Okay. I tried not to complain too much when Dr. Bigshot cancelled class for two weeks in the middle of winter quarter and made us make them up on Fridays when not everybody could be there for the entire class period. After all, I reasoned, it was probably some weird and unavoidable aberration.
But now I am taking a spring quarter class with him. Not only did he cancel one of this week’s classes and reschedule it on Friday at a time when not everybody can make it, but he’s going to be missing two weeks of class in the middle of the quarter again. I’m guessing that once again we’re not going to find a time to make those up when all of the students can be there.
It so happens that I’ll probably be able to get to the make-up classes as long as my new work schedule doesn’t interfere, but this sucks so bad for the students who can’t. And when they object, you act as if they are the ones in the wrong, as if they are the ones being unreasonable. God dammit, man, when students register for classes, they are careful to make sure that their schedules will work so that they can always be there. If at all possible, they avoid making travel plans that are going to take them away. They make, in other words, a commitment.
But here’s the other side of the coin: when you agree to teach those classes, at those times, for the entire quarter, you make the same commitment. We have other obligations–other classes, work, meetings, you name it. To expect everyone to either shove their responsibilities to the side to fit your schedule is so incredibly arrogant and inconsiderate that I just don’t have the words.
Obviously, as a professor (and a respected researcher), you are in a safe position. Technically we could complain, but the university wouldn’t do anything about it. I suppose this wouldn’t be so bad if you just canceled the classes outright, but to decide to teach material outside of scheduled class times when people cannot be there (and really should not have to be) is taking it a bit too far. It could possibly damage grades.
Jesus. I wish I could go through life just scheduling things around my plans after entering into an agreement to do something different. "No, Professor, I don’t believe I’ll be able to make class during the first two weeks of May after all. I’m not going to tell you where I’m going, because it would make you jealous.* How about we make up those classes on odd Fridays from 1:22 to 2:42? Greeeeaat.
*He actually said this to us, pretty much verbatim, last quarter.