I hear that Dr. Tresch only has 2 assignments - a mid term and a final. I’m concerned because my daughter has a little test anxiety and it sounds like she should change out of this class. It could really mess up her GPA in the first semester. Thoughts?
welcome to college, jc.
Many courses do not count homework & class participation for much more than 5% of the grade; its mostly all about the test(s) and papers (for lit/hume courses).
Dunno anything about Tresch, but you could have your D search for the sylabbii of the a couple of other Econ teachers to see what their grading schemes are.
Test anxiety is real but not new, so you might encourage your D to head over to the counseling center early in the semester. I would be surprised if they didn’t have a few suggestions for mitigating.
Good luck.
Dear jcmeason : Please take a moment to think back to parent orientation; specifically, recall the conversation that focused on your role as a parent in getting your child to Boston College. Undoubtedly, you have pulled many of the right levers over time helping your child navigate her scholastic activities and you are now in a position to give your Eagle the chance to fly. With the chance to fly comes the chance to fall and it is one of the most important learning exercises that comes during the early stages of college.
Remember that this is HER schedule, HER GPA, and HER future - and she has to take ownership of those elements. By all means encourage your daughter to investigate other ECON options where the grading policy might be more to her liking, however, ultimately, examinations are part of every course and whether two, three, and more exams are part of the syllabus, the testing bridge will be crossed, one way or another.
My older student was a dual major : Chemistry and Economics, but did not have Dr. Tresch for any of the ECON curriculum. He has been part of the Boston College faculty for more than 40 years and has written one of the definitive texts on Public Sector Economics. When he won the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year Award, he offered the following quote : “Certainly, others have found that newer teaching styles suit them,” Tresch explained, “but for me, lecturing simply works. I suppose you could say I’m pretty old-fashioned: I’ve stayed with the chalk and blackboard and I don’t even like to use an overhead projector. I just feel it’s important to keep the focus on the student-teacher relationship. The most successful class, I’ve found, is one where all eyes are on you. It really all comes back to the content,” he continued. “We’re not entertaining the students, but they have to be convinced you care about what you’re presenting. You want to give them analysis, show them how economists think and analyze problems. That’s why it’s critical to spend time organizing the material into a framework that students can grasp.”
Dear jcmeason : My younger actually took Dr. Tresch for microeconomics in a lecture session with approximately 300 students (one of the largest at Boston College). TA sessions included regularly graded homework assignments in addition to the course exams. My younger (and my older) both know about the reputation of “Dick Tresch” where he publishes his own textbook for the intro course and regularly updates material forcing previous editions into an out-of-date status very often.
@scottj , how is the view from your high horse? I think an important thing a parent can do if the parent has experience with it is guide his child through the class choice and scheduling.
I’ll give you an example – my kid is studying Comp Sci, which is in the Electrical Engineering department. He is required to take 5 “basic engineering” courses. His advisor, in the electrical engineering department recommended 5 electrical engineering classes to meet those 5 requirements, where he will compete with electrical engineering students already studying hardware. Several had terrible student reviews.
I wandered around on the school web site for a while and found the engineering (not electrical engineering) catalog with the requirements and a list of all the classes to meet the requirements for the 5 courses. He will only be taking two of those from the electrical engineering department, both actually computer science courses. Two will be from industrial engineering, and one from mechanical engineering. I guarantee you he will be more successful in those classes than the ones his advisor proposed, and he will enjoy them more. He still has to study for the classes and take the exams. But he will have a better experience than he would have. And I showed him where I found the resources so he could address similar situations in the future.
When he goes to work, his boss isn’t going to just show him his desk and queue and tell him to get to work. He will get training and have mentors who will not do his work for him, but will explain the environment and expectations and answer questions along the way. Why is college somehow different?
Daddio, I think there’s room for a hybrid between your response and scottj’s response. I’m on the faculty at BC and I have seen students who can’t seem to do much with checking with their parents. Or the parents insert themselves to the point where they aren’t helicopter parents - they’re Blackhawk parents. I think college is the point where students really start to figure out who they are and begin the process of being independent - and it’s a long process with some bumps on the way. Mistakes can be great teachers, albeit demanding.
As you note, when they go to work, many firms will have training programs and many will have mentors as part of the process but every firm will tell you they want people who can work independently. I think it’s great to see parents showing an interest in what their kids are doing at school and providing some high level advice on what to take. Like anything else, it can be overdone and that may be what scottj was thinking - if he reads this, I’m sure he’ll explain what he means quite clearly.
BTW, many advisors really stink. I hope your son has some good professors that he can go back to for advice. I’m an official advisor for 15 to 20 students in a given year, but I have others who come by from time to time as well. Your son will probably do likewise. Good luck to him. Engineering is a very challenging field.
While gobosox may see how helicoptering hurts students while they are in college, I see it after they graduate. It’s easy to see which college grads have stood on their own and why they are sought after.
scottj’s advice about the need to “let go” is spot on.
Dear Daddio3 : Thank you for your contribution and perspective on my earlier post.
I would suggest that there is a difference between your discussing potential future courses for your BC Eagle and the original poster’s situation. As @gobosox (a member of the BC Community) points out, advising can be spotty and an already established student needs an advisor who is well tuned to the student’s own interests. In your case, you were looking to guide your child in course selection aligned to his underlying interests. I often engaged in similar discussions while encouraging both of my BC Eagles to pursue some courses over others, particularly to keep a well rounded focus on both their STEM curriculums, CAS Honors Programs, liberal arts, and research activities.
Our original poster’s case went beyond course and professor selection, both of which were covered in my previous notes. The question extended into the syllabus and more specifically, the grading policy for the course. Consideration of grade point averages during the very first week of freshman classes misses the point about taking the course and learning the material as a priority.
I could have eliminated the “HER future” reference in my original essay, as in fact, her Boston College future is one that will be linked with her family during her four year journey. With that acknowledgement, I would underscore the import of the original poster’s child seeing this ECON course - and all of her courses - as her own priorities. As @jpm50 notes, this is all part of my perspective on “letting go” and giving your Eagles the chance to soar.
Missed that you all responded … for the record, my scheduling point above was NOT at BC – they don’t offer engineering. I was only trying to illustrate that a parent can,and I believe should, provide logistical input to make the child more successful.