NYU is one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, so you'd assume they hold themselves to a pretty high standard.
Well, you'd assume wrong:
Yes, while a large portion of Gen Z kiddos are opting out of college altogether, their friends who stayed in school are complaining about how hard university is and getting professors fired in the process.
In the field of organic chemistry, Maitland Jones Jr. has a storied reputation. He taught the subject for decades, first at Princeton and then at New York University, and wrote an influential textbook. He received awards for his teaching, as well as recognition as one of N.Y.U.'s coolest professors.
But last spring, as the campus emerged from pandemic restrictions, 82 of his 350 students signed a petition against him.
Students said the high-stakes course — notorious for ending many a dream of medical school — was too hard, blaming Dr. Jones for their poor test scores.
The professor defended his standards. But just before the start of the fall semester, university deans terminated Dr. Jones's contract.
Dr. Jones is one of those old school guys who takes the lead and expects his students to follow along like professionals. He takes his job very seriously, and why wouldn't he? He teaches organic chemistry at NYU, a course which is required for those who want to become doctors.
[A collegue] said he worried about any effort to reduce the course's demands, noting that most students in organic chemistry want to become doctors.
"Unless you appreciate these transformations at the molecular level," he said, "I don't think you can be a good physician, and I don't want you treating patients."
Yeah, I think if you're going to be a physician, you're going to want to have Dr. Jones as your professor.
But the complaints keep rolling in.
One student complained of Jones' "condescending and demanding tone."
Another complaint was that Jones "hasn't changed his style or methods in a good many years."
Look, I get it, these things can be intimidating to young students who have been brought up in high schools tailored specifically for snowflakes.
So what did those students do?
They got Jones fired!
About a decade ago, [Jones] said in an interview, he noticed a loss of focus among the students, even as more of them enrolled in his class, hoping to pursue medical careers.
"Students were misreading exam questions at an astonishing rate," he wrote in a grievance to the university, protesting his termination. Grades fell even as he reduced the difficulty of his exams.
The problem was exacerbated by the pandemic, he said. "In the last two years, they fell off a cliff," he wrote. "We now see single digit scores and even zeros."
After several years of Covid learning loss, the students not only didn't study, they didn't seem to know how to study, Dr. Jones said.
To ease pandemic stress, Dr. Jones and two other professors taped 52 organic chemistry lectures. Dr. Jones said that he personally paid more than $5,000 for the videos and that they are still used by the university.
That was not enough. In 2020, some 30 students out of 475 filed a petition asking for more help, said Dr. Arora, who taught that class with Dr. Jones.
The students signed yet another petition in May of 2022:
"We are very concerned about our scores, and find that they are not an accurate reflection of the time and effort put into this class," the petition said.
And then...
In August, Dr. Jones received a short note from Gregory Gabadadze, dean for science, terminating his contract. Dr. Jones's performance, he wrote, "did not rise to the standards we require from our teaching faculty."
So now Dr. Jones has been fired from NYU and undoubtedly the organic chemistry course will become much easier.
And that is going to hurt in a few years when these students are professionals.
Not a good look, NYU.
Not a good look.
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