I'm working on a degree in Education. I'm in a class involving different theories of art education. We have a weekly discussion on various assigned academic journal articles and the like about different educational theories.
Every single class turns into a bunfight of massive proportions. It would make some MN threads look like a basket of kittens. There are two students in particular who are extremely opinionated. However, their opinions often have nothing to do with the topic, or are simply telling other students they are wrong, or that the teacher is wrong. This is not respectfully disagreeing, which I would be fine with. They often shout and talk loudly over others, and some of what they say is truly outrageous. It is not only in our discussions about theory and articles, but as well as any time the student or professor says anything they might not fully agree with.
The professor does nothing to deter these fights, and in fact has said she does not feel every opinion deserves respect and will not ask us to show respect for other opinions in the class, and that education is a passionate subject and this simply can't be avoided. She will not reign in any student who oversteps bounds. There is no regulation of discussions, which go so wildly off topic we learn nothing about the theory being "discussed".
It came to a head in our last class. Me and another student were actually threatened by one of the two students. She said she was "warning us" that if she heard us speaking again she "wasn't going to hold back." She also told us we were not allowed to comment on a particular topic because of our race. The professor did nothing. Several of us told her we were not comfortable in class. She thanked us for telling her, but made no indication things would change.
I'm thinking of sending her an email, addressing what is going on in classes and that I do not feel safe or comfortable. I plan to CC the department head. Is this the right move? I feel like there needs to be a 'witness' to this email. I'm worried, well, that it might affect me in the class if the professor feels she's being 'told on'. My other options are to email the professor only and risk nothing changing, or to lodge a formal conduct complaint against this other student, resulting in an investigation.
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To send this email to my professor and CC the department head?
31 replies
LettertoHermioneGranger · 01/03/2014 02:17
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