Dear Professor Starr,
My name is Zachariah White, and I'm a student in your Econ 218 class this fall. It somewhat saddens me that it has come to this, but I’m writing you to inform you that I plan on filing a formal complaint against you with the Economics Department of UIC, with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as the College of Business Administration. The reason for this is none other than the speech you gave at the start of class tonight, October 8th, 2007. I don't know if you noticed, but I was the one who quietly left class shortly after you finished your tirade of abuse toward the students of your class. I left not because I wanted to make a dramatic exit, nor because I was gleeful at the fact that I would have to write this letter, but because of a devout sickness that I developed shortly after you finished berating the students you claim to want to help learn Microeconomics. A sickness not of the body, but of the mind, for you see, you aroused a depression in me that I have not felt in quite awhile, an immense feeling of self-degradation and worthlessness that I cannot fully espouse in words. I take issue with the things you said, and it is the purpose of this email to let you know this, and to let you know that I refuse to be treated the way you treated your class this evening. What follows is a brief summary of what you said, and my remarks that attempt to accurately describe your feelings toward us, the lowly students. You started off class in much the same way you do every evening. You mentioned picking up the homework due in class the next class period on the back table, and also that the students who elected to redo the test could now pick up their corrections. Then, ever so succinctly, you felt the need to issue this declaration, paraphrased from my point of view: "I must say that I'm deeply disappointed in the results of the make-up portion of the test. You all (Y'all) had resources, the book, the notes, the test itself, and yet the average of this last test still remains at 70%." My problem with this is that your disappointment in us is of little consequence to our lives, and that is to say that even though you felt the need to lambaste our ears with such disdain, the very notion of your disappointment is almost superfluous, because we as students feel enough disappointment in outlives without some latent authority figure telling us how bad our conceptual understanding of the economics principles that you tried to teach us is; we pretty much got that idea from the test itself. Your reprisal, in verbal form, is a villainous attempt to further belittle our egos and rock the core of our being to the point of either trying harder to learn Microeconomic theory, or to cease trying completely. I, at the moment, am opting for the latter. You continued, . . ."I don't know what is going through the minds of those who put little or no effort in this exam, but beware that job interviews will harp on the very things I'm trying to teach in this class, and that many jobs across the country now ask for GPA, they ask to see your transcripts, and there will come a time when a job you are applying for may ask you for your GPA, knowing that they will only accept those above a 3.00 or a 2.5, and some of you will have to live with that. . .let me tell you this, there will be no curve, this make-up portion of the test was the curve, and some of you are going to be surprised when I don't pad your final grade with 30 or 40 points at the end. . .still, after this makeup I have 15 F's, an equal number of those in D's, and C's, a few B's and only 6 A's. . . It is your responsibility to learn the material. . ." and it goes on and patronizingly on. Who gives you the right to judge with impunity? Who gives you the right to stand on your academic soapbox and say with fervent disgust your utter lack of faith in our supposed ineptitude? I have to tell you, it that was your idea of encouragement, I think the last career on earth that you should attempt is that of a motivational speaker. It is our right as students to fail. It is our right to pay tuition, so we are allowed to sit in class, absorb the material at free will, and later, when tested on that material, it is our right to fail, and to not be judged personally, as if we are lesser people, but purely through academic measures. That being said, I'll have you know that I come to class every day, like so many of my fellow classmates, I don't cause problems, I don’t talk when you talk, I don't distract my fellow classmates, and I take notes, I read the chapters when I'm told, I participate in class discussions. I did my utmost best on that exam, and I made mistakes. I’m not proud of them, but I made them, they are mine, and I will not be told to feel bad about them, and I will not let you make me feel insignificant for making them. My grade on the first homework was 60out of 67, my first grade on the exam was 86/110, and with the make-up, that I literally spent days on trying to figure out where I messed up, I received a mere 5 extra points, bringing my grand total on the exam to 91/110. That is my grade, and I know I deserve that grade, not any worse and not any better, because I know I could have studied more, I shouldn't have forgotten that a "consumer theory framework" not only meant budget constraints, but also indifference curves, and just because I couldn't figure that out on the exam and then still missed it on the make-up doesn't give you the right to stand before the entire class and dismiss my effort, to brazenly exacerbate my figurative wounds, my failings, my self-esteem, all because you feel that this class appointed to some metaphorical judge, jury, and executioner position in academia. Your job is not to encourage us (or rather discourage) by telling us how bad we messed up and how unmeaningful our lives will be in the future, job interviews included, or by telling us how much we will regret not studying for Professor Starr's exam. Your job is to teach, not to judge. That’s what those in collegiate circles call a thesis statement. I'm going to let everyone in the Economics Department know of your feelings toward your students, how much you secretly seem to hate us for not being the epitome of the great economic thinker. This is a matter of principle. I respect (respected) you and your profession, but I cannot stand idly by while you transmogrify the profession of teaching into that of a judge passing sentence via verbal abuse for seemingly intellectual transgressions. That's what grades are for. Tell us that though mistakes were made, it's not the end of the world; tell us that we need to come see you in office hours if we're having problems with the material. Tell us by failing us, if that what it takes. But don't make us feel bereft of the hope that we will and can do better. I respectfully say this to you, and I hope you will see how badly you have insulted me and the others in class who are really trying their best.
Sincerely,
Zachariah White UIC Student-Economics Major[/b]
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