I just finished up a semester in the class that I felt was some kind of weird student experiment. I know everyone has a problem with this class but it�s only a matter of time before the entire student body at the UH Conrad Hilton College march on the dean office to have this class removed from the curriculum and replace by a more logically befitting class.
The class started off with a bang. The first day, the famed Chef Abbas Jafari came into the lecture hall to do a hour-long demonstration, showing us incredibly creative ways to cut fruits and vegetables, and he explained to us the functions of various kitchen tools. Chef Abbas is by far one of the most amiable people I have ever met and he loves students and his job. We are all happy to have seen the demonstration, and by the end of it, it really looked like the semester was going to go quite smoothly.
What is about to come maybe taken as an unappreciative student bitching about having had a hard time in a class he did not work hard for. Let me assure you that I worked very hard in this class, and I was satisfied with my grade. I�m just writing this article in hopes that someone that matters will read it and do something about the problems in this class.
NOTE: The professor of this class didn�t want the class to be called �Foods�, however that�s the common name for the class given to it by the students, and that is how we identify the class, so that�s what I�m going to call it.
The class started off on a good note and all was seemingly fine. Then came the first day of the Foods lab. After a quick explanation of what cooking methods were going to be used that day, we were released in the lab like a flock of wild geese. True, we had all the equipment we needed and then some, but we had no direction from the lab attendant and we didn�t know how to use most of the equipment. We were instructed as if we�ve been in the industry as long as the professor, who apparently is a well-tenured lecturer at the Hilton College. I was fortunate enough to have worked at a restaurant for a couple of months during the summer after I graduated from high school, therefore I knew how to start a gas stove, but I guarantee you that there we people who hadn�t worked a day in the industry and didn�t know how a kitchen operated.
We were given recipes for 50, and asked to cook for 5. Now, any idiot will tell you that when you do a conversion as drastic as that, you cannot use the same cooking methods. It would be neat if we were required to find out what method to use instead and then report our findings to the lab attendant and given the time to do so, but we were required to finish in a certain amount of time. And the icing on the cake: we were graded on how good our end result was � I think. That�s right: I think. We were really never sure what constituted our lab grade. When we asked, her answer was simply, �attendance.� But if that is so, then what were all the notes she was taking when we walked around taste-testing our food? Is there any reason they kept us guessing about our grades? As students shouldn�t we have a clear definition of what our grades are? Shouldn�t a grading rubric have clear explanations about what each of the criteria encompass?
These are all questions that every person in the class had, and I feel confident in saying that no one knew the exact answers to any of those questions.
Of course, though, that was only my problem with the lab. The lecture was a different story. It was time for the first test and all of us were studying for it. This test was to include cooking methods, cuts, kitchen operations, some culinary math, and general sanitation, among other things. Six chapters of information were included in this test. Many of us failed. This happens, as with any university class. However after asking much of the class about the test, the usual bell curve was unusually lop-sided for this test, I�m sure. And the best part is that we didn�t know why we failed. For some of us it was obvious. About 75% of the test was multiple-choice. The other 25% was subjective. Meaning there was no set way for this to be graded. For some people who failed, this was probably where they went wrong, but their grades could have been saved had they been given the opportunity of discussion, but we weren�t. Why not? Because that portion of our test booklets were shredded right after they were graded. What if we wanted to be present for the grading? Forget it. They gave us the 5k runaround.
This is just the beginning. More to come later.