Originally Posted by user9753

OBVIOUSLY?



and of course everyone ignores anything good that was mentioned about him in the article:

"Tang, who had previously completed the coursework component to his PhD program"
"Tang — described as “a great intellect” by his thesis advisor"

Based on these quotes, i find it difficult to believe that he wouldn't have passed the examination if he hadn't experienced the injury.

The world these days is just full of judgy people. Maybe it's time to forgo the traditional justice system and leave it to the MI community to decide what's right and what's wrong, who's guilty and who's not :p

YES OBVIOUSLY!


"The accommodation officials allegedly offered — increased time to complete written tasks and frequent breaks during the oral piece — were not suitable to Tang. Although dissatisfied with the university's proposals, Tang attempted to complete the exam in early 2011, he says in his filing to the tribunal.
After spending two months trying to write the exam, he gave up, saying, “it has come to the point that the impact this is having on my health is too great to allow me to continue,” he says in his filing."


It said clearly within the article that these were his accommodations, he was given more time and was allowed to write the exam in a 2 month time period. If he was given accommodation and is still unable to pass the exam then that means he is not suitable to become a Phd. This is not being "judgy" as you say, this is a discussion as to whether an institution of higher education can maintain the integrity in their academic marking scheme. The fact that he was able to continue with his PhD course work and was complimented by his instructors further shows that the damages from that injury were not as severe as he says. It seems as if when you are doing well, your injury doesn't matter but all of a sudden when you have to do an exam your injury from years ago can somehow affect you.



When I wrote my exam this year in highschool and my father passed away from a horrible illness just a month or two before exam; my principle didn't give a shit about me. All my teacher's didn't give any time extensions for me and they never let me skip the exam. In fact, my Calculus teacher made me write 2 tests I missed the week I came back. My English teacher made me write an in class essay test the week I came back. Only data teacher gave a crap, love the man. But where is my accommodation now? I don't blame anyone because the school needs to maintain their standards and marking integrity. This guy needs to accept this fact and grow up.

Originally Posted by allanandthera

When I wrote my exam this year in highschool and my father passed away from a horrible illness just a month or two before exam; my principle didn't give a shit about me. All my teacher's didn't give any time extensions for me and they never let me skip the exam. In fact, my Calculus teacher made me write 2 tests I missed the week I came back. My English teacher made me write an in class essay test the week I came back. Only data teacher gave a crap, love the man. But where is my accommodation now? I don't blame anyone because the school needs to maintain their standards and marking integrity. This guy needs to accept this fact and grow up.

You weren't sick in comparison with the victim in the paper.

This thread is full of personal assumptions. They should make it a law that prevent any leakage of information about cases and so called evidences before the it even finished going through the court system.

Heck, why even bother going through the tribunal this Friday?? Just have the judge ruled him based on this small news report. It seems everyone else is already doing it.

Originally Posted by AvacadoLover

You weren't sick in comparison with the victim in the paper.

This thread is full of personal assumptions. They should make it a law that prevent any leakage of information about cases and so called evidences before the it even finished going through the court system.

Heck, why even bother going through the tribunal this Friday?? Just have the judge ruled him based on this small news report. It seems everyone else is already doing it.

Still doesn't add up, sick enough to not be able to write a 2 month exam but not sick enough to be able to complete his Phd course work well... of course this topic is going to have different sides and all our opinions will for sure be biased, but this is just a discussion. That's what a forum thread is, assumptions and speculations. I'm interested in seeing how this trial will be dealt with tho.

Originally Posted by ooburii

actually, they did mention mcmaster's accommodation offer in the article:

I wasn't clear on that. I meant the time that is regularly given to students and the extra time they offered him. What's mentioned in the article is not too useful.

My overall point was that it's difficult to pick sides.

Originally Posted by AvacadoLover

You weren't sick in comparison with the victim in the paper.

This thread is full of personal assumptions. They should make it a law that prevent any leakage of information about cases and so called evidences before the it even finished going through the court system.

Heck, why even bother going through the tribunal this Friday?? Just have the judge ruled him based on this small news report. It seems everyone else is already doing it.

There was no leak, Tang went to the media with this story himself. Extremely foolish move on his part. Goodluck McMaster in the hearing tomorrow. I agree with the posts in hear stating that Mac must uphold its academic integrity.
And yes, sadly this student will scare off a lot of other PhD programs if this hearing does not go his way. Probably should have used a bit of foresight before going to the press with his story, would have saved him the migraine that the press interview likely gave him

Originally Posted by allanandthera

Still doesn't add up, sick enough to not be able to write a 2 month exam but not sick enough to be able to complete his Phd course work well... of course this topic is going to have different sides and all our opinions will for sure be biased, but this is just a discussion. That's what a forum thread is, assumptions and speculations. I'm interested in seeing how this trial will be dealt with tho.

