"I know this because last semester, I was one of those students."

Hypocrisy is NEVER convincing.

I understand that you're trying to do something about the situation, but the fact that you're writing this letter because it concerns you ONLY at this point (during this term) comes across as self-serving. If you truly were concerned about "impaired educations", you would have rallied your fellow engineers last term. No?

No hate though man, but if you want to get your point across, get rid of all the lines pertaining to personal purpose and you're good to go.

I'd just like to mention that Childs DID put in a request for a bigger room. Also, it's not like everyone is in Childs' class because they were told he is the best... they just heard that the others suck a lot. Most people who had him last semester ALSO got to hear the horror stories from students who had Velez and Protas. So it's no wonder that it got to the point where the room was overflowing.

I'd also like to mention that they moved one of Dr Childs' classes last year due to this problem...and when the room was still overflowing, there was a lady that checked schedules to make sure that you actually were supposed to be in that class.

Also, the other math sections are also in JHE 376. From what I've seen, every engineering class is always packed when it's in that hall. As well, the heating issue is supposed to be temporary so that's not really a legit reason. That room is just generally a terrible lecture hall. I absolutely hate it, but that's my own opinion.

If you're actually going to send out that letter, you might not want to say "resignation" since that implies he'll quit due to the added work. "Retires" is much nicer.

Quite good of you to write up this letter instead of showing up to solar car tonight, Kurt. :P

If you want to see something happen about this in a hurry, report it to the fire marshal. Having overcrowded classrooms is a serious fire hazard and it's the professor's responsibility to make sure that it doesn't happen.

A letter from the Fire Marshal will get the administration to do something about it in a jiffy.

If you don't want to do that just yet, send a note to Mac's Environmental and Occupational Health Support Services - http://www.workingatmcmaster .ca/eohss/

Originally Posted by Bobble

Having overcrowded classrooms is a serious fire hazard and it's the professor's responsibility to make sure that it doesn't happen.

Spontaneous combustion is serious business and not a laughing matter.

Depends on who combusted.

For instance, if it's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Ghost Man . . . well, that's not really funny, but it's daaamn tasty!

But seriously, overcrowded classrooms are against fire code. Stairs need to be cleared and there need to be enough exits to handle evacuating the room's capacity in a given amount of time.

regardless of whether or not childs is better than the other two, I'd say this overcrowding is something that happens quite often and should be addressed. I remember in my first year, a lot of students went to Lock's chem class instead of the other profs and the same problem happened there too. I also always see my commerce friends scrambling to get into the course with a specific prof..

One place I'd recommend at least forwarding this to is the FYC, first year council. They do advocacy for first years and so they might be interested in helping you out with this.

You might also arrange to speak to your professor ahead of time to see if he/she has any insight into the situation before you do anything at all. I'm sure no one appreciates a fire hazard.

I would polish up this letter a bit more and send it to your associate dean's office and/or department office.

ya 1zz5 is unbelievable. it is extremely hot in there and crowded! As for velez and protas, I have never attended their class but havent heard ANY good comments about them.

The class should definitely be in either MDCL 1305 or HSC 1A1

I agree, they do need to change the room (Childs submitted the request), its hot and lecture hall is too small for a prof like childs who is much better than others.

childs also uses examples from the textbooks but explains them. i cant really compare since i nvr had velez or protas but i havent heard any gd comments about them yet.

hopefully, we will get a room such as mdcl 1305 or hsc 1a1

Damnnn. Last term with childs, you can attend the lecture and never review the material again until test day. For protas, be sure to attend and review after every lecture. With protas its more extra work to understanding the material.

C'mon Velez is not that bad, sure he misspells words sometimes but if you actually pay attention in lectures it's not that hard to understand what he's trying to get across.

Post the reply here when you get round to sending the letter!

guys...C.Velez is not a REALLY BAD lecturer...I did not know about others but im comfortable to be in his class...he tried his best to explain the materials...and for the spelling, his first language is not English so it is normal for him to make mistakes...if you pay close attention, it should be okay...thats my opinion~

I agree, Velez is actually a pretty good teacher and if you pay attention, you will understand everything. Childs in my opinion just has better examples. Protas on the other from my experience rewords almost everything he takes from the textbook and in my opinion actually made it harder to understand the concepts. He would write a large number of words to get a point across when a few words could've explained it just as clearly. Protas teaches more theory/definition with very few examples.

I have been to lectures taught by all 3 professors and in my opinion are all capable of teaching it but it depends on your learning style whether or not you will understand the material.

http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/~bprotas...e_notes_01.pdf

D=

Originally Posted by wintermelon

http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/~bprotas/MATH1Z04/lecture_notes_01.pdf

D=

Lol, I know right. Haha. Well.. at least there's the textbook?
Small condolence, I know.

For those who don't know, myself and a few others (thanks for following everybody in the room!) went to see the Associate Dean, and we worked out a solution. I'm getting tired of repeating myself. Search 1zz5 on facebook.