STAY AWAY FROM U.C. BERKELEY EXTENSION.
HERE IS MY CLAIM:
I issued a complaint to U.C. Berkeley Extension regarding a professor's incompetence to teach. They merely brushed my complaint aside. When I asked for a refund for the class, they stated this on their generic rejection for refund e-mail as one of their reasons: "Refund and Transfer deadlines are determined in accordance with UC Berkeley Academic Senate guidelines in order to maintain educational accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.". From this statement, I understand that they refuse to grant me a refund simply because they would like to maintain their image.
U.C. Berkeley Extension did not seem to care about the fact that my instructor only held one laboratory session. I was also rudely spoken-to by a certain "Richard Wilson", in a manner as if I did not know how to read. Every department that I called to help me out simply told me that they were not the person who I should speak with. Mr. Wilson told me that his rejection for refund e-mail which he generically sends to people, stated not to call them back on reasons why my refund appeal was rejected. He simply reiterated the e-mail's terms to me over the phone, and told me not to call back.
This is a snippet of the letter (which was rejected by U.C. Berkeley Extension) I sent to them about my instructor's incompetence to teach:
"1. Mr. _______ was never prepared when he would come to class. He would dictate to us that we were paying him, hence we should be the one doing the lessons--i.e., asking him questions. I did not learn anything from each of his class sessions every Saturday, because it was a strictly-student-ruled class, with the absence of an organized lesson-plan whatsoever. I did not pay $855.00 to take a class which would be based on the orchestration of students.
2. The class sessions were based on student's questions (to build on point 1). Sometimes we would drift of-topic because other students (who were in an Organic Chemistry class) asked him to answer questions pertaining to their Chemistry class, because Mr. _______'s specialty is in fact Chemistry.
3. Mr. _______'s class failed to live up to the name "Physics II Laboratory Class" because we only had one lab session. I was very disappointed about this because I took the class to gain hands-on knowledge about Physics II. Instead, his class was consistent with that of a Physics II Lecture class.
4. I have been withholding my complaint since Day 1 of our class, however, I decided to push-through with finishing my Physics II Laboratory class, thinking that it would be better to finish the class so as not to delay my projected graduation date, despite the flawed quality of instruction, and so I forced myself to work with his style of teaching. I did all my homework and submitted the single lab report which he required us to do.
5. Mr. _______ never updated us as to our progress. He never returned a single paperwork which we submitted to him, hence, I was unaware as to what my standing was in his class.
6. Mr. _______ claimed that we lacked access to laboratory equipment, being in Cañada College's campus, which he used to justify his decision to work on only two--which later turned into one lab report.
What I would like to get out of this complaint is a refund for my Physics II Laboratory class. I would have complained sooner, although I was constrained (this was back in August 2013) because other students did not agree with me, simply because they favoured the light "workload". I decided to keep my mouth shut, but at this point, my instructor is just being unfair.
I regret to say that U.C. Berkeley Extension failed to live-up to my expectations. For instance, I did not expect that there would be problems with holding laboratory classes at Cañada College. The lack of equipment in general, compromised the "Laboratory" class as a whole, and my instructor's unwillingness to take the time to retrieve equipment for his class sessions, further complicated the matter of my instructor's incompetence to teach."
At this point, I filed a complaint with the Western Accreditation for Schools and Colleges, against U.C. Berkeley Extension. I have yet to hear from them within 30 days. read more
