Thread regarding Corinthian Colleges Inc. layoffs

This is not "college," so get that idea out of the way. There are "customers" and we are in the "customer service" business. If a customer at some electronics store is rude, the employee sucks it up and makes the sale. Otherwise, no sale=no job. I know this sucks, but the job here suddenly becomes much easier once you drop the "college" illusion. Trust me.

@"Real Faculty":

You stated, "A MAJORITY of the other "career schools" DO NOT REQUIRE instructors to call all of the absent or failing students. This is something only Everest has required!" However, this is inaccurate. I have taught for Everest, ITT Tech and Fortis, and all three of them required outreach calls/emails to failing and absent students. Not just Everest does this, and it is a very common practice among for-profit colleges.

I've had managers tell me that they don't actually expect instructors to actually get a hold of students - but that they need instructors to call students just to increase the number of Talisma interactions in case the school gets audited.

@510, you are wrong. How long have instructors been calling students? A little over a year now. How is that attrition rate for students over that same time period? In the tank. What was the student attrition rate BEFORE the requirement of instructors calling students? Better than it was after this was implemented. It is a fact and many instructors have the numbers to back it up. The problem is administration that started the initiative doesn't want to say "they were wrong" or "they made a mistake". They would rather keep the status quo and drive it all in the dumpster.

If no one calls the students they will never participate in class. If they don't participate they should be dropped. If they are dropped there is no need for instructors. So everyone should just quit. Problem solved, thank you.

Yes 457, both instructors and student services are calling students. Also, PL's are calling students as well. So if you are a student who missed one week you are getting up to 6 calls from 6 different people. Makes a lot of sense, right? How laughable.

What is confusing me here is that folks in Student Services are always telling me that it's THEIR job to call up students who are not participating. That makes a lot more sense. One person calling and tracking the calls so they don't get out of hand, rather than EVERY instructor trying to get a hold of you every time you are not in. Are both instructors AND SS calling these students? That would turn me right off.

-209: No, it's Bush's fault.

Ok Mr. Faculty, you are oblivious to what happens in other schools. You are blowing a lot of smoke. A MAJORITY of the other "career schools" DO NOT REQUIRE instructors to call all of the absent or failing students. This is something only Everest has required! And yes, it is completely useless because a majority of the students do not even bother picking up their phones or simply hang up. An Instructor's time is wasted doing this and it really should be up to student services to do this as a primary point of contact if Everest wants to have this outreach. A typical student will have 3 or 4 courses and the ones who are at-risk in failing or absent have that status in all of their courses. Does it make sense for ever Instructor to call that student? No. It makes more sense for student services to be the point person for this.

Furthermore, Instructors are doing their jobs, but you can't make your students show up to class or make them do the work at a 5th grade level that is required. Hell, even the students that are active, a majority of them can't formulate a proper sentence to save their life or even capitalize the letter "I" appropriately. I used to be harsh with spelling, grammar, and punctuation until I realized it was just more work for me and my time is already limited as it is in the courses due to the outreach. Transfer the outreach back to student services and Instructors can then focus more on the courses and actually teaching and developing the students they have.

You guys need to see how instructors and Deans are treated on the ground schools. Everything is blamed on them: Student had no transportation to come to class .. is the instrutor's fault, student is pregnant .... is the instructor's fault, student is homeless ... Is the instructor's faul, student can't read .., is the instructor's fault. You get the picture. At the end of the day all of the above is blamed on our Dean too.

Here's a simple solution for those of you who are unhappy, do your job or quit. It's your choice.

To 268. If calling up students and having 95% of them either hang up on you or ignore your calls is your idea of interacting with students then you are an assfuck. You must be a manager from the school trolling the boards. Busted!

Anonymous86268: The OP said 10% for up to one week late. Sure some students might choose that, but it's a full grade lower so I'm thinking it's usually because they have legitimate life-school (or time management) issues. Lighten up! Your apparent hatred toward the idea of faculty having to interact with students is clouding your judgment. You can rail against it all you want, but it's becoming the norm everywhere, including in the public sector. It's called facilitating your customers.

I think some of you are missing the point. The school is more concerned with creating Talisma interactions that having teachers actually teach their classes. This school is a joke.

To "Faculty". You said, "DO you f***ing job and you wont have to call any students!" That's a bunch of bullshit. The late policy is so lenient that it's impossible to get some students to turn in their work on time, regardless of how well teachers do their job. A late credit policy of 10% is a joke and a lot of students are willing to accept the late penalty in exchange for being able to turn in their work late. Get a clue.

OK. Most of you sound pretty dumb. As a career school, it is our job to call students who are not doing their work. If you dont like this type of interaction, then quit. Wait....you probably cant find other employment, so you stay with us, complain and dont do your work! Another reason why Talisma is bumped up is because we have too many faculty who do not know how to use Talisma and are not closing their interactions. So the SS reps are and taking your credit. DO you f***ing job and you wont have to call any students! If you dont want to call, then send an email. How much harder could this be for 55K a year! My last teaching position made me do three times as much work for less pay. This is from someone who has been here a while and has seen the changes!

Aww... widdle 198 resorting to grade school insult flinging because it got crit in the face by reality. Bet you're one of those self-entitled kids that got a trophy for losing. Par for the course for the kids enrolling in CCI schools these days. Not surprised they need their hands held and constant assurance that they're special snowflakes that can do it. Unfortunately that's where most of the teacher focus is now. Constantly reminding students to turn in their papers, dummying down tests to ensure that the mouth-breathers like 198 can pass, trying in vain to enforce a dress code policy that's already almost non-existent.. It's not the teachers or the cirrocumuli, it's the quality of the students that has caused both for and non profit schools to reach the point they're at now. We can thank Bush and his No Child Left Behind garbage for that and it's only going to get worse.

Here is a novel concept, how about having the instructors actually teach their classes and raise student performance and outcomes and so there is not so much wasted time and efforts in Talisma. The more time spent in Talisma, the less effective the instructors are.

189: Your boss told you to blow him. Enjoy!

Doing what your boss tells you to do isn't meaningless. It's doing your job.

To whoever posted "so?" you are an idiot. You are saying that it's ok that the school screws with their instructors and creates meaningless work for them.

That sucks. Basically, the school is deliberately generating meaningless work for instructors just so there can be more Talisma interactions. Instead of the school trying to create meaningless work for instructors they need to try to improve the quality of the education.

so?