“I decided we would do an oral exam* because it’s a great way to see if people have actually learned anything from my course and aren’t just parroting notes. Because I can ask them to elaborate on their answers.”
Yeah and it’s also a great way to get otherwise good students to go blank because it isn’t possible to absorb every bit of complex information you spent 12 weeks rushing through, Barbara.
This “gotcha” style teaching fucking pisses me off. There is no time in the real world people are not going to be able to look up their notes. Fuck, half the time I’ll ask a professor something and they’ll be like “I’ll have to look that up later and get back to you.” Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE HUMAN AND THATS HOW BRAINS ARE.
This type of teaching only favours students that already had experience with the subject beforehand and freaks with amazing memories. This kind of understanding of the material only comes from experience and repetition, something that the traditional 12 weeks of rushed lectures/labs that discard each topic quickly to fit all of them in don’t do.
I fucking hate how much I am going into debt to be taught only the vaguest concepts but doing most of the teaching myself in my own time. Education under capitalism is a joke.
*An oral exam is an exam where instead of answering questions in a quiet room on paper, you have to answer questions on a live video call with your instructor.
Going through university while mentally ill is a horrible experience. So fun having to email professors asking for extra time on an assignment here and there because I had an episode and effectively being told ‘tough shit’. Very cool, thanks! I love how callous the entire institution is!! Reminds me why I never reach out for help in the first place. I don’t know how quite to articulate it, but something about the way higher education works feels so antithetical to the process of learning, but maybe the experience of NTs is very different.
If you’re in the US, have you tried speaking to your “student success” representative, or the disabled students office? You may be able to get more time based on either health needs or learning disability needs. If you have been diagnosed (or can be) with ADHD at all, you should be able to get all kinds of assistance, extra time for exams, etc.
I did, but they told me it wasn’t an option, even with the therapist note and documentation of PTSD I provided. Frustrating, but nothing else I can do. Thank you anyways though!
Sorry to hear. That sucks! I hope you can find some way to make it work for you.