Favorite student emails

[EdnaMode]

I hope that budding engineers not only have to go through high-standards courses to graduate, but are also still subjected to rigorous on-the-job, real-world apprenticeship work before they can advance far enough to do any damage. 

Obviously, I can't speak for all programs but I'm proud of ours. All of us faculty have practical experience in the field - I worked in the construction-related field for years. We all have either a PhD or are PEs (licensed professional engineers) and some are both. We hold our students to a very high standard that our administration typically supports when the students send complaints up the chain of command and appeal grades that are 'not fair' because the professor was 'mean.' We require hand calculations along with computer-based solutions to many problems. Heck, in lab today, my students had to solve a problem three ways and part of their grade was based on discussing why there were ever so slight differences in the results.

To graduate, our students must either complete an internship with very specific requirements, or take part in a year-long industrial-sponsored capstone project. They are well prepared. We consistently look for ways to hold our students to a high standard and be fair at the same time. Engineering has an unfortunate reputation for being needlessly hard and having too many 'weed out' courses. That can be true, but we try to avoid making courses hard for the sake of being hard. We also place an absolute limit on the number of times students can retake a course because there is no joy in stringing students along if they will never actually earn a degree.

Many of the larger companies in fields like automotive, aerospace, oil and gas, etc. who hire our students put new employees with less experience through what they call a rotational program where they work at different jobs in the company for several months at a time and see where their skills and interests best fit in the company. So, aside from the embarrassing stuff that makes the news about quality and standards (especially recently), most of the companies I've ever worked with/near/around, even oil and gas, are quite serious about doing a good job and being safe.

After he retired from the military, my Dad worked as a machinist. I always wanted to help him starting when I was little and he gave me small, safe, chores to do and explained what he was doing. I was probably the only elementary school kid who had a basic understanding of torque. I do a lot of my own home repairs, and the stuff I can't do, I follow the repairmen around asking all sorts of questions so I'm sure my Dad is smiling down from the great beyond saying "That's my girl!"

[apl68]

After he retired from the military, my Dad worked as a machinist. I always wanted to help him starting when I was little and he gave me small, safe, chores to do and explained what he was doing. I was probably the only elementary school kid who had a basic understanding of torque. I do a lot of my own home repairs, and the stuff I can't do, I follow the repairmen around asking all sorts of questions so I'm sure my Dad is smiling down from the great beyond saying "That's my girl!"

You sound like a retired engineer of my acquaintance.  When he was a boy walking home from school, he would visit every shop in his small town and try to see what the guys there were doing.  Once they saw that he wasn't going to make trouble, they'd let him hang around and ask questions.  By the time he was in high school the manager of a local welding and machine shop had come to let him have the run of the place and all its equipment to work on any project he wanted.

I try to understand what our repair technicians are doing when they work at the library.  If I can learn something about what's actually supposed to be happening with the different systems, I can ask intelligent (hopefully) questions to help diagnose and prevent problems.  Assuming they can be diagnosed and prevented, which is not always the case.

[poiuy]

I am loving the tales of retired military engineer Dads (as was mine). No matter where in the world, the traits and quirks of skilled engineers seem the same.

[the_geneticist]

I'm now dealing with what I think are "favorite, why didn't you email me?" emails. 
Stu was absent from lab two weeks ago.  No email to me or their TA.  Now they are "alarmed" to see the 0s in the grade book. 
"But I was sick!"
I'm sorry they were sick, but I'm not psychic.
And yes, there are instructions in the syllabus, class website, & my "welcome to class" email saying what to do if you are sick & miss class.  I only start tracking folks down if they miss an exam or 2 weeks in a row.

[FishProf]

I got an email from a student complaining that "you said I missed class, but I've only missed one.   YOU'VE canceled 3!" 1 cancelled, 1 moved online, 1 snow day.

When I explained that being late 12-15 minutes every week is the equivalent of missing 2-3 days worth of lecture, she was confused.  "What do  we do in the first 10 minutes of class, anyway?"

All that stuff you didn't know about.....

[apl68]

You mean...stuff actually happens in the first 10 minutes of class each day?  Who knew?

We've had staff members who were the same way about the first 10 minutes of the work day.  Or at least they tried to be that way....

[bio-nonymous]

You mean...stuff actually happens in the first 10 minutes of class each day?  Who knew?

We've had staff members who were the same way about the first 10 minutes of the work day.  Or at least they tried to be that way....

Well, nothing really gets going at the office until mid-morning anyway. Why bother showing up before then?

/snarkoff

;)

[FishProf]

Same class as Tuesday, but today we are going on a field trip.  I cave an extensive explanation of where, when, why, what, and how they needed to navigate, prepare, and conduct the lab today.

Inquiring minds want to know what the half of the class that either didn't show or was late will do this afternoon....

[the_geneticist]

I got an email from a student that basically says:

"I took your class 2 years ago.  Can I get more points to raise my grade?"  Plus a lengthy paragraph about how they aren't asking for anything special, but it would be great for their financial/personal/mental well-being.  And they need a 3.80 to transfer to another university.

Guess what grade they earned?  That's right, an A-. 

I told them it was not possible, not ethical to offer more points after the class has ended, & to focus on their current classes.

Stu wrote back "Sorry, I didn't know that wasn't allowed.  But that was the only quarter I got less than As in my classes."

I'm not going to reply unless they escalate. 

1) Your grades in other quarters do not matter.
2) Even if it did matter, stu has never had a quarter of all As. 

[downer]

I got an email from a student that basically says:

"I took your class 2 years ago.  Can I get more points to raise my grade?"  Plus a lengthy paragraph about how they aren't asking for anything special, but it would be great for their financial/personal/mental well-being.  And they need a 3.80 to transfer to another university.

Guess what grade they earned?  That's right, an A-. 

I told them it was not possible, not ethical to offer more points after the class has ended, & to focus on their current classes.

Stu wrote back "Sorry, I didn't know that wasn't allowed.  But that was the only quarter I got less than As in my classes."

I'm not going to reply unless they escalate. 

1) Your grades in other quarters do not matter.
2) Even if it did matter, stu has never had a quarter of all As. 

Do you have an obligation to reply to students who are not enrolled in your classes? I'd be inclined to ignore such nonsense.

[kaysixteen]

One perhaps needs to consider whether failure to respond at all might engender complaints (that might well be entertained) to adminiscritters.

[the_geneticist]

I emailed their academic advisor to give them a heads-up about Stu's unethical request.

We'll see what happens next if anything.

[jerseyjay]

On at least one occasion I have had a student email me several years after they graduated to changed a grade of a course several years before that to raise their GPA so they can get into some graduate program. (It turned out they had emailed several professors in my department with the same request.) The response was easy, in that it is not possible to change a grade of a student once they graduate.

[downer]

I realized that I have a policy of waiting a few days before answering student emails that start with no greeting and go straight into "How come...?"

[the_geneticist]

I got a really, really long email from a student who is a[plying to medical school.  They said heheh learned so much, kept all of their notes, etc etc.
One giant glaring problem.

I was not their instructor.  I designed the labs, but labs are taught by TAs.  I don't teach the lectures either.

And even if I was their instructor, this was freshman [Baskets for Basketweavers 102] three years ago. Have I seen or heard from Stu in those three years? Nope.

I hope they have better choices for their other letter writers because I declined to write a DWIC letter.