I just need someone to vent to because I am really ticked off and powerless to change the situation. In one of my classes, the professor has arranged the course really idiotically and therefore gets a LOT of complaints from students. I personally have NEVER complained about anything.

Ok, so he's given us this textbook that is WAY more complicated than the level that students in this class are at AND he openly acknowledges this fact, too. And yet he tells us to read these chapters and basically determine for ourselves what information we should know in order to pass his tests. He provides a workbook that gives you sort of "practice questions" but they are not that much of an indication of what you'll find in his tests (nobody thinks so. I got a 95% on the first test, too, so it's not like I'm just a lazy complainer).

Anyway, so tonight I'm reading the chapter and I'm totally unclear on ONE tiny concept. I ask a question about it and he BITES my head off! He acts like I have complained about his course or something, and first he misunderstands my question and then he tells me that basically I should just KNOW that he doesn't expect me to understand this concept from the chapter! What a jerk!

Here are excerpts: (I won't post the whole thing of his, but I will post all of mine, b/c he is very long-winded lol! So note that this contains ALL of my post and only parts of his rant...er, reply!)

ME: I do NOT understand wobble pairing (Crick) at all. I understand the idea that amino acids use quartets and that the first two codon positions are significant, but as for Strickberger's explanation of WHY that is, I do NOT understand. What is this other acid (I) that it's talking about? I'm so lost!!

HIM: Amino acids are coded in DNA by triplet codons, not quartets. [NOTE: THIS IS WHERE HE MISINTEPRETED; AND YES, AMINO ACIDS USE CODON QUARTETS, BUT I GUESS HE DIDN'T READ THE CHAPTER THOROUGHLY ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THAT. JUST ASSUMED THAT I WAS CONFUSING CODONS WITH QUARTETS....BUT ANYWAY, THAT PROBABLY BORED YOU TO TEARS...GRRR AT HIM. OK BACK TO HIS RUDENESS]

Part of your frustration is you are not being definite enough in deciding how far you will go with the material.

Yes. Making that kind of decision is something you should have to do in college. I have not concerned myself with the details of wobble pairing either... If you will, please, think of the course design. You are asked fact questions (objective) about the basics and fundamentals. Then you are asked to explain basic and fundamental questions. If you absolutely cannot figure out something like wobble pairing, then ask yourself if you seem to have already picked up enough to write a decent discussion of the genetic code. There are some more interesting details in this section so pick them out. This may be a place, much as I dislike highlighting, for the highlighter to be brought into action. OK. Why do I have a text book where it does not match the student level perfectly?
Because, this book, despite its sometimes too-much detail, is the best, by far. Be assured, you can make some decisions about where you want to stop and do well in the class.

And, no, I won't make lists of what to study and what not to study. The workbook helps to set that tone (even though it is not study questions).

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This is actually one of his NICER posts to students. I am just sick of this jerk. I have never complained about his course, and I am probably the only one who hasn't. Yet he takes my head off for asking about a simple explanation of a concept in the chapter that he requires me to read.

UGH!!!

Angela