[tyingq]

There is a very current thing happening where individual professors have too much power. The whole "remote teaching" thing is VERY new for some universities and professors. My son recently survived a final where > 90% of the class failed. Mostly due to poor execution of remote learning. Including simple stuff like classes overlapping meeting times, study material uploaded too late, etc.

No pressure on the professor or university, though. All on the students. There's a rant letter, from the prof, about effort where effort wasn't a factor. My kid survived solely because he has a very good memory. No accountability. I AM PISSED.

[Aperocky]

> where > 90% of the class failed.

I can't imagine this happening in a college class where the instructor get to keep his class next year.

[tyingq]

U.S. State college, a fairly well respected one, happening now. Chemical Engineering. They have no idea how to operate "online/remote". And that matters for classes like Fluid Dynamics, Organic Chem, Differential Analysis, etc. Is there some realistic path for me to escalate?

[covidacct]

> Is there some realistic path for me to escalate?

Is the instructor an ad junct? Those are cheap and replaceable. They make maybe ~1/10th of what your average FAANG engineer makes because the labor supply is extraordinarily over-saturated. Enough complaints will probably get them fired, if that's what you're looking for, but realize you're probably putting someone with no prospects and no savings out on the street and they will almost certainly be replaced with someone who gives about as many shits as you can expect from someone with a PhD who makes 30k a year. That tuition you're paying isn't flowing to the people teaching the courses.

If the instructor is an actual professor, then probably there's nothing you can do.

BTW, let your kid at least try their hand at navigating this on their own, even if you provide oversight. Barely competent people doing a poor job is not unique to pandemic times and is definitely not unique to higher ed. Knowing how to use a bureaucracy to route around an incompetent person not doing their job well is a valuable life skill. Plus, everyone involved is going to be more sympathetic to an articulate student than to a "helicopter parent".

[tyingq]

Not a big fan of the "helicopter parent" term. I'm paying for it, so I want to understand what I'm paying for. Why is that a "helicopter"?

[kevin_thibedeau]

Adjuncts aren't allowed to fail that many students. They will be pressured to keep the pass rate up to keep the pipeline filled with mediocre students.

[justinmeiners]

Is this your degree or your sons?