Rumor Mills

[takethepoints]

Sure there was one professor who showed up drunk to class the few times he didn't just make his TA teach. And sure there was the other professor who cared so little for the content he was teaching he'd often forget he had to go teach that day. But those two were mostly there for their high level research. I appreciated professors like yourself that actually did care for students.

One of my colleagues down where I used to work (and not so long ago) got a job at Tech. She went to see the head of her department who welcomed her and went over her class schedule. Says she, "How much do you want in office hours? And how much time should I dedicate to out of class for the students who need help?" Says he (looking at her like she had three heads), "Just teach your classes and do your research."

Well, such is how it is major research universities. Down at my place I got a rep for being one of the top scholars on campus because I published something about every year. Did this get me promotion or more money or campus recognition or anything like that? Fugetaboutit. The only thing that counted was teaching. Strange how that works.

 

[GTpdm]

Don't make assumptions about me because of a misunderstood comment. I am a proud alumn and supporter of Georgia Tech. I do whatever I can to spread how great of an Institute it is. If asked about difficulty, I say something similar to you. "It's difficult, but the professors, TAs, and help groups are all there to help you succeed."

Fair enough; I apparently mis-read your intent. But still, even going back to the bad old days, the "look to the left, look to the right..." proclamations should not be taken as evidence that faculty as a whole were actively trying to weed out students. Tech profs are rooted in science and engineering. If historical statistics said 1 in 3 would last in engineering, then it is no surprise that they pointed that out to their students. I can assure you, though, that any prof (*) who actually brought up that data did so because he wanted to be proven wrong. The right sort of student would take it as a challenge (as several have noted, above), and would have been better for it. The 1 in 3 remark was never the "gloating" that some disgruntled graduates make it out to be. (Sorry if I assumed you were one of that crowd, Cam.)

(*) Okay...maybe not any prof...not all Tech faculty are as fully deserving of student adulation as I am (). I work with some colleagues that I would not wish on any of the students in my classes. But that is not a "Tech vs. students" thing; it is a consequence of the tenure process at all colleges--there can be bad profs everywhere, and Tech is just as susceptible to that as any other school. (I'm not tenure-track, fwiw.) And it's also worth pointing out that one of the reasons why the "new Tech" is different from the old is that over the past decade or so, there has been a pretty big influx of junior faculty who are much better at working with students.

 

[jrgray]

This is a school where I had a professor proclaim "it is not a coincidence that the amount of paper I needed to photocopy this final exam is called a 'ream'."

Management is much easier than engineering (as I can say from experience) but still not as easy as fluff majors at other schools.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Given how often I hear people on this board complain about our recruiting difficulties, why even post a comment like this? Does anyone really think that complaints about how we "try to fail students" at Tech won't deter potential recruits?

Besides--"they" (the Institute) has never tried to fail students--and by "they", I really mean "I personally, and no one I ever worked with in my 20 years teaching a so-called 'weedout' course at Tech".

You do realize that a teacher trying to actively fail students constitutes professional misconduct along the lines of a doctor trying to kill patients he deems undeserving of life, don't you? Is that really the the level of respect that you have for your alma mater, that you would accuse the faculty as a whole of systematic professional misconduct?

Yes, Tech is hard--but the faculty bust their asses to make that challenge manageable for as many students as possible. Not all profs are as good at it as I am (or as humble )--but then again, not all students come straight from Lake Wobegone. You would not believe some of the abject slackerhood I have to contend with (on a regular basis) in the courses I teach. Thankfully, most Tech students really are "all that"--and they are the only reason I haven't quit my job to become a pet groomer or something.

Don't assume the worst about The Institute (and yes--"trying to fail students" is the worst thing we could do) just because you had some bad experiences in hard classes. Tech expects a lot because the employers who hire our graduates expect a lot.

The challenges I faced at Tech are the best things that happened to me in my life (particularly, meeting @YJAlleyCat there and--eventually--winning her over). You will never catch me bad-mouthing any part of that experience, no matter how tough it was.

Yeah, be that as it may, in 1969 we had a Chemistry exam where the highest grade was roughly 30 to 35 of 100. At least a dozen students had grades less than 0! I, thank Heaven, got a 17 if I remember correctly. That prof should have been kicked down the Hootch, and it has not one damn thing to do with not respecting our alma mater. People like that do not deserve to get a paycheck from the taxpayers. The Scumbucket could never make a living in the private sector.

Now what about the transfer rumors?

P.S. One of the sports radio shows today said 5 - 7 ugag players are thinking of leaving there.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

One of the sports radio shows today said 5 - 7 ugag players are thinking of leaving there.

WOW. Wonder who.

