<p>I believe even college professors are entitled to personal time off for health or family reasons, and they certainly are entitled to 12 weeks each year of FMLA. People cannot pick the times when loved ones become terminally ill, or the person themselves needs surgery for an acute situation. </p>
<p>We don’t know the whole,story…and apparently neither does the OP…oh and they are not really entitled to the full scoop due to privacy laws.</p>
<p>The OPs daughter could inquire about the content and instruction of the course as it relates to this long term absence of the prof. I’d the daughter and classmates do inquire, it is likely they will get some kind of vague reason why this is happening.</p>
<p>The OP said the prof already has been absent a couple of times. Could this have been for a medical or personal issue…of course it could have been.</p>
<p>One of my kids has a professor who took off at least 2 weeks of class and the college is aware of it. He is going to another country and it has to do with something related to the field he teaches. The exact reasons escape me right now. I am not outraged. My son is not outraged. It happens. He is learning a lot. This class is not in his major, but if it were, as long as he learned the material I would not care.</p>
<p>Of course this is true, but whenever such a situation has arisen at my school (which has only been 2 or 3 times in the past dozen or so years), other people have pitched in. In fact three years ago a colleague was diagnosed with a serious illness at the beginning of the semester and people were truly pushing each other out of the way to take over his classes, so he would not have that to worry about in addition to everything else. </p>
<p>Of course, most of us did not do as good as job as he would have because his is a fairly specialized area, but I am sure the students did learn something, which is more than they would have gotten if classes had just been cancelled.</p>
<p>So, in my view, what is wrong is not so much that the prof has had to cancel classes but that she (and the dean and the rest of the faculty) are just leaving the students hanging.</p>
<p>Exactly. If I were the student, and if I were to make an inquiry in such a case, I’d be sure to lead off with "I know Prof So-and-So has had to cancel classes for X amount of time, and first and foremost I hope everything is well for him and his family. That being said … " You never know what’s really going on or what Prof So-and-So is dealing with, and it behooves one to at least pretend that they care being going off on the warpath. (Not saying the OP planned to go off on any warpath, of course)</p>
<p>My son had one teacher who cancelled a lot of classes, ended the other ones really early. He was bad. But son self-studied, and did fine on the tests. It was not his major, and my son preferred self-studying, so I was not concerned. </p>
<p>I have 3 kids. There will always be a horrible teacher here and there, no matter what level of schooling. It evens out. Wait til they get a job, then the real fun starts. </p>
<p>I would probably encourage my son to take action if the teacher’s actions reflected badly on my son: bad grade, missing paperwork, etc. At least they only have that teacher for one semester.</p>
<p>Cobrat: Not entirely true. It really depends on the nature of the graduate program. You are making the assumption, contrary to what the OP said, that the course is designed for the professor to be “hands off”. If this is a terminal mater’s program, it may not be research or project oriented and may well be information-driven. There is also no evidence that the professor is offering office hours to go over the material. If that were the case, why miss all those classes?</p>
<p>For a master class, that is nuts. Heck, for any class, that is terrible. It is too bad that your daughter’s attitude is what it is, that she doesn’t care about the learning. You are not just paying for the credit, you are paying for the teacher’s expertise and teaching. But honestly, I think most college kids feel that way. It can take time after graduation to look back and wish you had done more, or appreciated the class more, etc.</p>
<p>It isn’t a matter of whether it’s information driven, it’s to what degree the Professor’s involved in its delivery. </p>
<p>I posted that possibility as even in many professional oriented Masters programs like the professional oriented ones in computer science/engineering, most of their classes after a few skills-based foundational courses in the first semester were structured in the format I described. Instead of research essays, they had large term projects related to the classes and their current/future employment. </p>
<p>Also, not all Professors in such programs offer Office Hours as we know it. Instead, periodic draft/project reviews may be done through communication mediums such as phone, email, etc. Especially for the Professional Masters programs where a sizable portion/most students were working full-time jobs while enrolled.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is probably a YMMV depending on the individual student and the program concerned. </p>
<p>Many of those I knew who studied engineering/CS at the undergrad/Masters levels found their ability to learn the material in some/all classes were actually facilitated or at least not impeded by skipping most/all classes except for submitting problem sets or required quizzes/exams.</p>
<p>OP, I would be upset as well. I agree with you that it is not your place to intervene, but I feel it is a form of stealing on the professors part. Stealing a piece of your child’s education and learning. If she wanted to learn the material on her own, she could have done that at home for free. Also, every time that professor misses class, they undermine the program just a bit more. Eventually, the graduates won’t know as much when they start their new jobs. The expectation of excellence from this highly regarded program will be diminished because the graduates will be coming out somewhat self taught and missing the critical component that those lectures would have provided. I agree that this happens in many businsees, our bosses aren’t there as much as they should be, people take off for maternity leave and such, but if the customer in those businesses aren’t taken care of by someone in those folks absense, they will eventually leave. Eventually if this goes on, sudents will chose to get their education elsewhere, employers will recruit at different schools, and so on. It is a slippery slope. One or two classes can happen, but if you are gone a month the administration should be finding a substitute.</p>
<p>I find it strange that a professor would be absent for 50% of the classes and the university or department would not have made some arrangement to cover the classes.</p>