Failure to Learn or Failure to Teach?

By Velvet Jessen

You didn’t get an A in the class? It’s OK a lot of people fail it anyways, at least you passed. 

Conversations like these aren’t uncommon on many college campuses. Although there are plenty of difficulty classes, I think many people would agree some classes are made unneccessarily difficult. Professors go over their syllabus at the start of the classes and state their expectations and what the class will be like. Unfortunately the expectations sometimes include expecting a large amount of students to fail.  

The issue for me is when students that are trying their best and studying hard still fail. If a student uses their resources and studies they should be able to at least pass that class. Professors should want their students to do well. I don’t think that A grades should be handed out to just anyone, but students should be able to pass a class as long as they put in the work.  

There are the cases in which students just don’t study or put in the work but those who are should have no reason to fail. Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. A student can put in all the work they want but if they aren’t taught well and don’t have good access to their professors or study help, it seems they’re doomed to fail. Students can only study what they understand and if they aren’t properly taught then studying for the class won’t help them.  

The question is if the class is hard or if the professor doesn’t teach well?  

Professors that teach well and give every opportunity to help their students are not at fault for any of their possible students’ failure. Professors that don’t care to teach  or help their students, however should not pride themselves on the difficulty of the class they teach.  

Congratulations you failed students. And not because of their failure to try, but your own failure to teach. If a student doesn’t try their bad grade is on them, but if a professor doesn’t teach well the fault should not be held against the student.  

Professors should not pride themselves on how common it is for students to fail their classes. They can say their class is difficult and requires hard work but it should never feel more attainable to fail the class than to earn any type of passing grade. 

Depending on the level of the class, it can require a lot hard work or studying. No class however should feel almost unattainable to pass or pass with a good grade.  

If it’s suggested that a professor may need to change their teaching style to help students learn, it should be taken seriously. The ability to pass a class is never fully on the student. Even in flipped learning classes there are opportunites for students to ask questions or get help. Without adequate resources or teaching, the odds a student will fail the class is much greater. Is it still the students fault then? 

Professors should take some responsibility for their students’ failure too. Is it common for students to fail the class because it’s hard or because the professor doesn’t want to teach?