<p>Probably by all the privacy pages we are asked to sign at the doctors office for one. Does anyone ever read them? We could probably save a sizable rainforest if we didn’t have to sign them.</p>
<p>@ Hunt,Observations? Really? If you choose to make pretend that the legal system isn’t being abused in this country by the ridiculous number of unscrupulous lawyers than it’s you who are embarassing yourself.</p>
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While it’s entirely possible there were private contractors that deliberately failed to perform their assigned duties, and who will most likely be fired if that is the case, it is the responsibility of the management (i.e., the city) to ensure the job was done, and in places where the job wasn’t done properly, to reassign resources to fix the problem.</p>
<p>If the DPW Commissioner had said “yeah there were a few problems we are addressing them” rather than “I’m confident all roads are passable” when it clearly wasn’t true, then there would be less question about their competence.</p>
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That’s an interesting point, why can’t doctors or hospitals require arbitration? Especially for non-emergency treatment? Is there a law against it?</p>
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<p>FYI, the professor is a woman. And this is a case of ‘he said, she said.’ With the facts we’re presented with, there’s no definitive proof of discrimination besides the word of a frustrated student so based on what’s reported, I’m inclined to side with the school.</p>
<p>Not to mention in many colleges these days, grades are inflated and professors are under pressure to give a B for a barely passable work. C is new D.</p>
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If there are no more facts, the case won’t proceed. But often more facts come out in the course of a litigation (such as through document discovery and depositions), and the picture can change radically. I’m inclined to predict that the school will win in this case, too, as I mentioned above. My point is just that the occasional outrageous case isn’t proof that our system is irreparably broken.</p>
<p>It is not so “occasional” that we hear of a outrageous case. Just in the last few week, there was AIG, a parent of a Sandyhook surviovor and this. Just about one a week. I am sure that is a tiny fraction of total lwasuits filed in the same period but still way too frequent. I don’t think our system is broken just that it is about time to put pressure people not to bring absurd lawsuits.</p>
<p>While this particular case may well be frivolous, it also seems to be a case of sensational or at least misleading reporting. She isn’t suing because of the C+, per se, she is suing because she was kicked out of the program (or prevented from getting a particular degree) because of that C+. So it is more akin to an employment termination lawsuit than a student suing over a grade. Now, there are plenty of employment termination lawsuits that don’t have merit, and this case may be no different. It doesn’t, however, set a precedent for disgruntled students to sue when Professor X in Econ 101 gives out some Bs.</p>
<p>In a larger sense, I think we do need reform not just of frivolous lawsuits, but of the extent of liability. Too often, people or institutions that are not behaving in a negligent manner are still held responsible when, for instance, someone gets injured on their property. This actually winds up leading to a reduction in our freedom. I bet fewer shore towns would pass ordinances against being on the beach without a lifeguard on duty if there was an understanding that a person who drowned during a midnight swim was obviously swimming at their own risk and therefore wasn’t their responsibility.</p>
<p>Ok I will bet the the student will win. I am sure there is something more to this case.</p>
<p>^That’s a stretch. Are you saying profs can give kids a C if the kid aspires to be in the program? Allow me to repeat; it is not hard to get a B. And the kid couldn’t. I think the prof did a public service if it amounted to weeding out. I remember pre-meds begging for an A when I was a TA. I wondered if they will be operating on me when I get old. I shuddered at the thought.</p>
<p>The student claims that the prof unfairly denied her a higher grade. That could be true, and it’s pretty clear that her failure to get a higher grade cost her signficantly. The challenge will be proving that the grade was unfair–that could be hard or easy. I predict it will be hard, because the schoold didn’t do anything about the situation.</p>
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<p>Not relevant to this case as the student in question is a grad school in an academic type graduate program. </p>
<p>Basically, unlike undergrad, Bs in academic grad school are viewed by many in academia as Cs in undergrad and anything below a B is failing. </p>
<p>From what I gathered, the idea is that grad students should be mastering the material at a much higher level than their undergrad counterparts so B+ is really the minimal respectable grade and if you’re getting too many Bs or worse, failing grades of -B and below…many departments/advisors/divisions will strongly advise or in the case of failing grades…even compel said struggling grad student to leave to consider alternative opportunities.</p>
<p>After reading the articles about the case, I’m sympathetic to the student. [See especially the one cobrat linked <a href=“http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2013/02/professor_sued_by_student_over.html[/url]”>Lehigh University professor, sued by student over poor grade, insists C-plus is appropriate - lehighvalleylive.com; ]</p>
<p>First, at the time of the incident, the professor was a “student teacher.” I find it more than a bit appalling that a “student teacher” wielded that kind of power. She gave the student a zero for class participation. She admits that this had never before been done .
