SLATE: Irwin Horwitz had had enough. His students, he thought, weren’t performing well academically and they were being disruptive, rude, and dishonest. So he sent the students in his strategic management class an email:
“Since teaching this course, I have caught and seen cheating, been told to ‘chill out,’ ‘get out of my space,’ ‘go back and teach,’ [been] called a ‘fucking moron’ to my face, [had] one student cheat by signing in for another, one student not showing up but claiming they did, listened to many hurtful and untrue rumors about myself and others, been caught between fights between students … ”
The Texas A&M–Galveston professor said he would fail every single student:
“None of you, in my opinion, given the behavior in this class, deserve to pass, or graduate to become an Aggie, as you do not in any way embody the honor that the university holds graduates should have within their personal character. It is thus for these reasons why I am officially walking away from this course. I am frankly and completely disgusted. You all lack the honor and maturity to live up to the standards that Texas A&M holds, and the competence and/or desire to do the quality work necessary to pass the course just on a grade level. … I will no longer be teaching the course, and all are being awarded a failing grade.” …
In an interview, Horwitz said that the class was his worst in 20 years of college-level teaching. The professor, who is new to Galveston, relocated (to a non-tenure-track position) because his wife holds an academic job in Houston, and they have had to work hard to find jobs in the same area. He stressed that the students’ failings were academic as well as behavioral. Most, he said, couldn’t do a “break-even analysis” in which students were asked to consider a product and its production costs per unit, and determine the production levels needed to reach a profit… (more)
EDITOR: Horwitz’ mistake was failing the entire class rather than giving proper grades to those few students who had not been abusive. His action certainly discredits the graduate business program at Texas A&M and is career ending on the college level. Right idea; wrong execution.
What do you think?