 

[chewybaka]

It is part and parcel to any major program.

Agreed, ie reference what's going on at Tennessee....

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

WOW. Wonder who.

I think most are assuming Chubb & Michel are leaving, so IDK if they are included in the group this guy said he was going to try and find out about.

 

[laoh]

I had a pretty miserable first 3 years at Tech. The last 2 were marginally better once I got rolling with IE classes. Tech does beat you down. Oh please, profs that care? Maybe in the minority. Most are there to do research and get tenure. I had an emag prof where he announced that the test we took had a class avg of 42. Yes, 42. And he boldly proclaimed, "no, I'm not going to curve b/c I have tenure and I don't give a sh_t". There was an IE prof in material handling that was just a d_ck. I'm 41 now and wouldn't you know, this 23 year old kid at my workplace had this same prof as the senior adviser and had a miserable time. You can say that profs are not out to weed students anymore or they care but bleh, what I remember most about Tech was that the shaft was real and reamed your arse and you know what, some profs are just a$$_oles. That's just who they are. And many of the profs and the students who are particularly smart can be really smartasses... they have the Nick Burns syndrome. They really do.

I'm not gonna be one of those people that gloat about Tech like "the experiences there made me the man I am today". Well, my experiences at Tech, I was miserable most of the time... I got out and am doing somewhat well now but if I were to do it all over again, I'd choose a college that still has a major football program and also provides students a more fun, positive atmosphere. I kid you not, 17 years since graduating, I sometimes still have nightmares about the shaft. I'd dream that I missed a final or I never turned in any homework and I missed the drop day or something of that sort... and I know I'm not the only one that have nightmares about Tech b/c other alums have concurred.

Well, the ramble went on way too long. But the fact that we have one prof who's here in this forum is in itself a miracle.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

I had a pretty miserable first 3 years at Tech. The last 2 were marginally better once I got rolling with IE classes. Tech does beat you down. Oh please, profs that care? Maybe in the minority. Most are there to do research and get tenure. I had an emag prof where he announced that the test we took had a class avg of 42. Yes, 42. And he boldly proclaimed, "no, I'm not going to curve b/c I have tenure and I don't give a sh_t". There was an IE prof in material handling that was just a d_ck. I'm 41 now and wouldn't you know, this 23 year old kid at my workplace had this same prof as the senior adviser and had a miserable time. You can say that profs are not out to weed students anymore or they care but bleh, what I remember most about Tech was that the shaft was real and reamed your arse and you know what, some profs are just a$$_oles. That's just who they are. And many of the profs and the students who are particularly smart can be really smartasses... they have the Nick Burns syndrome. They really do.

I'm not gonna be one of those people that gloat about Tech like "the experiences there made me the man I am today". Well, my experiences at Tech, I was miserable most of the time... I got out and am doing somewhat well now but if I were to do it all over again, I'd choose a college that still has a major football program and also provides students a more fun, positive atmosphere. I kid you not, 17 years since graduating, I sometimes still have nightmares about the shaft. I'd dream that I missed a final or I never turned in any homework and I missed the drop day or something of that sort... and I know I'm not the only one that have nightmares about Tech b/c other alums have concurred.

Well, the ramble went on way too long. But the fact that we have one prof who's here in this forum is in itself a miracle.

Many on here have said similar things and are "accused" of trying to turn GT into a football factory or trying to devalue the GT degree.

The truth is a guy like you will be a success regardless of where you went to college.

And, yes, very many, if not most profs, are there to do research and get tenure. Fake azz bastards need to get off public dole and really work for a living instead of being jealous of our S/As who are trying to accomplish more than most students.

 

[danny daniel]

You're both right, really.

Frankly those low freshman retention rates were a sign of poor instruction as much as anything. A few of the Old Guard were still around when I started in 2004 (4 Horsemen of Calc, Physics 1&2, etc), and those guys were just abysmal teachers.

What teachers? Those were grad students on steroids with no skill in speaking English. Add 3:00PM Friday labs, 8:00AM Saturday classes, 220 credits to graduate requiring 7 different classes per Q, 7:00 AM ROTC drills, mandatory PE, and failing grades to 33% of the class and you have the "old" GT freshman experience of the 60's. If you couldn't do a 180 pretty quick you were OUT!

 

[GTech63]

I had a statics class with a professor took 15 minutes to pronounce parallelogram. .. .it was 14 minutes of parawella......

happens not only at tech. My daughter had a friend take Spanish at Baylor. The teacher was Chinese.

