Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

I was in the middle of discussing about the first of three teaching demonstrations for new applicants I was part of in the past few days.

I wasn’t surprised at all when the Vice Dean gave the applicant a scenario about wanting the students to give him due compensation for some teaching materials that he spent a lot of time developing, mirroring the situation that just concluded with our former Politics and Government teacher (I don’t know if that was the standard practice in the pre-law school he was previously in).

The applicant gave the good answer of checking up the procedure with his superiors first.

I guess they were serious about checking on the moral integrity of incoming teachers before they hire them.

As I said last time, the teacher was accepted, but will be teaching basic mathematics courses instead of major engineering subjects.

In fact, we will be coordinating when it comes to Mathematical Methods 1, which I am assigned one class of, and which this time instead of having classes only on Mondays to Fridays except Wednesdays, can have their free days on Thursdays now.

The second teaching demo I attended was for an engineering part-timer. She had full time work in the industry therefore she was only available for teaching major subjects in the late afternoons or during Saturdays.

So my cousin will have his schedule cut out for him. On the good side (for him at least, not for me who has come to expect riding with him) he will have very few early morning classes.

What surprised me about this interview was the Vice Dean now asked not about materials development and compensation but about giving favors to consistent dean’s list awardees who are not doing so well but are requesting for additional requirements to boost up their grades. Would she assign it just to them or give the same opportunity to the rest of the class?

I don’t remember what her answer was anymore (I think it was about standing firm on what had been rated during the regular course of the term instead of giving points – as well as temporal – extensions), because I was concentrating on the fact that this question reflected yet another student complaint about one of the teachers, this time for one who was teaching major Business Administration subjects.

Somehow it is coming out from the students’ approach of the Director of the School of Business that such decisions are still the teacher’s prerogative and not necessarily considered to be unfair.

But it seems the students did have a good point about her basing attendance on just memory, where diligent if quiet students get left out.

Anyway, this second applicant was also accepted, if only because of her industry ties and experiences to which the students can learn a lot from.

I’ll talk about the third demo next time. For now, class dismissed.