<p>Hey parents, I’m not the type to criticize professor’s course descriptions, but here are the details:</p>
<p>I’m an African American Studies double major. Intro to African American Studies is a two-semester course. I took the second half of Intro to African American Studies last year that basically covered from Reconstruction to the present (some emphasis at the end on the emergence of African Diasporic scholarship). I checked the Winter 2006 course description of the first half of Intro to African American Studies. The professor’s background is political science, chiefly African-American politics. So he’s teaching this course, which is out of his league and he acknowleges this. </p>
<p>The problem? The material that he wants to discuss in this course is 70% a repeat of the second half. He’s also covering from slavery to the present. Some of the texts he wants to go over have already been discussed in previous African American Studies courses, including the second half. I don’t want to sound mean to this professor, but I thought the first half would cover the African slave trade to slavery (wouldn’t that sound logical?). The tuition is high, and I don’t want to take a repeat of a course. I still have my textbooks from the second half that highlights what he wants to teach. </p>
<p>What should I do? If I don’t take the class, I basically don’t finish my major. It’s not the teacher’s fault that this is not his usual coursework, but I thought professors at least discussed syallbi with each other.</p>
<p>Some do and some don’t. There may not be a mechanism for profs in different departments to compare their syllabi. Yours sounds like a multidisciplinary major, so you are affected by this lack of inter-departmental coordination.
Is it possible for you to discuss the issue with the prof? Is it possible for you to do an independent study with him or someone else that would fulfill the requirements for your major? Is there a DUS you can discuss your situation with?</p>
<p>Well, I partially mentioned it to the professor who will be teaching the course. Basically, he just said that I would just have to sit through the course and get an easy A. I’m not satisfied by that at all.</p>
<p>just because it’s the same material doesn;t mean that it’s the same class. The two professors could have totally different takes on the material, and it could be a very interesting class.</p>
<p>tenisghs, what is to prevent you from reading on your own and studying about the slave trade era to the civil war on your own? Doesn’t your college have a library? </p>
<p>Does the course work require you to write a paper or do a research project? Why don’t you just choose a topic that lets you do more reading in the area that interests you? If you’ve already covered some of the other material that is being covered in class, then your prof is right - you don’t have to spend time out of class studying other material, and you can use your time to research what you are most interested in.</p>
<p>dont you have an advisor or ha that is more knowledgable about your school and what it offers?
College is a gradual transition to adult life for those who have the opportunity and part of becoming an adult is not expecting everything to be served on a platter with arrows pointing to it.
YOu are judging this course based on a course description from a catalog- have you spoken to others who have taken it?
What about others in your major?
Different instructors cover different material even for the exact same class- I have noticed this in high schools as well as colleges.
This could be a great opportunity to research more indepth an area you might not have been able to get to into, if you were worried about all new material.
It sounds like some of your other classes were moving faster or not what you expected, so this could be a great class for you to be the one pushing your comfort level instead of the prof</p>
<p>Well, Emerald, based on the course description, I could already imagine in my head the text of the authors and leaders since I’ve read their work (or entire book) before. I can even pull out my extensive class notes (my previous professor used Powerpoint so it was a task to write down everything!). I could postpone it and wait til next year, itI might be a big risk (since I’m a junior) to do that. It’s a required course to graduate. The professor himself acknowledged that this is not his expertise. He called it a ‘carwreck.’</p>
<p>And the course requires a research paper. Maybe I can do something of the 19th century era in the class.</p>