Why do teachers tr to fail you???

AOx1 · Apr 6, 2009

OP, one other thing you might try is to read some of the following (my students have said they were helpful in A&P)-

Cliffs quick review A&P

Some of them also mention the A&P book from the "for dummies" review series- terrible title, but they say it's a good book.

Also, some of the students at the school I teach at have a peer tutoring system that works on the barter system, lol. If you are tutored for an hour, then you might cook a dinner for the student that tutors you, or tutor them for an hour in another subject. You might see if this occurs at your school. You might be able to find a senior nursing student who would do this for you.

Also, when I was in school, I used to see if I was ready for the test by explaining the phys in layman's terms to a friend. Ex- if I could explain the responses of the sympathetic nervous system and its effects on the body in plain terms, I was ready. If not, I needed more practice.

Adams_Mommy_07 · Apr 6, 2009

op-

my impressions from your posts throughout the thread is that your instructor is making questions up that are not reflected in your course material (text/lab book/powerpoints/or instructed in class) if this is so, than your instructor has a serious problem and you need to bring this to the adminstration's attention. this is entirely and completely unethical. tests are designed to "test" your understanding of the material, not complete knowlege of the subject matter that could only be found outside the standard course instruction.

ex: question #4 is not found in text, notes, powerpoints, lab books, other course books, or instructed in lecture

why are you being tested on a question that you could not possibly anticipate? these "tests" are not tests at all if that is the case.

OrthoRN09 · Apr 6, 2009

Instuctors/professors to not fail students....students fail themselves.

missjennmb · Apr 6, 2009

Is this a public or a private school? I've been in a community college RN program, and a private trade school LPN program.
NOTE: the following is my OPINION, based on my personal experiences.
The philosophies of the programs seem to be very different. At the community college, nobody seemed to care if you passed or failed. If you pass, good for you, if you fail, well, that's evidence that the program is challenging and ONLY THE BEST make it through. At the trade school, efforts are made to help you understand the material if you're struggling. If you fail a quiz, you're called in to the instructor's office and helped to write a study plan for those areas where you need to work harder. They focus on making sure EVERY student has the information and skills they need to be a safe nurse; at the community college they toss the information out there and the students who catch it, catch it. If you don't catch it, it's up to you as the student to figure out how to navigate the system to get the help you need. I'll admit, I didn't put the effort in to figure that out, but it wasn't exactly advertised that help was available. At the trade school, there is a block of time set aside each week where no classes are scheduled and you can get one-on-one help from instructors or repeat lab exercises until you understand them. It's more about making sure everyone can practice safely than about passing only the best.

Just wanted to chime in here. I have attended private school and public school as well and I think that teachers themselves vary greatly in their ability to get information across (not saying any teacher is *bad* persay just that conveying information in a way that people can understand is a skill that some excel at and some do not, plus factors like enthusiasm about the material/teaching, outside interferences in both teacher and student lives, ect).

However, there has DEFINITELY been, in my experience, a huge difference in the SCHOOL's investment in caring whether or not the students pass. At a public community college teachers may be encouraged to offer times they are available to talk to students outside of class, and to encourage alternative methods of learning if they are having difficulty, but it is not forced on them, and nobody defines exactly what they HAVE to do (and when teachers get paid so little, I am not suprised that few of them at my school volunteer to spend unpaid hours helping students pass). In private school, there is a specific counselor that overlooks EVERYTHING and wants to chat if you ever start to slip behind in your school work, time set aside specifically to review portions of the program that you may be having difficulty with, school-led extra instruction available if you are having difficulty, and so forth. The program I was in private college for was software development, which very much unlike nursing, was still quite difficult, and many people did not make it through, but those of us who did knew our stuff backwards and forwards, not because we were fundamentally brilliant, but because there were literally more resources available for us to make SURE we knew the material. Not "just whats on the test" but that we UNDERSTOOD the concepts in the information in the chapters as they were laid out. Maybe its a "get what you pay for" kinda thing. I don't know. I just know that my pharm teacher flat out refused to make herself available to help us further study the material, doesn't know how to pronounce half the technical words in our pharm/med surg books (she verbally confused emphysema and empyema so much that i got a question about them backwards on the test and she asks US how to pronounce a good 50-75% of the drugs and disorders we are covering in med surg).

