A professor fired by New York University after students said his class was too difficult told The College Fix that students are not trying as hard, even as exams have become easier than before.
More than 80 students from Maitland Jones, Jr.’s 350-student chemistry course signed a petition claiming “that the high-stakes course — notorious for ending many a dream of medical school — was too hard, blaming Jones for their poor test scores,” according to The New York Times, which did not link to the petition.
The Fix asked Jones (pictured) in an email interview whether the number of failing grades in recent years has been unusually high. He responded on October 10 that grades have tanked even as he had made the exams easier to pass.
“If you include withdrawals with the few F’s I give in the course, yes,” Jones told The College Fix.
Though “the exams have become easier (the top of the class now routinely gets 100 on the exams),” he wrote, “the grades have plummeted.”
“Class attendance (about 33% mid year) and office hours attendance (3-10 and only the top students) has also crashed,” Jones wrote. “Is there a connection? You tell me!”