Here is an email complaint to my former Poetry & Drama professor Dr. Foltz that I sent in December 2003.
Dr. Foltz,
I didn't tell you this earlier, but screw it, I'm telling you this now!
Remember after summer session, when you got all the evaluations? Do you remember at least one negative evaluation? I wrote one of them!
I don't question your intellectualism, but I will question your attitude and professionalism.
You, sir, are the worst professor I had so far! I dont say this lightly!
1) you BS the class when you say that poetry doesn't have hidden meaning! What a bunch of crap! And you demand all the students to get the same hidden meaning that you have gotten from the poem, and you have belittled and humiliated students who gave an answer you didn't want!
You say you want us to think! BS, you want us to kiss your a--. But now that I no longer need to worry about being graded by you, I will not kiss your a--!
You say you want class participation? Then why do you belittle students who give a different answer from what you want by saying yelling "NO!"? By doing that, you are indirectly discouraging class participation. I have mentioned this to at least 20 people, they all agreed that your tactics doesn't encourage critical thinking at all, it only serves to humiliate!
You want respect, and then treat us with respect!
2) You tell us that we the students should keep all the books we bought! Only someone who spent the last few decades in an ivory tower (like YOU) will say something like that! Dont you realize that the students and the students are struggling with the high cost of living, and are making sacrifices just to buy books that you profs assign? Why should we not sell them back at the end of the semester when we get our $$$ back!
And DAM RIGHT I SOLD THOSE BOOKS BACK! I only took your class to get a core requirement out of the way! So I have no reason to keep your assigned book. So I sold it back, to get at least a small percentage of my hard earned money back! Why should I waste shelf space with boring fiction books that I only got to get a core requirement over with? Though I did sell those books, I think those books would've been put to better use as toilet paper!
I do keep some little books assigned by my profs, but not the big textbooks, and NONE of your assigned books!
However, if English lit wasn't required, the English Dept. would need to lay off some profs and you'll be out of a job.
3) You say that students should be forced to take 15 credits if they want to be full time students! I said "that's too much for us students to handle". You said "No, that's not".
I NOW say "GET OUT OF THE IVORY TOWER!" Who are you to say whether students can handle 15 credit course-load. My parents are struggling to live in this high cost state and help my college finances, so they aint got enough to help my day to day finances! So i get a part-time job to get some $$$, work experience! Plus, nobody hires people w/out work experience, even if they a good GPA! So how am I supposed to juggle that with a 15 credit load, sleep, meals and time to rest my mind! I am a 12 credit a semester person and DAMM PROUD OF IT! If you dont like it, it's none of your biz!
4) You wasted class time expressing opinions on things unrelated to Poetry and Drama and you belittled anyone who disagreed! My friend Stuart said in a letter to Ka Leo : One or two stray remarks is understandable, but a professor's REGULAR carping about his or her hatred of a politician or businessperson is also a waste of class time if the subject is juvenile delinquency, geology, English literature, etc. If the poetry professor is so concerned about telling his students what he thinks about foreign or fiscal policy, he can arrange a get-together with WILLING pupils and they can all talk about it on their OWN TIME.
You, sir, wasted my time, my $$$, my family's $$$ and the taxpayer's $$$!
5) Finally, I'm OK with the C in that class, since I dont give a dam about literature anyways. (By the way I printed my grade off the old PA'E system last July)
I'll still be around campus next semester, might see you in Kuykendall since I got classes there next semester! You make the first move! You act civil, I'll be civil. You act like a punk, I'll show you a side of me you haven't seen in class! I usually have good restraint, but only for a limited time! Treat me civil, everything will be cool!
Your former student
Pablo Wegesend
Interestingly, the dean said she had Dr Foltz as a professor when she was a student at the university, and she understood my frustration with Foltz, and said that Foltz made students cry in class. But also that the alleged "veiled threat" within my email wasn't acceptable.
I had to also remove a copy of the email to Foltz from my blog.
But now that I've graduated from the university, I can repost the email on my blog again. So here it is!
