On "Weed-Out" Classes

Posted Tue Nov 13, 2001 in University

I’ve been incredibly busy this week. I guess I’m still getting caught up after traveling to San Antonio for a meeting. Next week will be Thanksgiving break, then it’s a quick run to the end of the semester. School work has piled up for professors as well as students, and graduate students are looking for assistance with their work (and mine). So, there hasn’t been much time for writing or even thinking about writing.

It looks like I’ve got projects assigned for all classes and homework is pretty well under control. I have a pile of papers to correct, but that’s normal. I’ve made quite a bit of progress, so I know I’ll get them done. I’ve worked my way through a stack of advising files, about the normal amount of folks I see this time of the semester. Some of them just won’t come and see me and will work out another way to get advised so they can register.

I have just a word about the photograph. On my way to San Antonio last week I watched a set of showers develop to the south. The clouds were so beautiful as they grew from local convection into showers. As I turned southeast from SH 70 onto FM 153, I could see that the sun would pop out beneath this line of clouds just at sunset. So, I kept an eye open over my shoulder and pulled off just as the sun was dropping toward the horizon.

Every semester about this time, I start thinking about my advisees. (It’s hard not to when I see several each day!) I remember when I was an undergraduate, although I was a non-traditional student. You see, I started college when I was 18, went one semester, earned every possible grade, then decided that I was not sufficiently motivated and didn’t want to ruin my grades, so I dropped out. I went to work for a car dealership on the oil-change rack and did general duties (whatever they needed done) for a year. I then answered an newspaper ad for an engineering technician. I filled out an application and they asked me to take a test.

After a few days, they called and offered me a job. I told them I’d think about it. That afternoon, I was talking to my supervisor (the service manager) about the job offer. I was waffling because I was uncertain about making the change. I had a secure job, even if it was minimum wage, and didn’t really have to work too hard. Whatever his shortcomings were, he knew an opportunity when he heard it. He told me “Thompson, if you don’t take that job I’ll fire your ass!” So, that decided me because I believed him.

After five years as an civil engineering design technician, I decided that my career path was limited by my lack of an engineering degree. I could see that the engineers did much the same work that I did, but had more responsibility and autonomy. I decided that I wanted that too. So, I was motivated to return to school and work on my engineering degree. (I’ll tell that story another time.)

So, I was a non-traditional student in that I was about five years older than my peers. So, listening to them talk about weed-out classes, and about some of our faculty, I learned to be skeptical of what was said. Oftentimes, the classes were difficult because students didn’t really apply themselves. Some students had beefs with some faculty because those faculty had high standards. Even then, over 20 years ago, a lot of students had the victim mentality.

Curiously enough, I still see a lot of that attitude. I still hear about weed-out classes. If the university needs to limit enrollment, there are far more efficient ways to accomplish it. I tell my students that we don’t need weed-out classes because students do well enough without any help. There’s just no such thing. The classes we have in our curriculum are there because they are required to comply with our accreditation board and with the requirements of the state for general education.