Thread regarding ITT Educational Services Inc. layoffs

Wow this is all too true. Some explanation of crap curriculum is in order here I think. Instructors guide is beyond brief, slides don't match the guide, grade book doesn't match the syllabus or the guide, lab book chapters don't match anything, the book is required and then ignored, but the only thing on the final, which doesn't cover anything I taught and looks like a final for a course taught on mars instead of my class. Oh and do this this all with some pretty hard to reach instantly disengaged students. And who reviews all this? I would really like to know. Some of this stuff was this way for years. My chair and I couldn't figure out how to even give the most basic feedback on any class. Why was it this way? Because the focus was on recruitment, not quality.

WOW! Never heard it put so perfectly! All 5 points are spot on!

It is time for ITT Tech to close, actually past time. While I do know that ITT Tech has helped some students, very nice men and women, to become successful – it has also taken advantage of so many students who should not have been in any college. They were promised a path to a successful career, and ended up in a great deal of debt. While that can be true for any college or university, at ITT Tech the odds are that you will either drop out before completion, or you will graduate and never find a job in your field. My numbers may be off, but I believe the success rate is in the 20 something percent, leaving the rest having wasted a great deal of money and time.

The curriculum has never been very good for the professors. It was poorly written, with exercises that were not conducive to increasing the students knowledge. Many were not connected clearly to the teaching objectives, or even the true topic for the night. Students were often ask to write or discuss on topics that had not been covered in the material. In recent years ITT Tech sought to increase its income by expanding its online program. The online courses were designed to be accomplished in 6 weeks. However, when the school did this they wrote the new curriculum for 6 weeks courses and required even the professors who were teaching in 11 or 12 week formats on campuses to use the 6 weeks curriculum. The 6 week curriculum was designed for at home self study and was not easily transferred into the classroom, not to mention that a professor was required to stretch the material out to 11 or 12 weeks.

Also teaching times for class contact hours were 4 to 5 hour classes. However, the material could be taught fully in 2 or less hours. Sometime it would be a stretch to make the required material stretch out for that long. This would leave professor with hours that they had to fill with additional lectures and assignment that were not include in the curriculum. Despite this fact professors were not allowed to enter non approved assignments into there grade books. There was a complete lack of academic freedom.

The school is a Technical school, yet often times the textbooks and materials were out of date by as much as 10 years. Some of the things being taught were outdated, dead, and no longer used in industry.

The class sizes were often to large, so in labs their would be times where students could not get to a computer. Often time classes were so large that the majority of the class would be asking for personal help but the professor was not able to get to everyone, leaving the students frustrated and unsuccessful.

Professors were paid poorly, while being expected to deal with large classes, grading hundreds of assignments a week, call and council with students, and write curriculum to make up for the the sparse curriculum that was provide. So many professors wanted to do there best to help there students be successful, but felt they were always fighting against the company. Professors knew that they were not valued or respected.

The bottom line was money. Money was what the company was all about, which I guess is not a surprise, as it is a for profit school. However, mixing a hunger for money with trying to create successful academics did not work well. It became more about money and less about students needs. Some would argue that you can do both, but ITT could not, did not.

The Department of Education is doing the right thing by closing ITT Tech. It is time for this to happen. But I do hope for the sake of those students who are working so hard on their degrees, trying to make something of themselves and seeking to provide a future for there families, I hope that the Government will cancel many of there debts, and help them transition into a new school where they can learn, and grow and find success.

I was once an instructor and this is so true. There were students who had good finances that were aloud to break rules and even threaten other students without consequences. One even barely missed another student in the parking lot with her car. It was the instructors who were mistreated, disrespected and thrown under the bus. It was a constant revolving door. Administration would break their own rules. One quarter they sceduled me 42 contact hours and crazy assignments but I refused and then was treated like crap and I left. Tried helping students but that was disastrous, I just gave up.