests.</p>
<p>The labs were a joke. He was using a brand new chip and board, and apparently had no idea how to program it correctly. I was in the first lab section of the week, and every single week the instructions in the lab write-up would not work, and the TA and the professor would spend the entire time trying to get it to work. I had been an electronics technician prior to going back for my degree and by sheer luck shared that lab spot with two Navy nuclear technicians getting their degrees as part of an officer ascension program, and the three of us literally spent the lab time figuring out how to make it all work. At the end of the lab we would go over to the professor and the TA (who never once arrived with a working lab or beat us to the solution) and show them how to do it, at which point they would disseminate it to the class.</p>
<p>The real problem was the exams. The guy had no idea how to write exams, and the mean for the two midterms was in the 95% region. He was very concerned that he would have to hand out a class full of A’s, so without any warning whatsoever he decided to change things up. We arrived at the final only to find out that the format had changed, and that the stuff we had studied in the book, practiced in the labs (ha ha), and demonstrated in the homeworks were all missing from the exam. Instead, the exam consisted almost entirely of the little “words of wisdom” that he had tossed casually around in class, universally followed by “you don’t need to know this”. The mean on the final was below 50%.</p>
<p>I went from an A to B after the final, and was incredibly *<strong><em>ed off. I went to the department head and *</em></strong>*ed up and down. He listened, he commiserated, and then he refused to do anything about it, preferring instead to back his new professor. It was part of the reason I decided NOT to stay there for grad school.</p>
<p>OP, I’m really sorry to hear this. I know how frustrating these sort of situations can be. </p>
<p>I will pray for you.</p>
<p>I would wait until you are calmer about this and go see him again. Talking to a professor is a bit like talking to your traffic judge, except that “the judgement” is likely preordained but go in asking for clarification anyway. </p>
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<p>@bergiemoore: I didn’t mean to sound overly confident, but I do have a strong opinion on the matter, which might make me seem that way. To answer your question, it was not specified that the answer had to be written in a certain format.
I am not the only one who is having problems with this professor. He takes off points for the most obscure things that nobody would know how to avoid when taking the exam. Taking a class should not be about how you ace the exams that he comes up with on the toilet, but rather how much you know the material and I’m not feeling like I’m getting the grade I deserved.
Nevertheless, I’m pretty much over it now, since I did my best and there is nothing else I can do. I sent him an e-mail, hinting at the fact that he should make better exams, but this will be the last thing I will do regarding this issue.
Thanks for all the replies and stories, however, because it made me feel a lot better knowing that life is fair in that it’s actually unfair, and I will take this as a lesson and move on.</p>
<p>how about a hint to the name of the school? can you pm me, my son is applying for engineering? It would help. Thanks.</p>
<p>Reminds me of when I was told to show my work in algebra, and would get docked for just writing down the correct answer. If you were expected to do it a certain way and you didn’t, then you did not show that you learned the material, right answer or not. Only if a good amount of students solved and expressed the answer the same as you, could you try to blame the professor. Just seems like a silly mistake, but it’s your’ mistake. Best thing you could do is to get humble, and vow to never let it happen again.</p>
<p>You need to chill out. Right now. The professor is your boss in this work you call school, and you need to keep in mind that you should treat your boss with respect, no matter how unreasonable he’s being, and no matter how wrong you think he is. Argue with him, tell him he’s wrong, put forth a clear and rational argument, but you’re being a fool in the way you’re approaching this, and you need to calm down.</p>
<p>Engineering is just as much about putting forth an answer that is simple, elegant, and comprehensible as it is about getting the answer right. If you were to hand something like that into the client, or to your boss, they’re going to tell you to take a hike until you can put your answer in terms that are meaningful within the context that everyone else is working in. Honestly, the only thing that this guy did by giving you a zero was to prepare you for what you’re going to be walking into when you graduate.</p>
<p>Is your answer technically correct? Yes.
Is the professor being ridiculous? Yes.
Are you doing anything to help your situation? Not in the least. </p>
<p>If you keep acting like a jerk to him, he’s going to pay very close attention to the rest of your graded items. It’s embedded human nature to try to help the people who are good students, motivated to learn, and behave in a socially acceptable manner. It’s also embedded human nature to be very critical of people who’ve shown to you with increasing rudeness that they’re right and therefore they think they’re smarter than you are, to people who question your qualifications and teaching methods.</p>
<p>I’d have given you a zero initially, too, because when I’m grading, I don’t have the time to chase down someone’s answer when it’s in a form that’s entirely different from what I and all their fellow students put down. I personally would’ve given you partial credit after you came to discuss how your answer was really right, but I’d have docked points and would’ve told you that presentation is important in engineering, and to keep that in mind in the future.</p>
<p>You are in for a rude awakening when you get your first job and discover that you can get fired for being insubordinate. Swallow the zero and move on. If you want to take action, then get him on the course reviews, and don’t take any more classes with him.</p>
<p>Holy cow, the return of aibarr after nearly a year-long hiatus!</p>
<p>lol the answer is 100% corrrect just expressed in a different. Maybe you should talk to another professor your close with or the chair (professor) of the Engineering deparment</p>
<p>LOL… I’ve been busy! Got my licenses in CA and TX, fired my bosses, and started my own firm. :)</p>
<p>Ha, congrats then! Despite how busy I am, sites like this and one or two others have become like crack, and I am unfortunately unable to quit them even when I shouldn’t be trolling them.</p>
<p>I’m just dipping my toe in from time to time… I can quit anytime I want! ;)</p>