Revoked Admissions policy

mikemac
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 03:58:21 +0000

the teacher being a sadist and moron (your entire grade is tests, homework doesn’t count for anything and the teacher doesn’t know how to teach)

You may not be a happy camper next year in college. Having your entire grade determined by 2 midterms and a final, or by a term paper and nothing else, is not uncommon. From personal experience I can tell you that you ought to steer away from UCs if you see this policy as sadistic.

Your attitude in which you refuse ownership of learning this material is the big issue here, not the teacher. While in a social sciences class the material can be subjective, and almost completely so in a literature class, in a math class like trig the material is cut-and-dried. So there are tons of online resources such as Khan Academy, ITunesU, etc. that could teach you the material. And there are workbooks such as https://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Trigonometry-Problem-Solvers-Solution/dp/0878915087 with thousands of worked problems; you cover up the answer and keep practicing problem after problem until you’re doing them right, and then the tests will take care of themselves.

Why does this ownership matter? In less than a year you’re going to be in college where nobody is looking over your shoulder to make sure you do the work or attend class. And past these nuts-and-bolts matters is the larger picture. Nobody is going to drag you to the career center, make you start planning for grad school or entering the work force, etc. Expecting someone else to own the responsibility isn’t the path to success, any more than it has been in this class.