Maitland Jones Jr. is an 84-year-old American lecturer, considered a luminary of chemistry and a distinguished scientist, as well as a teaching innovator. But despite a brilliant career at Princeton, he was fired at the time of his death. New York University. Reason? the teacher would be very serious. Specifically, his exam, historically considered one of the most selective, was not appreciated by 82 of his students, those who had poor grades, and they signed a petition, as reported by the New York Times.
“We extend a gentle hand to students and those who they pay their fees”, admitted the director responsible for recruiting new freshmen, Marc Walters. Just think that the cost of university in the Big Apple can reach $70,000 in a year…
The indignation of teachers and other students was futile, and the case ended up in the New York Times: “We won’t have good doctors whether the disqualified will be able to participate in the race because universities want to protect their places in the rankings,” tweeted Alice Dreger, bioethicist.
After all, what happened at NYU appears to be just the latest in a series of episodes that concern the entire North American system ofinstruction, which seems less and less meritocratic. For example, in Oregon, where African-American students scored the lowest on math exams, they decided to abolish this type of testing. In San Francisco, however, it was decided to abolish merit selection at the entrance of some public high schools, and the Big Apple did the same, dismantling selection at the entrance.
For his part, Jones explained that he had begun to notice a loss of concentration among students for about a decade, but the problem has been compounded by the pandemic. “They didn’t come to class, that’s for sure. But they weren’t even watching the videos anymore and couldn’t answer the simplest of questions…”, he explained to the NYT.
Jones told the New York Times that he was concerned that his resignation can set a precedent. “I don’t want my job back,” he told the paper. “I just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Source: Fan Page IT
Ashley Root is an experienced business journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in economics and finance, she has a deep understanding of the inner workings of the business world and is able to provide insightful and informative analysis on a wide range of topics.
