College Professor Taught the Wrong Course For a Full Semester
Students at a Houston college are complaining that they were forced to learn more than they wanted when their professor accidentally taught them a more advanced curriculum.
The professor, who was new to teaching at Lonestar College, was supposed to teach a basic Introduction to Chemistry course. But her students ended up with a lot more chemistry than they paid for.
"I was getting 40's on every test," said Firmin. "I studied as hard as I could, did everything in my power to try." Then, shortly before the class' final exam, Firmin claims teacher Thao Shirley Nguyen admitted something.
"She told her mistake in class to all of the students," Firmin told the KHOU 11 News I-Team. And the mistake: "She was teaching general chemistry, another course, all semester."
One of Nguyen's students, Lauren Firmin told local news station KHOU that she went public with her complaint because her final grade—a B—ruined her "perfect 4.0 average." When she appealed her grade, Lonestar ruled against her.
"4.0 students, we are really stressed out altogether, but this just added to it to see what I have been working for, for two years destroyed," she told KHOU.
Another student confirmed that Nguyen admitted to the class they had learned a more advanced course than they signed up for. In exchange, she added extra credit to all the students' grades.
A spokesperson for Lonestar told KHOU, "They were taught the right class." But the head of college's science department apparently admitted Nguyen's mistake in an email, saying it was unintentional.