... and Dartmouth's WorstDartmouth’s Worst Professor A self-described “recovering racist” who makes her classes into an airing of grievances rather than a study of literature because she “can’t read male authors anymore,” Grantham injects her writing courses with dogmatic liberalism. Notorious for declaring Band-Aids “racist” because of their color, she terrorizes those who disagree with her and fills her class with rants that verge on insanity (the plight of the lobsters at the Co-Op apparently keeps her from sleeping at night). If you find yourself unlucky enough to be assigned to her Writing 5 section, bolt for the door. Jesse Giummo Marysa Navarro A dubious distinction, this professor was featured in the very first issue of The Dartmouth Review—over twenty-five years ago. She is still causing problems on the Dartmouth campus today. She is perhaps the most notoriously biased grader in Dartmouth’s history and a feminist reactionary to the bone. Roger Sloboda Professor Sloboda, who teaches in the biology department, “is so bad that I changed my major,” one student reports. He’s known for his meandering lectures, telling students the opposite of what he means, and emphasizing unimportant details in class; many leave his classroom dazed or frustrated. Talk about confusing: many students in his class learn the basics of Cell Biology by appealing to the class’s TA rather than stopping by Professor Sloboda’s office hours. His team taught Bio 11 class (The Science of Life) has been called the worst class at Dartmouth. Lynda Boose How Professor Boose managed to secure a position at Dartmouth is astounding. Nothing good can be said about this lady. She left her English 5 class to sit through more than four weeks of soap operas in place of class lectures. She frequently cancels class with little warning; she once missed class for a whole week because of a toothache. Avoid this nutty professor by any means necessary. Ellen Rockmore Writing 5 classes typically don’t attract the most stellar of profs, and Ellen Rockmore is no exception. She grades papers arbitrarily, lackadaisically assigning a student the same grades throughout the term, whether they have improved their writing or not. But improving her students writing skills was never Professor Rockmore’s goal; opining endlessly in class, rather, is her paramount objective. This woman is dangerously underqualified to teach, and literally pushes students out of her office hours when they press her about their writing skills and improvements. Susan Blader A generation ago, when Mao ran China, it wasn’t as necessary to have a qualified Chinese instructor— it was a more self-motivational department—this was when Dartmouth hired Blader. As a language instructor she’s impossibly dense; any aspiring student should mind to take Chinese 1, 2, and 3 with Rudelson. Her Chinese 10 course, a prerequisite for the Beijing FSP, focuses mainly on ancient China and whatever esoteric subject she may be researching this term, as opposed to any relevant topic that may prepare students for their trip abroad. Take Rudelson. Brenda Silver — English An avid feminist critic, Professor Silver reads literature with the firm belief that anything longer than it is round must be a phallus. Silver is addicted to anything anti-male and holds androgyny to be the human ideal. If you enjoy listening to the classics of Western culture being destroyed by feminist deconstruction, then you will love her lectures. Ronald Edsforth — MALS Professor Edsforth ranks among Dartmouth’s most notorious professors. He’s managed to teach here for over a decade without getting tenure, hanging on to a job only through the much-maligned MALS program. It’s little wonder why, really, considering that Edsforth’s particular brand of scholarship is light on disinterested inquiry but heavy on rhetoric worthy of the Daily Worker. Students misfortunate enough to enroll in his War and Peace class last spring learned little about war; some about the evils of American car companies; much about about castle-in-the-sky theories for world government. Owen Dearricott — Mathematics Easily the most inarticulate and unhelpful member of the otherwise highly competent Mathematics department, Dearricott makes already difficult topics (Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations) absolutely incomprehensible. He invests little to no time in preparation for his classes, lectures straight from the book, and is extremely unapproachable outside of class. Avoid at all costs. Mathilde Sitbon — History Madame Sitbon teaches the broadly-titled “French Language and Culture” class on the French FSP in Paris. An unapologetic socialist, she makes no effort to leave her opinions at the door when she comes into the classroom. Always quick to criticize American politics and culture, she subscribes to the popular opinion that “the French way is the right way” and isn’t afraid to share it. Needless to say, Mme. Sitbon plays favorites like it’s her job; men and anyone she perceives to be privileged inevitably come out on the short end of this arrangement. Unfortunately, because Sitbon teaches on the FSP during all three terms, any student traveling to Paris must take her class. Tanalis Padilla — History One tasty tidbit: Padilla made her students come to an x-hour once to watch a movie extolling the virtues of the Zapatista terrorists who were fighting against the global capitalist conspiracy and the evil Mexican central government. The video featured the profound commentary of the angry bandmembers from Rage Against the Machine, countless crackpot academics, and even featured the indomitable, cop-killing Mumia Abu-Jamal. Take her classes only if you want to hear rants against US imperialism in Latin America. Ann Bumpus — Philosophy Bumpus is a case study on how not to use PowerPoint. Her “lecture” consists of progressing through slide after slide, each with a long quotation. At times it seems as if she hasn’t prepared anything beforehand, as she pauses for minutes on end, combing through a pile of papers. She’s a nice enough woman and gives very generous marks, but unless boredom is your bag, keep away. Evelyn Gick — Economics, Gender Studies Professor Gick’s Women and Genders Studies 30 class, Economics of the Fashion Industry, is one of the worst classes Dartmouth offers. Professor Gick lacks communication skills and manages to give students false information in classes which are difficult enough, like Introduction to Economics. Though an interesting scholar on F.A Hayek, her teaching abilities leave much to be desired. Ioana Chitoran — Lingusitics Though a nice woman, Professor Chitoran is a disorganized lecturer and is constantly late to either class or office hours. In her Introduction to Linguistics class, she makes no effort to make the material interesting, and students ultimately fail to take away anything meaningful from the class. For those looking to fulfill the QDS distrib requirement, look elsewhere. Peter Tse — Pyschology Professor Tse began one of his classes, “this material will be painful and boring.” Not a promising start. Beyond his antipathy to the material he teaches, Professor Tse makes no effort to make the subject he teaches clear or interesting to the students taking his class. If you take Psychology 10 (Statistics) with Professor Tse, make sure to read the textbook, which is your best bet to learn the material. |
Article ToolsRelated Articles· TDR Exclusive Interview: Peter Kreeft · Ending the Secularist Crusade · Dartmouth’s Five New Trustees
Advertisement  Advertisement |
|
|
Copyright © 1996-2009 The Dartmouth Review |
||