| Western Governors University |
| Western Governors University WGU Inadequate Math Program Passes on Burden of Defects to Students Salt Lake City, Utah |
| 15th of Jun, 2011 by User620872 |
| The manager of WGU's math program does not appear to have significant background in math. This would not be an issue, except the program is highly flawed and unresponsive to criticism. You complete math courses at WGU by passing tests with a C and passing essay assignments with an A. Some of the essay assignments are incoherently assigned. Despite my prudent, early attempts to obtain clarification, I spent tens of hours inefficiently clarifying the directions of an essay rather than directly executing on the obscure grading criteria. This is hours of my time wasted needlessly by no misconduct of myself. Additionally, every time I tried to get further clarification, or assert my entitlement to such clarity, I ran the risk of being labeled unprofessional for daring to question the effectiveness of the original essay prompt. I previously gained entry to a university among a pool of applicants with sub-10% acceptance rate. I know what is reasonable in terms of mathematics curriculum and grading. WGU has the unique position of being easier and harder at the same time. WGU is easier in terms of math content, but harder overall, because (some of) the essays are so incoherently assigned. Perhaps this has something to do with mathematically illiterate management. Perhaps not. All I know is, WGU is passing off the difficulty of its essays as a signal of the merits of its program. In reality, the difficulty of these essays has nothing to do with math. It is sheer human incompetence. I would still sign up with WGU because let's face it, it's a pretty good deal for your money. But, the math program is demonstrably a scam. Which means going into it, if you are already pretty good at math, be prepared to have your time wasted, and be prepared to be talked down to, because due to the rarity of people who know how to do math, there is a centralization of power in their program, and this is abused. For example, I had a "professor" ask me to send him daily reminder emails to do his job. You would think with his quantitative aptitude he could figure out how to set daily reminders for himself? Or, you would think that basic social intelligence would say that you don't insult another person by directing him to function in the same capacity as a hotel service desk providing a daily wake up call. WGU's main premise is that it empowers a student to be independent of the school. The students attain competency at their own pace, and the school provides the students the means of demonstrating it. WGU's math program fails at this main premise because it wastes student time with incoherent assignments. If a student fails this assignment enough times, the student will be dropped from the entire WGU program, by the way. WGU has a fundamental obligation to provide coherent assignments, because this is an expectation WGU sets when selling its program. By failing to meet the expectation that it sets, WGU is a ripoff. But, it's still a pretty good deal. People who pride themselves on being treated with respect, beware. |
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