I would teach this class better!

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I'm in an upper level art history course titled "women in the history of art". It is taught by a woman with a PhD in art history who also happens to be the dean of graduate studies at my school, so I know she isn't stupid! But she's not teaching us anything! For example, today we were supposed to learn about women artists of the rennaissance. Instead, we ended up watching a movie about contemporary male high school drummers, which superficially related to a tangent she went on. Relevance??? The day we covered the medieval period, she talked about nuns and illuminated manuscripts for about 10 minutes, without mentioning any artists names (there are only a few we know- it can be covered very easily) and without showing any images!!

Its like this every day! I'm half way through the semester and I kept waiting for her to get around to real stuff or maybe she had a master plan amongst all this but seemingly not. The reason a class on women artists needs to exists is because women have largely been left out of the traditional art history books and regular curriculums. But this woman is barely mentioning them at all! I find it EXTREMELY rude and disrespectful to all the female artists of the past to not even be included in a class devoted specifically to them!

the rest of the class doesn't seem to care. they are happy to sit back, waste 3 hours of a wednesday and learn nothing. I have better things to do with my time. Today I snuck out shortly after she put the movie on. I can't keep doing that or it will affect my grade. (Since there are no tests, papers, or homework, i suspect she's grading us solely on attendence and winning personality/good looks).

I'm pissed that i'm forced to be bored out of my mind doing nothing, not learning, and paying damn good money for it too! Nobody else understands my anger and I certainly can't talk to the teacher or some other authority because it could impact my grade. Since I know the teacher is intelligent, she must be nutty to be "teaching" a class like this so its completely unpredictable how she'd react to me critiquing her curriculum. All i can do is think of ways to amuse myself each week and try not to speak my mind. There will be a VERY through course evalutation come december, however, and i will make sure it gets into the right hands.

I just keep fantasising about speaking up, being a smart ass, and her saying, "well would you like to teach the class?" and I'd say, "yes, please!" And I would prepare lectures each week and everyone would actually learn things, including me.

But I can't do that. ARGHHHHH

Sorry for the rant. Anyone else have this problem? Can you think of ways I can amuse myself during these movies? (there will be a lot more, and i can't really concentrate on the plot of movies anyway- aspergers- so i just tune out. its dark so i can't read or draw!)

That really sucks... sorry.

One thing you might try for self-amusement (since there's apparently zero educational value going on) would be to take some of the mid-Renaissance portraits and put nonhuman heads on them. Like, Henry the 8th as a fish head. Stems from an idea I'd had a while back about what alien portraits would look like throughout their history. Pinged the idea around with the wife and she wound up doing a piece with that theme.... 15th century Italian noble lady, but with the head of a mouse. Sadly, I can't find the image at the moment, but here's one that similar that she did.
Anonova.ca

I want to respond to your rant from the other side of the desk. I taught for 22 years before I retired. I met a lot of well-prepared, dedicated teachers, and unfortunately some of the other kind. The fact that this lady has a Ph.D. does not automatically mean that she's a good teacher. It sounds pretty much like she isn't. Still, critiquing the dean's teaching probably isn't the best move you could make. Neither is going quietly insane in the dark. Do you need this course? Is it required? If it is, is there another section, or another person who teaches it? Can you make the switch? If you don't need the course, what could you take instead? It's usually a good idea to ask around and get some recommendations from people who have taken a course before you sign up.

The bottom line is that you don't have to put up with educational incompetence, but sometimes you have to dodge and weave to avoid it.

Good luck,

g

When I went to college I took 13 science classes that had labs. The lecture and the lab
were rarely on the same topic. The net results was you were taking two classes. Maybe
your teacher is trying to make you take two classes for the price of one.

I once had a teacher that made us watch (OVER AND OVER AGAIN) Datelines that only tangentially related to the topic at hand (which happened to be the Sociology of Gender). Our class ended up complaining to the dean and she got fired. I just don't know who you would complain to about the dean.... Sorry your class sucks.

Yeah, she's the dean of graduate school, but this is undergraduate! So perhaps I can get a bunch of other opinions together through email and see if we can complain to the undergraduate dean. i doubt they'd fire her since she's apparently well respected for other things, but maybe they could prevent her from "teaching" art history classes. A few other students and I have decided she's not stupid or crazy, just lazy. Her mind is on other projects (supposedly) and apparently can't be "bothered" with teaching.

Hrm... fun little situation. Given I know no outside details, I really can't be of much help, but...

1. Can you switch to another section?
2. If not, what are the tests like?

I'd say if what she's teaching has absolutely NOTHING to do with what she's testing on, complain now and complain *LOUDLY*. The rules are so tangled that tenure does NOT mean job security. Get whoever you can involved... and ESPECIALLY if we're referring to a professor who's 'all research, no teach', raise hell.

If the tests are relevant to the lectures, however... I'd wait until after the semester, then do something about it. No use risking your GPA if it isn't in trouble already.