Ole Miss students and parents upset with the way classes are being taught

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Imagine spending thousands of dollars on your child’s tuition, only for them not to get proper instruction.

That’s what Dr. Patrick Tucker says is happening.

His son is a senior at Ole Miss, and both said they’re upset with the way classes are being taught this semester.

On Monday, Tucker wrote a letter to the university’s chancellor Dr. Glenn Boyce expressing his frustration.

“I absolutely do feel like I’m being ripped off,” said Tucker. “If I’m going to pay for my child to come to Ole Miss to learn and to be instructed in class, he needs to be instructed.”

Tucker said he was told students would have hybrid classes.

So far he said that’s not the case.

He said his son doesn’t meet with teachers in person, and one of his online professors only teaches 30 minutes for a class scheduled for three hours.

"He was given a syllabus of what to study for the test, and he is responsible for teaching himself,” said said Tucker.

“I told my parents I will take the semester off to help y’all out because it’s not like I’m learning anything,” Tucker’s said expressed.

Tucker’s son, who didn’t want his name released, said this has been a depressing semester.

“There’s no structure whatsoever, I feel like I’m just thrown out to the wolves,” the son said. "Since I’m a senior I have to do a lot of research. Researching on my own for the first time on this level of kind of research, and this level of papers, and these types of essays, that I’ve never done before is agonizing.”

The senior said not being able to interact with a professor or fellow classmates stunts his growth as a student.

Now he and thousands of other concerned students and parents are making a plea to university leaders asking for change. There is now a Facebook page dedicated to this issue. https://www.facebook.com/groups/253248629273843/

It has more than 4,300 members, many of them being concerned parents.

“I would like to see classrooms open, or a way for us to have some one in the classroom we can ask questions to,” the son said.

"It would not surprise me at all if 20 to 30 percent of the students that are here right now do not come back next semester,” said Tucker.

Dr. Boyce said the university is looking into this matter and they will be meeting with deans and department to discuss this issue.

You can see Dr. Boyce’s full statement here.

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