Today I spoke to a class of first year uni students studying chemistry. The chemistry course is only in it's second year. One of the students has Asperger's Syndrome (very quiet, very unsure/timid/shy). After they left the lecturer admitted that of the 15 first years about half won't pass year 1 but he's going to do his best. I'm kinda stuck on the fence here as I know the dept had a cap of 15 students this year so I assume that they would have wanted to get 15 students who are likely to pass. However I guess if a student has the required entry grades and the academic background then their ability to work in groups or present their work publicly (he only whispers) shouldn't matter.
Am I just being bigoted and making assumptions by thinking that accepting a student on to the course who does not have the social capabilities to cope with university (he was clearly unsettled by the situation and needs lots of support) is unfair to both the student in question and their classmates? I would like to point out that I have worked with kids with the same syndrome who would function quite well in this environment but the guy today was struggling but then perhaps that's just because it's week 1 and he'll be fine in a couple of weeks.
Perhaps I'm just judging and that's not a good thing to do but the whole set up was very unusual and confused me a lot. I also think it's sad to accept 7/8 students that at the end of week 1 it's already clear that they will not pass easily or at all. Is it wrong to take students who are not capable of passing just to get the funding?
A why and an eavesdropping and a brief update
4 years ago
1 comment:
Difficult questions . The uni or course has to meet the cap on available places because it might lose places next year as a result (which is what happened this year- unis were capped at last years student numbers despite increases applications) it's a bigger question than one years funding. That student number is very small so I'm guessing it is a new course without reputation so recruitment will be hard.
It is difficult to judge students on admission, particularly if there are widening participation issues- students may be I'll equipped for study but smart enough to succeed if they get the support.
Is it ethical not to give them a shot at uni?
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