NYU professor fired after students said class was too tough, demands ‘tough love’ from college
A New York University professor, who was fired after a group of students signed a petition against him claiming his course was too difficult, has claimed that US universities are stopping “pampering” and students “to give a little hard love.”
Two months ago in August, former organic chemistry professor Maitland Jones Jr., 84, was fired from the university after a petition signed by 82 of his 350 students cited his teaching methods and course schedule as reasons for their poor grades led.
“We are very concerned about our results and find that they do not accurately reflect the time and effort that has been put into this class,” the petition reads, according to a New York Times report.
“We urge you to recognize that a class with such a high percentage of dropouts and low grades has failed to make student learning and wellbeing a priority, and reflects poorly on the chemistry department as well as the institution as a whole Whole throws.”
Jones, who previously taught at Princeton University for 40 years, downplayed the students’ claims, linking their struggles to a lack of focus and attention that he claims began almost a decade ago but has been swept away by the COVID 19 pandemic has been accelerated.
“They didn’t come to class, that’s for sure, because I can count the house,” Jones said in an op-ed for the New York Times. “They didn’t watch the videos and couldn’t answer the questions.”
Former New York University organic chemistry professor Maitland Jones Jr., 84, was fired from college in August after many struggling students signed a petition against him
Responding to students who claimed his organic chemistry course was too difficult and that he was unable to provide helpful support, Jones has urged faculty at US colleges to show “tough love” and stop “coddling” students .
Jones (bottom row, fourth from left) taught at Princeton University for almost four decades before joining NYU in 2007
Allegations leveled against Jones include: reducing the number of midterm exams from three to two; no offer of additional credit; no zoom access to lectures for people with COVID-19; and Jones taught with a “condescending and demanding” tone.
Jones defended the allegations made about the petition, adding that he reduced the number of exams because NYU scheduled his first test after six classes.
He added that deans at colleges and elsewhere in the US need to be strong on the faculty and not succumb to “coddling students.”
“Critically, the growing number of administrators, principals and associates, who often lack expertise in a particular subject, must learn to distance themselves from purely academic matters and lend support to faculty,” Jones wrote in an op-ed for The Boston Globe on Thursday.
“Deans need to learn not to coddle students for the sake of class and muster up a little tough love. You need to join the community in times of conflict to generate those teachable moments.’
Pictured: The 1,300-page organic chemistry textbook, written by Jones Jr., who said student attention spans have declined significantly over the past 10 years, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic
Allegations leveled against Jones (pictured in 2007) include: reducing the number of midterm exams from three to two; no offer of additional credit; no zoom access to lectures for people with COVID-19; and Jones taught with a “condescending and demanding” tone.
Continuing in his column, Jones claims to have noticed signs of “problems” long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“Even before COVID-19 disrupted classrooms, there were signs of trouble. I came to New York University in 2007 after 43 years of teaching and research at Princeton, where I held both a professorship and an endowed chair,” said Jones. “I wanted to see if the technique I introduced at Princeton, which de-emphasized the talking-head lecture in favor of small-group problem-solving, could be transferred to another university.”
“Things went well initially as students thrived in the problem-solving environment and younger faculty began embracing them. But about 10 years ago, I noticed that students were increasingly misunderstanding exam questions,” he continued, explaining that distance learning only made students’ academic performance worse in his classroom.
“Exams that should have given a B average fell to C- or worse. Single digit scores became common and we even had zeros on exams, something that had never happened before,” he said. “In his opinion piece, Malesic speculates on causes (screen time, COVID-induced distance learning) and suggests that we are not doing anyone any favors by further dumbing down our courses. I totally agree, although I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of some inflation.’
In an effort to help the students, Jones and two other professors taped 52 lectures that Jones says he paid $5,000 of his own money to publish. They are still used.
In 2020, an estimated 30 out of 475 students signed a petition saying they needed more help.
A NYU spokesman said Jones was fired after a “very high rate of student dropout” and “by far the worst assessment scores” compared to other science courses offered to his students
“They were really struggling,” Jones told the New York Times. “They didn’t have good internet reception at home. All sorts of things.’
Despite his release from NYU, Jones said “his reputation as a chemist and educator was not seriously damaged,” although he believes he was “treated unfairly.”
NYU disagreed with their former staffer. The university said in a statement that Jones’ class had a “very high rate of student dropout” and “by far the worst assessment scores” compared to other science courses offered to its undergraduate students.
“In short, he was hired as a teacher and didn’t succeed,” a university spokesman told Fox News. “NYU has a lot of tough courses and a lot of tough evaluators among faculty—they don’t end up with results that raise questions about the quality and effectiveness of instruction, as did this course.”
Jones said he fears for other professors at the university who may face the same faculty response.
“I don’t want my job back,” he said. “I just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11345697/NYU-professor-fired-students-said-class-hard-urges-tough-love-college.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 NYU professor fired after students said class was too tough, demands ‘tough love’ from college