 

[jacobchbe]

I had a pretty miserable first 3 years at Tech. The last 2 were marginally better once I got rolling with IE classes. Tech does beat you down. Oh please, profs that care? Maybe in the minority. Most are there to do research and get tenure. I had an emag prof where he announced that the test we took had a class avg of 42. Yes, 42. And he boldly proclaimed, "no, I'm not going to curve b/c I have tenure and I don't give a sh_t". There was an IE prof in material handling that was just a d_ck. I'm 41 now and wouldn't you know, this 23 year old kid at my workplace had this same prof as the senior adviser and had a miserable time. You can say that profs are not out to weed students anymore or they care but bleh, what I remember most about Tech was that the shaft was real and reamed your arse and you know what, some profs are just a$$_oles. That's just who they are. And many of the profs and the students who are particularly smart can be really smartasses... they have the Nick Burns syndrome. They really do.

I'm not gonna be one of those people that gloat about Tech like "the experiences there made me the man I am today". Well, my experiences at Tech, I was miserable most of the time... I got out and am doing somewhat well now but if I were to do it all over again, I'd choose a college that still has a major football program and also provides students a more fun, positive atmosphere. I kid you not, 17 years since graduating, I sometimes still have nightmares about the shaft. I'd dream that I missed a final or I never turned in any homework and I missed the drop day or something of that sort... and I know I'm not the only one that have nightmares about Tech b/c other alums have concurred.

Well, the ramble went on way too long. But the fact that we have one prof who's here in this forum is in itself a miracle.

I graduated in 2014 and this was pretty much my exact experience. The professors may not actively be trying to fail you, but most don't give a **** about you and aren't afraid to give everyone in the class an F if they aren't performing. I remember one class where the test average was a 32 and the professor told everyone she wasn't curving and if we did not perform better she would see us all next semester retaking the same class. I think half the class failed. Georgia Tech is definitely where fun goes to die, but I cannot deny it has given me good life. The years of abuse has given me a sort of Stockholm Syndrome towards the place.

I doubt Georgia Tech is any easier today than in the past. The students are just smarter and information is more readily available. I still felt like I didn't graduate, "I got out."

 

[GTech63]

And earlier

My son went to TAMU in the 90s and was told in an early class look to your right and look to left, two of you will not be here in a couple of years.

Son started as an Areo Eng, later changed to accounting and got his Navy commission through the Corp of Cadets NROTC. The kid visited campus with his Mom and myself sneering at the riding boots of the senior cadets. 4 hours later after visiting, he shows up bleeding Maroon blood and it still flows, an amazing transition. My wife and I could not believe it.

 

[Techster]

Now what about the transfer rumors?

P.S. One of the sports radio shows today said 5 - 7 ugag players are thinking of leaving there.

Um, so just another normal offseason for the mutts?

 

[Animal02]

I graduated in 2014 and this was pretty much my exact experience. The professors may not actively be trying to fail you, but most don't give a **** about you and aren't afraid to give everyone in the class an F if they aren't performing. I remember one class where the test average was a 32 and the professor told everyone she wasn't curving and if we did not perform better she would see us all next semester retaking the same class. I think half the class failed. Georgia Tech is definitely where fun goes to die, but I cannot deny it has given me good life. The years of abuse has given me a sort of Stockholm Syndrome towards the place.

I doubt Georgia Tech is any easier today than in the past. The students are just smarter and information is more readily available. I still felt like I didn't graduate, "I got out."

You don't get out.....you escape!

 

[Bogey]

That may be the case now......but weeding people out definitely was the norm back in the late 70s early 80s

As back in the 60's. Our weed out course was the first ChE course and had 1 A and 1 C out of ~ 25 students. The curve was destroyed by a genius with photographic memory who got his BChe degree in 3 years and went straight into the PhD program. Over the quarter break, the dept head raised a few of us from F to D but we still had to repeat the course since a C was required to progress. Next quarter the text book was changed and dept. head taught the course himself.
Our freshmen class met in the gym and we were told to look to the person on your left and then your right, and told only one of you would graduate from Tech in 4 years. Took me 5 with the issues I had.

 

[ibeattetris]

I still get the Tech nightmares too.

Mark me as one who thinks Tech brought out what's best in me though. Stress has a way of elevating or pushing you down. Those that can manage end up being able to handle anything.

My professional career I've only a couple times (recently with new company known for *** kicking) felt the pressure and challenge I did for 5 years at Tech. I doubt some fun football factory would have prepared me similarly.

 

[mndojckt]

Emanuel Bridges is following multiple community college coaches

 

[JacketGirl]

Emanuel Bridges is following multiple community college coaches

He just announced on his Twitter that he's transferring.

 

[inGTwetrust]

Academics or playing time? I thought he'd be good player for us. athlete at lb...something we need