Calls for Reforms for Courses That Have High DFW Rate

[LevelUP]

Data shows that when a gateway course has a high DFW rate, it disproportionately affects minoritized, poverty-affected, and first-generation student populations, negatively impacting their abilities to complete degree programs and further worsening inequity within the institution.

Some professors wore high failure rates with pride, claiming them as a sign of rigor.

High DFW Rates courses typically include courses such as chemistry, physics, foreign language, calculus, writing courses, and accounting.

These courses “kill” a student’s GPA, confidence, motivation, academic progress, scholarship eligibility, and interest in remaining in college.  These courses also discourage people from attempting those courses or majors which include those courses. 
https://edsource.org/2021/did-failing-a-...lub/659556

What do you all think?

[Flelm]

In my first go-round at college, for engineering, the course that had this reputation was Thermodynamics, a 4 (semester) credit course. It lived up to its reputation, mostly (in my opinion) because of the professor, but also due to the material. I do think these courses are a problem, but I don't know what the solution is.

Is it a pre-test, with remedial courses if the student doesn't measure up? That just increases the cost of a degree in money and time. Is the solution smaller half-semester courses, letting students learn smaller amounts and digest/understand them better? Is the solution just to let it be, and know that these courses will be a wall for a lot of people? Or do the courses need to be examined on a case by case basis, figuring out if the poor pass rate is due to the teacher, the material, the preparedness of the students, or a combination? Because I think there's different solutions to each problem.

[Ideas]

I also think it's the professor a lot of the time, not the course. I don't think that schools can fix that problem easily.

[ss20ts]

I also think it's the professor a lot of the time, not the course. I don't think that schools can fix that problem easily.

Yup. Some people are HORRIBLE at teaching and really don't have any idea how to teach. Some are such hard asses and that doesn't help anyone. Some make watching paint dry feel like the WWE. Just because someone is a professor doesn't mean that they're good at it.....just like every other job. There's great ones. There's crap ones. There are those who care and those who are only there for the paycheck, pension, and summers off. I've taken the same class with different professors a few times and it's like night and day. In those cases, the professor was all the difference. We used the same textbook.

[rachel83az]

I agree that a lot of these courses get a bad rep because of the people who teach them. A bad teacher will make even a simple subject difficult. A good teacher will make difficult subjects easy - or at least make you forget how difficult they are. A bad teacher will simply regurgitate the same exact words they just said whenever a student asks a question about something the student didn't understand. A good teacher will be able to reword what they already said so that confused students will be able to grasp difficult concepts.

Teachers who take pride in failing a certain percentage of students are just jerks. They're not being academically rigorous.

[Flelm]

I also think it's the professor a lot of the time, not the course. I don't think that schools can fix that problem easily.

I disagree. They can fix it. They just won't, due to a lot of academia baggage/reasons.

[Ideas]

I also think it's the professor a lot of the time, not the course. I don't think that schools can fix that problem easily.

I disagree. They can fix it. They just won't, due to a lot of academia baggage/reasons.

Yes, they can and should. I said they can't fix it easily.

I find it very sad. When reading student reviews of professors, you can see how some students dropped courses or repeated courses because of a professor, and sometimes they seem to have dropped out of a whole program due to one professor.