<p>This seems to be a problem with this school in particular. My son is a current freshman, and I am wondering where is the so called hands on teaching. He is basically teaching himself. He cannot understand his current professors in some of his core classes. Thick accents are hard to understand. Has anyone had this problem. I have been completely disappointed with TCNJ on a whole. It is a beautiful school, but it ends there. Perhaps they need to take an college English course.</p>
<p>If you think this is a problem only in this school then… well I don’t know what to say. Both my parents, friends, parents of friends, etc, who have all gone to various schools, have had to put up with teachers whose first language might not be English. You know what they did? They sucked it up. This is college, your kid is not going to be babied. Sure, it sucks. But thousands of other students across the country are having to go through the same thing and they persevere anyway.</p>
<p>
Should you teach?</p>
<p>In all seriousness… I met several of the profs, specifically in the bio department, who were perfectly fine. All of my friends who currently go to TCNJ have not even mentioned this to me as a problem, neither have friends who are graduates etc.</p>
<p>To me it sounds like you got your kid’s first semester grades and are trying to pin the blame on something else other than him.</p>
<p>What is your son’s major? I also have not had any experience with this nor have I met anyone who has. This is not to say it doesn’t exist (as I’m sure it does at every college) but from what I have experienced it is not a huge issue here at TCNJ.</p>
<p>I think it’s a great experience for college students to have exposure to professors (and classmates) from diverse cultural backgrounds. It enriches their lives and exposes them to points of view beyond their limited experience. Becoming accustomed to a new accent is a slight inconvenience for students, but this exposure prepares them for a future in our Global Society. It’s all part of the college experience and education.</p>
<p>I’ve known this for 6 years, read my other posts. The students that post here apparently aren’t paying their own way thru school and could care less. I’ve been paying for years and I expect an education not some abstract scavenger hunt. If a student wanted to learn the Indian , Russian or Chinese language they could major in that at some other school. Besides having english as a second language they are arrogant. This is a problem especially in the sciences where apparently Americans don’t want to teach or are too expensive. Many of the immigrant professors don’t even have degrees from the U.S. Who validates this ? We can’t even get classes transferred properly how can they transfer a doctorate degree internationally ? It’s just a big game and the students are the pawns.
Pay your money and get a degree, sooner or later. Bet you can’t do it in 4 years ! Look at the stats.</p>
<p>You don’t have to spend $23,000 for that great education in diversity. Spend $3.00 at the local 7-11, you’ll get an education and a gallon of milk for a diploma. Be sure to check your change and I’ll throw in a Math degree.</p>
<p>Math and Engineering</p>
<p>Yes, I forgot that American schools are the only good ones in the world. Why should I learn from someone who graduated from Cambridge, Oxford, the Sorbonne, etc when I could learn from a Devry grad instead? While American schools are great, if you look at a list of internationally ranked schools you’ll find that much of the list is made up of international schools.</p>
<p>I’d rather learn from a nobel laureate with a foreign accent then some random professor any day of the week, but I guess that because English is their second language, they must be ****ing ■■■■■■■■! Who cares about world views! Screw the world, who needs 'em?!?</p>
<p>In terms of TCNJ, clearly you have no idea what you’re talking about. After looking into it, there are no professors in the Engineering department who got their degree from a foreign school and only 2 who have gotten a foreign degree in the math department (one of which is University of London).</p>
<p>Furthermore, the math department has 2 professors with PhDs from Harvard, and Princeton, Yale, Wash U St. Louis are represented (among others). The Engineering Dept. has grads from JHU, Lehigh, UPenn, UVA, Columbia, etc.</p>
<p>Engineering is a tough field, and I would imagine its pretty standard for it to take longer than 4 years at many universities. After all, it is widely considered one of the hardest possible majors. The average time to graduate at colleges now is 5 years, but it is definitely possible to graduate in 4 if you have a plan going into it.</p>
<p>And I’ll make sure to send my degree from 7-11 to Harvard Med, and I’ll let you know how that goes.</p>
<p>I am not a student but a parent. I have a daughter who is a senior in college who will continue beyond an undergraduate degree to become a physical therapist. We have helped her pay for her education and we will help my son who will be a freshman (hopefully at TCNJ) next year. </p>
<p>My daughter has had numerous professors who speak English as a second language. She has occasionally found it a challenge but it did not impede her success.</p>
<p>Harry, at first I was concerned when I read one of your earlier posts regarding the Engineering Department (where my son’s interest lies). However, after reading the posts above, I do not feel swayed by your judgement.</p>
<p>Your anger and biased statements have no place in this forum.</p>
<p>Biased ? I call it experienced. I’m giving you a free education. I’ve paid for more than 300 college credits and this is the lesson I’ve learned. You can send your child anywhere you like. I’ll check back here in 6 years to see how he did. Muy bien.</p>
<p>University of Zagreb, Croatia </p>
<p>Better do better research or you’ll be the 6 year program.</p>
<p>“Many of the immigrant professors don’t even have degrees from the U.S. Who validates this ?”</p>
<p>Are you referring to Dr. Krstic with your post regarding University of Zagreb? Because according to what I fonud he/she received their PhD from Rutgers (they did their undergrad and masters in Zagreb). Oh, and Dr. Alves from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics completed his undergrad education in Portugal and got his PhD from Penn State. Furthermore, Dr. Al-Omaishi, Associate Professor of Engineering, completed his undergrad in Baghdad and his PhD in Nebraska.</p>
<p>Oh so I suppose we should contact Rutgers, Penn State, and Nebraska to validate their admission of these individuals into their PhD programs? In order for an international student to gain admittance to an American graduate program he/she must usually complete the TOEFL, which “is the most widely respected English-language test in the world.” I wonder who validates the degrees of American students who wish to complete their graduate degree abroad.</p>
<p>If dialects are such a huge issue then it’s a miracle anyone chooses to study abroad these days.</p>
<p>Have another glass of Kool-Aid and don’t forget to pay the Spring tuition bill, it’s due tomorrow.
RAH, RAH, GO LIONS you’re the best !</p>
<p>Successful ■■■■■ is successful.</p>
<p>Bye now. =]</p>
<p>I’m currently a HS senior and one of the professors at TCNJ also teaches at my school. His accent is what makes his class interesting and I understand every word of it. Every school is going to have teachers with accents due to the fact that foreign education, in many aspects, has surpassed American education. So don’t complain, you’re probably learning more.</p>
<p>I don’t come on to this site much since my son joined TCNJ as a student in the Fall. I asked him about this as it is news to me. It was news to him too. So far, the professors he has had have all been articulate, well-spoken. He has not heard this is a problem ( he lives in Cromwell and is an Education Major). My suspicion is this topic was created by someone from Rutgers which my understanding has this problem ( I love Rutgers, it was one of my son’s top choices. He chose TCNJ wanting a smaller campus ).</p>
<p>Where can a freshman go BEFORE they sign up for classes to find out if the prof. might not be thought of so highly by the students or if they do have trouble understanding him? I’d rather be one of the students that never encounters it and not have any idea what HarryB is talking about.</p>
<p>You probably just have to ask around. Also the first week of class is add/drop week so you might be able to switch if you don’t like your prof. But in my experience, all the science dept profs have been easy to understand despite a couple of them having accents.</p>
<p>There is a difference between a professor who has a strong accent vs. a professor who cannot communicate well in English. If you concentrate, in a few days, you should be able to get adjusted to an accent. However, if a prof is really not fluent in English, that is a whole different issue.</p>
<p>I both asked around on this site and other college student forums and asked other kids but my first stop was probably always ratemyprofessors.com</p>