RETRIBUTION

Dr. Cherry has structured this class so that he does as little teaching as possible. At the beginning of the quarter, he split us up into small groups. Within these groups, we were expected to teach ourselves--Dr. Cherry rarely lectured or taught in any way. He would assign homework, then tell us to review the homework with our groups during the next class period. Within the small groups, we felt very lost--it seemed backwards to do homework on a topic and then "learn" about it afterward. Throughout the quarter, we felt as if we were the blind leading the blind. We were never allowed to see the correct answers to our homework, so we never knew if we were teaching ourselves correctly. Our homework was graded for participation only--we never got any feedback on it, not even a check mark to show us that he was looking at it. Therefore, "learning" in this class was sort of a ridiculous idea. We were never, ever shown whether what we were doing was correct. Though the material we were learning did not lend itself well to multiple choice questions, he gave us multiple choice quizzes and tests--because, I'm guessing, he does not have to do any grading if we are filling out scan-trons. As a result, the quiz and test questions were fairly confusing. Like with the homework, we never got any quizzes or tests back. I have never been in a class before where my grade has been so mysterious.

I would not have felt so helpless in this class if I thought I could talk to Dr. Cherry about my performance. Unfortunately, Dr. Cherry was the least approachable professor I've ever had. He seemed to take offense when students asked questions and held evident grudges against students who asked to see a key for the homework or a quiz grade. At the beginning of the quarter, he made jokey remarks about a "sense of humor" being the only prerequisite for the class, but I am finding it difficult to have a sense of humor about my tuition going toward this man's paycheck. I honestly cannot think of a single thing Dr. Cherry actually did in this class, other than show up in Denney twice a week. He did not lecture, did not grade anything, and did not make tests or quizzes (they were obviously recycled from previous years). What, then, is Ohio State paying him to do? This professor was a waste of my time.

Writing this felt really good. I like this whole online evaluation thing--it gives me enough time to write what I want to write.