[AT] Old trains/now NC State foolishness

[Al Jones]

When I came along in the '90s Chem 101 and 103 (the lab) were still very much weed-out courses.  I lucked up, my major only required Chem 100..."Chemistry for poets" the professor called it.  There was no lab and it was easier than high school chemistry. (We had a really good high school chem teacher when I came along.)  But, we still have to take our tests with the rest of the whole department outside of class---on a SATURDAY morning.

I always thought the folks in the chemistry dept. at NCSU was a little too big for their britches.

The worst class I ever had though was botany.  We had a grad. student that taught the lab that thought she knew everything and had to tell us about it.  The labs on either side of us would always get done 45 minutes to an hour before we did because she wouldn't shut up and just give us the assignment.  Dr. VanDyke taught the class and spent more time talking to us about his wood duck carvings than he did teaching botany, yet everybody thought he was wonderful but me.  Managed a "C" and was proud of it.

Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: charliehill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
>Sent: Dec 9, 2009 10:30 AM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] Old trains/now NC State foolishness
>
>Oh yes I remember the chem 101 tests very well David.  In my day it was a 
>theater seat in Harroldson Hall with a itty bitty swing up desk and a Post 
>Versalog slide rule.
>30 multiple choice answers for some very complex problems.  90 minutes to do 
>the exam.   The 5 possible answers on the multiple choice answer sheet were 
>the right answer and the 4 most probable errors.  Under the time pressure 
>you didn't have time to re-check your work.  If you didn't know it dead cold 
>you were screwed.
>
>In my opinion it came under the heading of cruel and unusual punishment. 
>For the rest of us (non NC state) folks.  Chem 101 was a weed out course. 
>1/2 to 2/3 of the kids that took it would fail by design.  They wouldn't 
>even take time in class for exams.  Every few weeks (I forget the frequency) 
>you had to go at night to an assigned class room somewhere to take the exam.
>
>I'm not ashamed to say I was a victim of that course.  Dr. White (what 
>White) told us the first day.  "look to your left and your right and 
>remember the faces well, they won't be here in 4 years".  Then he asked how 
>many folks in the theater (200 or more) had high school chemistry.  Most 
>raised their hands.  He followed:  that's good but more important in this 
>class is high school physics.  I knew right then I was screwed.  I went to a 
>small high school.  My senior year only 3 people in my class signed up to 
>take physics and they didn't teach the course.
>
>Charlie
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "David Bruce" <davidbruce at yadtel.net>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 10:11 AM
>Subject: Re: [AT] Old trains/now NC State foolishness
>
>
>> Charlie,
>> I also thought they were childish.  In my day and on central campus the
>> water fights always came after the chemistry tests.  They were in the
>> evening (on Thursday at that) and comprised all sections of Chem 101 -
>> so starting about dark one would see the "lemmings" headed toward most
>> every auditorium or large lecture hall on campus.  After the test was
>> over there was the great water fight and some sort of attempt at a panty
>> raid.  It wan't unusual for a few days afterward to have water balloons
>> coming from the upper floors of the tri-towers (the other two were
>> female and the middle one was co-ed).
>>
>> David
>> NW NC
>>
>> charliehill wrote:
>>> I didn't comment on the water fights because I didn't participate and to 
>>> be
>>> honest thought  they were pretty childish.  However, they were an every 
>>> year
>>> thing on ... did they call it reading day?.... the day off prior to 
>>> exams.
>>> Basically every water faucet in every dorm room in Lee Bragaw and 
>>> Sullivan
>>> dorms were open all day long.  Folks dropping water ballons off the 13 th
>>> floor of Sullivan.  I saw one hit a kid on the shoulder and knock him 
>>> flat
>>> on the ground.  You couldn't get to or leave your dorm room without 
>>> getting
>>> wet.
>>>
>>> About the time I left State they made Lee dorm Co-Ed.  Meaning that they 
>>> put
>>> girls on a couple of floors.  In 1969 there were roughly 15,000 on campus
>>> students and less than 1000 of them were female so the ladies were pretty
>>> well respected.  Someone in the student gov't figured that out and the
>>> decision was made to make Lee CoEd.  That pretty much ended the water 
>>> wars
>>> for the immediate future.  I don't know what happened later in the early
>>> 70's.
>>>
>>> As for the Great panty raid (there were others but one huge one)  I 
>>> didn't
>>> even know about it until it was over.
>>> I was in the Cat's Eye (night club) down at 5 points listening to Billy
>>> Stewart sing the blues and opening some shim stock.  The basketball great
>>> Tommy Burleson was in there that night too.
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxEcFWHfjYA
>>>
>>> Charlie
>>>
>>>
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