An open letter to Delta College from Zack Bolen

Hello,

I am not having a good experience as an online learner.

I am at Delta to fulfill my math requirements at SVSU (Saginaw Valley State University). Before I came here, my plan was to teach myself the math I needed and test out of most of the math classes. What I learned from trying to learn math on my own was that it is impossible to learn math, for me, outside of a classroom environment.

Now I am no longer allowed to be in a classroom to learn math. It is not my math teacher’s fault. She is doing everything she can to help us. With this same teacher, I have taken several math classes, beginning in the spring/summer of 2019. I ended those classes with a B or better. 

I got a 64% on my most recent math test. The first test in this class I got a 90%. You’ve taken a good student and wing-clipped him. I was obliged to take this test in my own home and to choose not to cheat to remedy this situation, which I am sure the majority of my fellow classmates are just cheating, and I suspect you won’t hear a peep from them.

I have a wonderful math teacher. We’ve been taken out of the environment we are successful in. However, no alternative has been provided, in my opinion, that satisfies the obligation this institution has to both my teacher and me. Instead, the burden has fallen on the teachers to suddenly pull a new class from a hat mid-semester while simultaneously taking away their resources.

The burden lies with the administrators at Delta to provide students and teachers with real alternatives. Instead of solutions, all I seem to get is lip service from blanket emails from administrators that have no idea what is going on but are certainly enjoying their own paid time off amid a worldwide pandemic. I even got one that helpfully suggested that I meet with the students from my class to form a study group in the library; just a complete anachronism today. 

How are disadvantaged individuals expected to stay in contact with their classes? It is assumed every student and faculty has at home: a modern computer, PDF/image conversion software, the knowledge to use such programs, HD scanner, HD video capture device, printer, constant high speed internet access and a place in their home away from distractions with proper work surfaces to take tests at home.

Everyone I know, including myself, is lacking at least one of those requirements for online learning but no attempt has been made by the school, that I am aware of, to provide any of these materials to students or faculty.

The options you’ve given are: an extended credit/no credit deadline and the incomplete option, which is for some reason incompatible with the credit/no credit option. Other colleges and universities have offered that these classes can be taken again at a later date at no cost to the student if they are disappointed with their grade at the end. What prevents Delta from offering this generous safety net to well meaning students that don’t deserve to be given crude ultimatums?

Please do not tell me “we’re all in this together,” because in my experience, I am on my own. Rallying cries of this nature are placation for plebeians so we don’t question the omnipresent disparities in this ill-conceived system.

I have my doubts this letter will be read or responded to. And I have even more extreme doubts that any measurable change will result from this letter. I expect I’ll get ground into the gears of the bureaucracy while those with the authority to act hide behind their office and the anonymity of regulations. Unfortunately, I suspect no one person will ever be held accountable for the lapse in pedagogy. As a student, I struggle to even put a name or a face to the intangible authority that dictates these decisions with far reaching effects that weigh heavily in my heart and the heart of my teacher. But I wonder, do these decisions weigh heavy on your heart?

One thing is certain: y’all collected your money at the start of the semester and y’all are keepin’ that money.

Good day.

Zack Bolen