Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
<nodding> Yes-- I know precisely what you mean.

I was floored the first time it was none-to-subtly suggested to me that I just needed to "take the students as they come to" me... (this from my dean)

uh.... wait... a... minute... remind me again what "prerequisite" means, exactly, to YOU??" shocked I can't teach advanced chemistry to students who have no grasp at all on basic algebra, and it is GROSSLY unfair to the well-prepared students in those courses to expect that I should.

But apparently saying such things out loud is, well... verboten. <shakes head sadly>

Oh, yes. I was the project lead for designing three courses several years back. I wanted to include prerequisites. I was told that they had to be just for guidance and not mandatory. The department was afraid that "someone might sue" because of making entry requirements unrealistically high (remember, everyone deserves a chance!!).

For the record, the courses were second-year-level and I wanted a course in introductory college-level biology for course 1, that plus course 1 for course 2... you get the idea. I argued that everyone had the same chance to take intro bio, but forget it. It wasn't "fair."


Last edited by Val; 02/22/11 11:57 AM. Reason: Typo