I have been debating about bringing this up on my blog. But, now that the New York Times decided to revisit the situation, I feel compelled to share my views about this matter.

First, I should let you know that I am totally unfamiliar with Dr. Maitland Jones Jr. Dr. Jones has been a professor for decades- at Princeton (1964-2007) and at NYU (2007-2022). He and Dr. Fleming wrote a textbook on Organic Chemisty (1997, now in its fifth printing), a few study guides, and How to Survive and Thrive in Organic Chemistry for Dummies (2004). Dr. Jones also was considered one of the best teaching professors and was NYU’s “coolest” professor.

Now, what you may not know is that Organic Chemistry is a gateway course. (Some universities call these ‘stumble’ courses- because a high percentage of students earn a D or and F in the subject.) That means for those students who plan to major in PreMed, this is the course that separates those who will continue with that major and those that will need to find a new educational path.

For chemical engineers, the gateway course is typically Transport Phenomena. (I do admit that at least one of my fellow students managed to stumble when taking Organic…) When I was proceeding along that educational path, that course led to the departure of almost 2/3 of those enrolled in the program.  When I taught Organic Chemistry, about 50% of the students altered their majors, after the first semester ended.

But, with the pandemic and its restrictions, 82 of the 350 students in Dr. Jones’ class this year signed a petition saying he was making the course too hard and they were receiving terrible grades.

Now, Dr. Jones has noticed the student body had become less focused on learning the material (even though more students were enrolling, hoping to make it as premed students). I have noticed that many students are less interested in garnering an education and more focused on purchasing credentials. That sets up a conflict- students (and administrators) are using their tuition one way and faculty remains obsessed with conveying information and knowledge.

This mismatched priority leads many professors to abandon academia. Professors see their duty as conveying knowledge and maintaining standards, students want to be credentialed when using all their money on these courses. Some may say neither side is wrong (even though I stress the academic rigor). This mismatch of priorities will eventually leads the university to reevaluate its programs.

This problem also exists in public schools.  Many elementary and high schools have adopted a crazy system (at least to me!). They no longer let teachers grade assignments not turned in at ZERO, but at 50%. Which lets many an indolent student to believe they may be smarter- or learning more- than they really have.

I should also say that while at Brooklyn Poly, i managed to get two students appointed to the undergraduate curriculum and standards committee. (I was one of those  students.) While serving on that committee, we arranged for Brooklyn Poly to let students who retake a course (after they have received a D or F grade) to use the second grade for their permanent record; the original D or F was expunged. (This meant some premed students wouldn’t have to change their majors, nor would all those ChemE matriculants be forced to drop out of the program.)

As you can see, I am not against a second chance- but I do like the idea of maintaining gateway courses.

And, there is no way in hell that I would have fired Dr. Jones.  I would not be taking the side of the petitioners.

What say you?

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