[mmbt0ne]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">En réponse à:</font><hr />
I think caring about their performance is awesome---but its your call, not your responsibility.

I like the wording of your note, sans the [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], because the last thing college kids in America need is more coddling. I hate to sound like a conservative jackass spouting off about individual responsibility, but in the academic realm its sorely lacking.

I think a short, curt note explaining that the current level is unacceptable is a step beyond what many will do, but a very fair gesture.

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This is very true.

The European/Russian professors I've had have all been much more like this, and it helped me so much more. It's not that they don't care about you succeeding, it's just that they aren't going to do you any favors if you aren't busting your ass. One of these guys was willing to meet with me twice a week outside class for however long it took for me to understand what we were doing because he knew that I really was trying. The kid in the back of the class who did nothing and had basically the same grade as me failed, I got a B.

The grades are always a lot lower in the classes these guys teach, but the learning experience is much better. I wish we could see this type of teaching philosophy spread across all the professors here, and someday seep down to HS and lower.