The student had As otherwise. Because of this class participation mark, the student was ineligible to take the next required clinical course. </p>
<p>That is too much power for a prof, especially a “student teacher,” to have, IMO. Seriously, a zero? For someone who regularly went to class? </p>
<p>I’m not sure she should win as I tend to think this is an area a court just plain ought not to get involved in. That said, I this sounds like a flat out personality conflict to me.</p>
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<p>Class participation isn’t just about going to class. It is also about actively participating by making positive contributions to the class discussions/practices while not doing anything which may negatively affect the class whether it’s being disrespectful of Prof/classmates, interrupting out of turn too many times, behaving disruptively such as having violent or emotional outbursts, etc.</p>
<p>The latter would not only not merit class participation points, but would actually case several undergrad Profs I’ve had or known to dock class participation points…sometimes into the negative range if they felt it was warranted with some students. This was always clearly spelled out in the syllabus so it wasn’t as if students weren’t notified of those terms beforehand.</p>
<p>Moreover, if a class is of the type which requires class discussion/practice as a critical component of the education imparted, going to class is an exceedingly minimal requirement.</p>
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<p>Plenty of kids go to class and go straight to the labtop and social network sites. And class participation may also include worksheets, short labs, etc.</p>
<p>Cobrat,
I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that you probably aren’t too familiar with masters level counseling programs and internship suypervision, which is what appears to be the course for which this student got a “zero” for class participation. Reading pg 41 of the program’s brochure, <a href=“http://coe.lehigh.edu/sites/coe.lehigh.edu/files/2012_MEd_Program_Manual_6Nov2012.pdf[/url]”>http://coe.lehigh.edu/sites/coe.lehigh.edu/files/2012_MEd_Program_Manual_6Nov2012.pdf</a> it says
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<p>Typically these programs are small, so the internship supervision class would probably have, at most, a handful of students. They would typically review clients the student is working with, discuss case management, how the student handled a situation, and general supervision issues. The student would be required to have a certain amount of direct supervision per number of clinical hours they have with clients. It sounds like there were some problems with the internship sites and from the article linked in the OP, some of the students may have been vocal about the challenges they had. So if the students were “disruptive” (your word) in the supervisoin sessions, it might have been (purely conjecturing based on the article) being vocal with their challenges getting/finding/changing/dealing with internship sites or whatever may have happened. The points you suggest are not relevant to these case supervision classes.</p>
<p>Maybe there is a poster here who has friends or cousins he could contact to find out more about these programs.</p>
<p>Well, it’s a student teacher. It’s a zero on class participation.</p>
<p>I’m not surprised something like this finally ended up in court. And the school better hope the judge hasn’t had a kid get burned by the “class participation” hoax. </p>
<p>I think the student will win.</p>
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<p>Per the article I linked to, there’s citation of "emotional instability, classroom outbursts, and other forms of behaviors which go well beyond being “vocal with their challenges”…and into territory most would consider unprofessional and even immature behavior one shouldn’t tolerate even from undergrad students…much less grad students in their mid-late 20s. </p>
<p>Especially considering the career path of being an educational counseling professional. Someone displaying the above is not someone I’d think would be suitable for such a field…especially if the ones she’s going to be counseling are K-12 students. </p>
<p>I dread having anyone who is in need of a counselor as a K-12 student being subjected to a counselor who cannot maintain a semblance of professionalism required to facilitate such counseling.</p>
<p>update</p>
<p>[Lehigh</a> University student, school attorneys chastised by judge over lawsuit - mcall.com](<a href=“http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-lehigh-university-student-sues-over-grade-0213-20130213,0,1852962.story]Lehigh”>http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-lehigh-university-student-sues-over-grade-0213-20130213,0,1852962.story)</p>