Math Professor Demonstrates Idiocy

[roadrunnerNM]

A quick Google reveals that the name Phuc in Vietnamese is not pronounced as f-u-c-k would be in English.

[onthefringe]

A quick Google reveals that the name Phuc in Vietnamese is not pronounced as f-u-c-k would be in English.

Yup, solved with the most limited due diligence we woukd expect from our students.

[Caracal]

A quick Google reveals that the name Phuc in Vietnamese is not pronounced as f-u-c-k would be in English.

Yup, solved with the most limited due diligence we woukd expect from our students.

This is someone who apparently managed to write that email and send it without ever thinking 'is this a reasonable request to make of anyone?" Isn't this kind of racist?" and "If I send this, everyone will think I'm racist and college administrators will be denouncing me in public statements," so I'm guessing there's not a lot of thinking, critical or otherwise, going on here.

[toothpaste]

And to think all he had to do was call her "Ms. Nguyen."

[hungry_ghost]

Nguyen for the win!

[apl68]

When my brother was early in his military career, he had a Nguyen in his unit.  He took the trouble to learn to pronounce Nguyen's name.  The drill instructor simply called Nguyen "Nung."  Nguyen, like everybody else, just had to put up with what the DI said.

A student in a college classroom should not have to just put up with stuff the way a soldier in training does.

[spork]

And to think all he had to do was call her "Ms. Nguyen."

I can guarantee you that a middle-aged white guy who refuses to try to pronounce Phuc correctly and claims he's offended by how he pronounces it is NOT going to be capable of making the effort of saying "Nguyen."

- middle-aged white guy who long ago in a galaxy far, far away interviewed locals in Vietnam without an interpreter.

Edited to add:

Nguyen for the win!

This brought a smile to my face. Trying to teach my African wife these kinds of pronunciations usually devolves to "just say 'win' and you'll be ok." She does the same for me with her native language.

[pepsi_alum]

I couldn't find much on him, but his RMP goes back to 2013. I don't know how the CC system in California works, but my first instinct was "angry adjunct." I'm not sure that's the case though.

If the guy has been teaching as long as he apparently has, I can't imagine that this is his first outburst of this kind. I figure there's got to me more to this story.

My immediate thought was "bitter adjunct" as well. Given that Laney College's student body is 27% Asian, I'm sure this isn't the first time he's encountered names on the course roster that are unfamiliar to him. I frankly wonder if he was drunk or high when he wrote the email; I can't imagine anyone in any professional context thinking that sort of language would be okay in an email.

[Wahoo Redux]

His RMP are generally glowing.  Wonder if he wrote them himself or if this debacle is a sign of a now-surfacing psychological disorder.