Ethical?

Ok, I obviously don't think this is ethical or I wouldn't be posting, but I thought I'd post it anyway and see what you guys have to say

I'm a distance student taking a distance course through a community college. All of us in the course are distance students for this course, but most of the students (all but 3 of us) are locals.

Our teacher is offering 5 bonus exam points for those willing to donate a baked good for the bake sale/fundraiser.

The exam is worth 25 points, so 5 points is 20%! A huge extra credit opportunity.

Here are our email conversations minus the names:

TEACHER: "The chemistry club is having a bake sale. If you donate a baked good, I will give you 5 points extra credit on your next exam.
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| | | | Your help is greatly appreciated.
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| | | | Thank you so much for your support!"

ME: "Do you have any ideas as to how the distance learning students can participate? I'd love to help out and love 5 bonus points"

TEACHER: "That is a good question Jennifer. If you are not on campus, this activity will not work out for you.:

Me: "Please provide me with an address so I can send my baked goods asap.
| Thanks"

TEACHER: " You can't send a baked good by mail. It will not arrive fresh and cannot be sold. You cannot do this activity. A lot of students on campus and online cannot participate in every activity. "


So, ethical? I have half a mind to mail this woman $10.

 

TEACHER: Students, here is an opportunity for you to earn 5 bonus points. Jennifer, you don't have one. In fact, if you mail me $2,000.00; you'll automatically get an "A" for the class.

hahaha! Well, I don't think this is fair. If there is an opportunity, must be equally to everyone.

 

Jennifer, Unethical? Maybe/maybe not. Totally misguided and a little clueless? Completely. This needs to be an all or nothing venture. Her intentions may be honest and good, but what she is offering is unfair to the distance students and possibly against school policies.

 

You are being discriminated against. And you shouldn't mail her $10.

I believe you have a valid complaint. I would ask her one more time how you could have the same extra credit opportunity. If she refuses, you now have a teacher who is engaged in capricious grading. Time to go to the division chair.

Shawn

 

I'd report it. Clearly unfair, probably against school policy.

 

I think there are times when we can tow the fine line of all this ethics stuff, and other times when it's better to let something be. I think you and only you know the situation at hand, the persona of the teacher, the details of the charity, and so on. I think those details will fill the picture for you. For us observers from afar, I don't think it's fair for us to judge, but if I were to I'd say it's best to leave it be and just be happy you can take the course from a distance even if you can't participate in everything the class has to offer. I think also the nature of the fundraiser is an element. If it's for some spoiled h.s. kids that want "cooler" school uniforms, that doesn't sound good. If it's for parapalegic(sp) kids that can't afford needed tuition, I think that paints a different picture.

Hope I'm not being rude. Enjoyed your story.

 

I think the teacher is not thinking this all the way through, and realizing how unfair it is.

It is also possible that she doesn't particularly like distance learning students; wouldn't be the first time I'd heard of that sort of discrimination.

I don't agree that it's a "leave it and be happy" situation. It really isn't OK, and since you've given her a couple of opportunities to create an alternative way for you to earn the credit and she's not "getting it", then I do think it's time to take the issue up with the department chair.

 

The teacher is clearly out of line in more than one way...BUT, if she is the type of person who sells points, then she might be the type to retaliate against someone who complains. I think it's right to complain, but it might be wise to wait until the course evals.

He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious. Sun Tzu

 

I'll have her for two more semesters, so this might not be the hill I want to die on. The college has many chem classes, she is the only one doing distance chem- and she does all of them. So either she enjoys the obvious benefits of online teaching or drew the short straw- not sure which.

The science dean is another professor of mine (that doesn't particularly like me) but the teacher in me just freakin OBJECTS to this kind of thing. I can only assume she is relatively new, those of us who have been head of a classroom for 2 decades would never do crap like that- of if we did, it wouldn't be in writing. <smile>

 

This is exactly why I didn't encourage my wife to complain when she had an unethical community college instructor. In the week before each exam, the instructor held special review sessions immediately after class ended for any students who wanted to attend. In the review sessions he previewed what materials were going to be on the exam. He charged $5 per student to participate in the session. He was the coordinator for the program that the course was contained in and there was no way that the school would terminate him in the middle of a semester.

 

Was the money sent to the school, or him? Even though he is the coordinator, and the money goes to the school. Then it is mandatory fee... For example, Southern Methodist University charges $504.00 per course for distance learning students; which is excluded from the tuition. This fee is for the video sessions; however, some instructos allow on campus students to view the video if he or she choose to. Do you think it is fair for distance learning students, when we all have equal access?

 

He only accepted cash and it went straight to his pocket with no accounting.

 

I guess this guy has to put more work in his get-rich scheme. With his $5/h he has even with popular classes still a long way to go.

But yes, I can see that the extra credit for cookies thing is quite weird. But in this situation (e.g. long time student-prof-dependency) the "life ain't fair, just move one" attitude might be best suited.

 

An ethical approach would have been to award 5 points for any baking project and require a short write-up explaining a course-relevant chemical process in the recipe....maybe translate the recipe into a chemist's language. Locals would be required to bring the goods to class and the DL students would send a jpeg. BAM...cookies and points everywhere!

 

That's a tough one. That's a CLEARLY report to the chair situation, however, you have that teacher for two more classes. I guess if you think you are going to get an A without the extra credit, you can let mumble under your breath about it but let it go. Maybe you can send a nice email to your teacher pointing out how unfair that is?

 

Clearly, this is an invidious form of discrimination against distance learning students.

 

While I clearly disagree with your teacher's approach, given that you have two more courses to go with this teacher, you may want to bite to bullet on this one.

Would it be possible for one of your local cohorts to submit a baked good on your behalf?

 

Perhaps try sending the chemical formulas of the main ingredients in a cookie.

 

You guys are very clever and creative
I've decided to just earn my grades- and what I get is what I get.
HOWEVER, at some point, when appropriate, I will address this with someone at the school.