I see burnt out teachers all around me at my college and I feel bad for them. I wonder what we could do to make it better for them, so that they would be more energized and interested in helping us succeed. I cant help but wonder what the role of school administration is in creating the negative scenarios discussed in threads like this. Give us teachers enthusiastic about the material, who make themselves available and who try to provide information in a variety of ways to make it click for us, who assign homework and reading assignments that will help solidify the material in our minds, teachers who can take whats in the book and turn it around and explain it in a different way. Make them TOUGH teachers. Make them have high expectations and not accept "I went to a birthday party" as a reason for not getting homework done. Make them count the seconds on the clock and mark any person who walks in late count as tardy, and 3 tardies as an absence. Make them expect the best from us, but ask them to give the same. If it meant I could get a more involved teacher who really was able to convey material in a way that turned on my cranial light bulb, I would gladly see my school's min 80 to pass be changed to an 85. Don't make it easy. Dont spoonfeed us what will be on the next quiz or test or on the NCLEX. Just make the information 3 dimensional. Because having the teacher read a chapter outline stumbling over word after word (particularly when it seems less an issue of not being able to pronounce it, but not even trying), well I can't help but be frustrated.

milobust · Jan 7, 2010

During my nursing school program I made horrible grades while others made A's and ended the program making higher grades than most. The difference was that I realized it wasn't about the teacher or the material it was about how hard I worked. You CAN work harder if you want to. The only person to blame for you failures is yourself, once you understand that you will know where you falter and change your habits to succeed. I know because I was in your same place.

tokyoROSE, BSN, RN · Jan 7, 2010

30 students out of 100 failed sounds right to me. It is what it is. A&P is used as an entry class for so many programs, how can they give everyone A's or B's? The course is supposed to be challenging. My statistics teacher actually pointed out that when a teacher grades on a curve, they are going to end up with the same % of people failing every time. He says it doesn't help anyone but those in the top 10%. Ah I wish I could have remembered that lecture a little more.

I got a B+ in my first A&P class and that was a great disappointment to me because our program is very competitive. The next semester, I worked harder and attended study sessions with our tutor. Got an A. Honestly, you get the grade you work for. If you want something, stop at nothing to get it. Study harder, get into study groups, do anything for the grade.

guiltysins · Jan 7, 2010

I don't think professors are out to get anyone.

HOWEVER, I think it's wrong for everyone to dismiss the idea that there are just some professors who don't know how to teach properly in a way that students can pick up on. While this guy may not be out to fail his students, he could just be really sucky at teaching the information they need. 30 out of 100 failing isn't bad but if the other 70 students all got C's then I think it would still be something to look at. Because that means 30 failed and 70 BARELY passed which doesn't speak much to the professor's teaching ability.

Who knows, they might not be the first class to complain about him. But as we all know, some professors have the dreaded "tenure" and are untouchable. I don't like professors however who flat out say "I don't ever give A's" because I think it's discouraging knowing that you worked your butt off and you might get an A- even when you deserved that A. Its like some have a fear that if someone gets an A they'll be perceived as being easy or something. I don't know why they do it.

kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 7, 2010

This is a summary of my impression because I could write 5 pages worth of how I feel on the issue of blaming teachers and programs...if you learn one thing in all of your schooling, learn how to take your blame for your mistake and misunderstanding. Regardless of what a "whole" class thinks...if 1 person can pass, anyone can pass. And in my program, a majority of those who don't do well and complain that it's the teacher's fault...post constantly on their facebook about their drunken weekends, yet it's not their fault because the test was "full of tricks". Others refuse to go get help and maintain the idea of "C gets the degree". They AIM for the bare minimum...In real world nursing, if you make a med error because the MAR is typed wrong or the MD ordered something that shouldn't be ordered, and you give it just because it's ordered and you don't catch the issue... it's YOUR fault still. Teachers should not dumb down material, because that often leads to another thread I just read about the HESI being unfair. Some students who do get passed through school and fail the HESI or NCLEX, blame it on others.

letarn2b · Jan 7, 2010

I admit some prof thier goal is to see who will crack under pressue your goal is to prove them wrong.My micro professor was like this his tests were hell he would talk about how he expects more than half the class to fail..he felt he was the person to weed out nursing students. Study study study thier is always going to be prof like this remember other people have taken the same prof and passed he/she cant fail everyone!!!!!!

kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 7, 2010

Life is FULL of pressure though...It won't always been textbook or cut and dry, which is why some people claim tests are "tricky".