My interpretation of the article was that he had previously completed his coursework and then got injured? I could be wrong, though.

Originally Posted by starfish

My interpretation of the article was that he had previously completed his coursework and then got injured? I could be wrong, though.

You are correct. The injury occured in 2008, after he had completed his coursework. Now i am completely oblivious the the PhD process, but what comes after the coursework that could possibly take 5 years to complete? any knowledge on this would be appreciated!

Originally Posted by BusterCherry

You are correct. The injury occured in 2008, after he had completed his coursework. Now i am completely oblivious the the PhD process, but what comes after the coursework that could possibly take 5 years to complete? any knowledge on this would be appreciated!

http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/medsci/degree...rements.h tml

Coursework is a minimal part of a science PhD program. The vast majority of your graduate work is research, which also involves the comprehensive exam, giving seminars, and writing/defending your thesis.

Simply writing the thesis up can take months, sometimes up to a year, during which they typically aren't doing research (although they might do a few experiments here and there). Typically people will take a couple of months to prepare for the comps but they'd also be doing research during this time - their focus wouldn't be 100% on the comps for two full months.

Originally Posted by allanandthera

Still doesn't add up, sick enough to not be able to write a 2 month exam but not sick enough to be able to complete his Phd course work well... of course this topic is going to have different sides and all our opinions will for sure be biased, but this is just a discussion. That's what a forum thread is, assumptions and speculations. I'm interested in seeing how this trial will be dealt with tho.

Newspaper articles should incite your curiosity to explore the piece in more details. Ask questions and if need be, verified the information. They are not stone tablets that Moses brought down.

A discussion, when filled with incomplete knowledge is really just gossiping, no?

Originally Posted by BusterCherry

There was no leak, Tang went to the media with this story himself. Extremely foolish move on his part. Goodluck McMaster in the hearing tomorrow. I agree with the posts in hear stating that Mac must uphold its academic integrity.
And yes, sadly this student will scare off a lot of other PhD programs if this hearing does not go his way. Probably should have used a bit of foresight before going to the press with his story, would have saved him the migraine that the press interview likely gave him

Can always replace the word leak with reveal. The media should never be involved in a ongoing case is my main point.

Originally Posted by starfish

My interpretation of the article was that he had previously completed his coursework and then got injured? I could be wrong, though.

My bad, never looked into how a Phd program is structured.

Originally Posted by AvacadoLover

A discussion, when filled with incomplete knowledge is really just gossiping, no?

Essentially, in summary, yes we are basically gossiping

Originally Posted by AvacadoLover

Newspaper articles should incite your curiosity to explore the piece in more details. Ask questions and if need be, verified the information. They are not stone tablets that Moses brought down.

A discussion, when filled with incomplete knowledge is really just gossiping, no?



Can always replace the word leak with reveal. The media should never be involved in a ongoing case is my main point.

And they wouldnt have been if Tang wasnt trying to gain support. On this day, not a fuck is given for you Tang!

Tang voluntarily appeared on the news to talk about his situation :/ he gave an interview in his own house on CHCH news the day the story aired. As others said, this shows that he was trying to garner support by approaching the media himself. If he didn't want publicity, he would've declined to comment, let alone appear on tv.

WHEN the university wins this series of hearings, do you think they would allow him to continue his education at McMaster after his attempts at publicly bringing into question the school's integrity towards academics?

Originally Posted by BusterCherry

WHEN the university wins this series of hearings, do you think they would allow him to continue his education at McMaster after his attempts at publicly bringing into question the school's integrity towards academics?

The student claims it's a toxic environment for him...it doesn't sound like he has any intention of returning.

allanandthera - High school exams are insignificant compared to a PhD workload. Losing a loved one is something absolutely terrible and gut wrenching, but it's not the same as a concussion (traumatic brain injury). Unfortunately with a lot of head injuries as the physical illness isn't something acutely visible, people get a lot less sympathy than say a cast or something that is obviously external. His brain - which is responsible for memory, processing information, and all executive level cognitive functioning - has been injured. With these types of injuries of you try to do things before you are ready, it simply makes the illness more prolonged. Until you've had a concussion many of you don't know how hard it really is. :|