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Your Father Died? Prove It!

Dr. Paul Buchanan have lost his job at a university in New Zealand for a harsh e-mail he sent to a student (who was not performing well in class and who asked an extension for an assignment due to the fact that her father passed away) He wrote another e-mail of apology right after the first one but the student only presented the following e-mail to the university authorities.

https://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Education/10145233.html

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OK...I understand that she was a poor student, but wow, that was extremely harsh and unjustified. Of course, he now cries about not being able to get a job in New Zealand. Since he was teaching a New Zealand Politics class, that is going to be a tough blow to him. I do actually believe if there was effort into the publishing of this letter in the media, we should at least see the appology as well.

She says she doesn't feel safe anymore because students are upset with Mr. Buchanon's departure. I can definitely see that...

How about they give Mr. Buchanon his job back on a few conditions:

1) He appologizes to her in person.
2) He takes etiquette classes for one year.
3) He teaches her english (if she is in need) for one year during the off hours free of charge.

Rather off topic, but... When I had a group of engineers that I supervised, there was one engineer that really hated our location. I knew that they probably were going to look for another job in a bigger city, so I kept this in the back of my mind. The job they had paid pretty good, so they weren't in a hurry to leave and were just looking for a really good new job. So, I started to keep track of their leave more than I normally would, because other engineers would have to cover during this person's absences. One grandmother died in October (3 days off). One grandmother died in March (another 3 days off). One grandmother died in December? When they told me that, I said "yeah, growing up is difficult when your parents divorce". They told me "What? My parents never divorced?" I said..."Oh, I am sorry! I thought this was your 3rd death of a grandmother. I must be mistaken. Strangely enough, the person turned bright red and then told me the death in October last year was a Grandfather (another 3 days off). A few weeks later they we were in a discussion and it turned towards divorced parents and kids...they asked me about my parents divorce. I told them "My parents never got divorced...why do you ask?" A little more red face soon followed. No more grandparents died...fortunately! However, there were 2 further times where they were kicked off of Sunday flights back home and forced to stay until Monday, thus missing a day of work and then they were gone.

Your Father Died? Prove It! UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

Sorry, but I could not help but laugh at this reply because I see so many similar to it each day in my inbox. I cannot believe the amount of self-absorbed, know it alls there are out there that live on the premise of assumption yet do not make an effort to find out why something is the way it is on a day to day basis. Maybe this student's score was poor, because she had to feed her father and change his diapers, maybe she had to work to pay medical bills... I did not make an effort to find out exactly why, but whatever the reason he needs a lesson in cordial letter writing!

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JB:

The biggest problem students like her have in New Zealand (for what I read) is that their command of the English language is extremely poor for the level of the class/degree they intent to take hence if they do not speak English properly they won't be able to study/write/give presentations, etc.

It Prove Died Father Your

I understand the teacher's frustration if this is true, but the action he took was pretty poor and in very bad taste. Looks even worse when printed all over the internet for the world to see how big of a jerk you are. However, if the problem is as bad as he said with students who do not have command of the language that the program is taught, shouldn't there be a proper test to determine if you are capable of meeting the criteria for communication and expression in the study? If you can't communicate on the proper level, how did you get accepted in the first place? Now if she took her undergraduate in the same college, then there is a even deeper issue.

Your Father Died? Prove It!

The Lecturer was a Canadian... heh... probably missing the good snow season, which we haven't had because of warmer than normal temperatures.

Still, I agree that the comments were harsh... actually, unwarranted.

Students at Auckland University were polled for their reaction. The over-riding answer was, "Yeah, man. That was not a good email."

The class was Political Science. I'm sure "diplomacy" is part of that course.

I think the Lecturer was a rude goof... maybe he was'nt wrong, but that doesn't excuse bad manners!

Your Father Died Prove It!

Good grief was this professor raised by wolves? If someone printed this email and showed it to me, I would have dismissed it as a tasteless joke! I cannot believe that someone so educated could be so harsh and down right cruel! I am in full agreement that the University's decision to fire him was the right one. Even if the student was not excelling in his class, he should commend the fact that she wanted to complete her assignment, in spite of her poor grades. I understand that he did send an email apologizing to her but I don't think she appreciated it because the damage was already done and irreversible. I think both parties are suffering from the dismissal: the professor is being blacklisted for his actions and ironically, the student is being ostracized by her peers for "making much ado over nothing!"

Your Father Died Prove It! Sciences Education Art Writing & UFO

Actually, I find it is those in such a realm of academic achievement who are able or should I say more prone to disperse flippant insults without a thought to the consequence or effect due to a lot of hot air that gathers in the brain from pride. As a man thinketh... so is he.