Steven
Academics would have to be something that I am not so satisfied about. I want to start with the MATH department. I have taken 3 math courses at Queens College during my 1 and a half years here and after careful consideration I’ve concluded that the math department - SUCKS. When I write math department, I write this in regards to the teachers and the math department's secretaries (room 237 I believe). Most of the math teachers that I’ve had during my time here were: Prof. Young, Prof. Marla Sims, Prof. Eisen and Prof. Tousi.
Prof. Young's class was by the far the most enjoyable and intellectual of the rest which were very boring and too fast. Prof. Sims in my opinion is much more of a substitute teacher than a Prof.. She teaches class way to fast and has high expectations of her students when they receive little homework from her, she is unenthusiastic, and doesn't seem to care much really. I'm sure she’s a nice old lady though. Prof. Eisen's class had more values and light to it than Prof. Sims class did. I think it’s because Prof. Eisen assigned a lot of homework and asked students to write the homework on the board so that the whole class could compare errors and check answers. The only flaw I had in the class was with her tests and her speed. She writes her tests in bad hand writing and makes bad copies of them and expects us to finish in an hour. Instead of doing the real math problems, I found myself adding up her terrible written letters to see if they make up words instead! The last thing is the speed - she goes way to fast as well.
Now after seeing these "speed flaws" in both these past teachers as well as in my current one, Prof. Tousi, I asked myself, "is this the teachers fault or the Math Departments fault?”. If this is the speed the math department expects the professors to teach at then they need to find some sort of other method because at this pace, only about 75{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} or 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} are going to pass the class.
Now when talking about the math department's secretaries, those people need some patients once in freakin while. I feel as if whenever I ask a question they hurry me and make me feel as if i asked a question that’s completely unnecessary. Like Prof. Marla Sims, they seem like nice ladies but need to work with students and not so fast. Don't let me make them sound like cruel people though, they do say "how may I help you sweetie" every time I see them :).
When it comes to academic requirements I think they are ridiculous. Considering that this is a Liberal Arts and Science college, do we really need these core classes such as science and music? I've had enough of these in high school so why would I double the headaches? These classes, unless I needed them for a major, are useless. Although I find the science classes to be very interesting, I still believe they are useless. As contradicting as this may sound, I’m happy I took the science classes because of how interesting they were. But what about the students who don't like science? They shouldn't struggle to pass a class they dislike because it will only stress they're GPA's.
Students in MOST of my class were definitely not competitive. Three out of the four math classes I have had were completely d e a d. Students at powdermaker hall with classes such as philosophy where also dazed out and unaware of what was going on. The most unique class that I have taken so far would have to be English 110, mostly in part because I had a killer teacher named Prof. Lyness. She was new and really brought life to the class. Furthermore, the students in my English class were very active and fun to work with. There wasn't a day we didn't laugh or learn in her class. I think this is because students, including myself, were freshman and were "fresh" to college life so it was an experience we could all share together.
Andrew
Yes they know my name. My favorite class is physics and my least is anthropology. Students in the sciences study alot, but in the liberal arts not so much.
Some students have intellectual conversations out of class but others don't, clearly. Students are competitive within sciences I find, nothing else. I don't spend time with my professors I have nothing to ask. Education here is geared towards getting a job.