Worried about Rice professors

hotasice
Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:12:39 +0000

ECON 211 has a notorious reputation for being a weed-out, “mad boring” class, as you so nicely phrased it, TheFutureIsHere ;)

It’s your standard basic economics fundamental course, so it’s not supposed to be exhilarating (unless you are an economics fanatic), but as you go higher up, the professors are a lot more engaging and the classes are much better. ECON 211 unfortunately just has that lone reputation as the horrible class everyone hates (or not, for a small minority?) but has to take because it’s a pre-requisite for not only the economics major but also some other interdepartmental majors/minors and also fulfills the D2 distribution requirement. Also, the fact that so many people take it, chances are you have a friend or a group of friends also taking it at the same time, so working in groups with your friends for the same class is appealing.

For Johnny Bear’s comment: I completely agree. So many students complain that it’s the professor’s fault for teaching a horrible class and for giving out highly subjective grades for one reason or another - but they never take some time to consider, “Oh, maybe I should’ve gone to more TA sessions. Oh, I should’ve gone to office hours, found a study buddy, studied more, asked questions in class…” and so on and so forth. It’s not a one-way street - the professors teach the material but it’s up to you and your responsibility to master it. After all, it’s your money paying for your education, so I would advise all incoming freshmen to take advantage of all the resources available (TA sessions, office hours, tutoring by upperclassmen, etc).