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When to drop a class? (I need GAF opinions here)

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whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Ok. Here's the situation. I've got 16 credit hours this semester. One of which is PSC 555- International Law. Now my problems with this class aren't so much of an educational nature as a... personal nature: I hate the professor. He's a pompous, arrogant, self-righteous asshole who thinks that America sucks and white people in power hate black people, thus if you support any opinions held by white people in power, you too hate black people. This wouldn't be a problem for me if it was just his opinion, but he gets severely angry if people speak up against him, or say things he doesn't agree with. Case in point: he turned off a CSpan recording in class, discussing the international legal ramifications of the Bush Doctrine, because a guy was speaking representing the Hoover Institute, and started to say only that from a historical perspective, preemptive action against an anti-hegemonic power is precedented. He didn't touch on legality yet, nor treaties or anything else... only said that throughout history there has been a pattern. Upon seeing this, the Professor jumped up, ran to the VCR and shut off the video. He turned to the class and said "Now this man's an idiot! Naturally he's from the same place Condi Rice is from!" Then he dismissed class. This is the kind of reaction he has to ANYTHING that isn't anti-white and anti-capitalism. Simply put, this is the kind of professor that these "Student Bill of Rights" are being written for. Oh yeah, as for the race stuff-- two days ago, in a student forum on state economics, one girl said she opposed affirmative action. Next time she raised her hand he addressed her as "That racist girl in back." WTF?!

Now, in addition to this guy being a douchebag of a person, he's an awful teacher. His lectures meander from topic to topic, his chalkboard notes are chickenscratch, and mainly consist of listing off different names and cases without ever going into detail of the significance of them. Naturally I can do that on my own via google, but if I was to do that, then I should be paying Berkely Law some money as that's the website where all my 'education' is coming from.

On top of all that, I just got a job working probably nearly 30 hours a week, as well as the fact that I'm already doing Model United Nations to represent my university. So needed free time isn't exactly there. Not to mention the take-home test which he gave us, now due tomorrow night (irresponsibility on my part, I suppose, not to already have it done but I usually do my best work when it's crammed into a marathon stretch). The requirements are 700-1000 words, and it's supposed to be 4 essays. Simply put, a minimum of 16 pages basically. Yet still, I've had him before (when I SWEAR he wasn't this much of a douche) and he always expects that you put in roughly twice as much as his minimum for at least a B on his essays. I had him for an intro class and was turning in 6 and 7 pages for a take home test... at a low level class.

I had my entire week scheduled around doing the test in 2 parts tonite, and 2 parts tomorrow before class (I don't have class til 2pm). Here's the caveat-- my new job has me coming in tomorrow from 8:30am til 1:30pm. So basically, I'd have to do the whole test tonite (1/3rd of the overall grade.)

Now, should I, or should I not, drop this class and avoid the giant dent that it'll put into my GPA? I don't think it's possible for me to get any higher than a C at this point, and I need to raise my GPA for Grad School. Am I justified in dropping this shit?
 
littlewig said:
Seems like the problem is you, not the professor.


Man, why must you always be hating on the Black People?
:lol you caught me. he DID get awfully sensitive after that "What do you mean you don't play basketball?" remark...

at the beginning of the semester the class was required. Our school sets up our majors and gives us groups of classes to take. This was the only one being offered. I recently discovered, however, that not only will I be here an extra semester, but that two other classes from this necessary group are being offered in the spring, one by him and one by a different, new teacher.

so yeah, not required. I'm really thinking of dropping it. This guy's a douche. And I never thought of it as "32 pages for a B", Teddman, haha. Always just thought of it as "Man, 16 pages STILL won't be enough!" Not to mention that most of those questions require 10 pages at least per essay (One was like, Discuss the evolution of international law involving europe. Now, for a graduate level class, does anyone think they could accomplish that in less than TWENTY pages of quality work, let alone in 4 pages? Horseshit.)
 
not 'drop' a class, but 'withdraw'... i don't get my money back for it except for my books. it's like a wasted 800 bucks, but I'm gonna be paying off 50+ grand worth of student loans, so I'm at the point of "What's another 800 bucks gonna be in comparison to ruining my chances at grad school?"

I shoulda known not to take this guy. He's constantly trashed at RateMyProfessor.com, too.
 
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