Professor Goes Back On His Word???

A lot of people were surprised when a few days after GMA issued proclamation 1017 Professor Florin Hilbay released a statement saying that he was cancelling his classes in order for his students to participate in the rallies. In lieu of exams, he declared to the entire law school (in a written statement that was posted all over the college) that he was going to ask his students to individually tell him what grade they thought they deserved.

The whole proclamation 1017 thing lasted for less than two weeks. Pretty soon, after GMA declared that there no longer was a state of national emergency, things at Malcolm Hall started returning to normal. Students went back to their studies, and with the final exams fast approaching, promptly forgot about the whole thing.

Just as GMA changed her mind and decided to lift the state of emergency, Professor Hilbay also changed his mind and, in what he called an act of discretion on his part, decided to give his Consti students a sit down final exam while his Legal Theory class was made to submit a final paper. I bet his students felt like declaring a state of academic emergency! Hehehe. Rule of law indeed.

Is that what teaching law in the grand manner means? Grant your students the privilege of passing a course without taking a final exam then later on arbitrarily revoking such privilege? Well, these students are going to get screwed over by somebody sooner or later while practicing law. Better get them used to it and have their professor screw them over during their first year :P

But wait. I mind another professor who promised his students (in class, without any sort of published statement) that he too would not be giving his students final exams. And this professor STOOD BY HIS WORD, even though his word was all he gave. Some people make jokes about his being half-Chinese, or half a Chinese, but this Professor is more a man than most. Kudos to Professor Theodore Te, who, to borrow a phrase from his blog, just pulled a class act.

To their respective students, there is much to learn from what happened to you. Take these lessons to heart.

P.S. I'm not sure if Professor Hilbay's class has already taken their Consti final exam. If not, refer to my previous post regarding common cheating methods practiced in Malcolm :D