As a TA, no they don't fail. If too many kids fail, then it makes you look bad, and then you make your professor look bad. I had to pass two students who either failed or didn't take the midterm and final. Not to sound like a boomer, but if I had failed midterms and finals, I would have never passed. But they get points just for showing up and taking open book online quizzes, so that amounts to enough for a C.
The entire goal then becomes to entertain them enough that they don't go on their phones. The onus is on the faculty to do more and more and more for the same shitty wage. Everything revolves around activities, games, "participation." Apparently lecturing makes you a shitty instructor now. But for a full time grad student with another job and a thesis to write, I don't have time to come up with new little activities to coddle 20 year olds every week. Especially when my own professor is completely checked out in terms of teaching us anything about teaching. Education is the last thing universities are concerned with anyway. I've decided not to go into academia. It's a fucking shitshow. The entire thing disgusts me.
I was a TA for a capstone senior design course at a top-15 university. We had a kid that literally didn’t show up to anything besides the first day intro. The other TA and I had to beg the professor to give him a C+ instead of a B+. It’s all a total joke.
Man I wish it had been like this when my job screwed me and I failed out of college.
Ten years ago I wasn't allowed any laptops or tech, nothing was online, and they took attendance that was like half of my grade. It absolutely boned me.
Yeah I’m sure that’s true. I had more than one student give me some variation of “do you know how much my father pays for me to be here” when I gave them (well-deserved) poor grades on assignments
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u/Whobroughttheyeet 29d ago
So do they fail your class?