Dumb Professor Edition: Teacher Flunks Student Because He Says Australia Not A Country

It's true that Australia is a continent, but contradicting a
now fired New Hampshire online college professor,
Australia is a country, which any bozo knows. 

A woman named Ashley Arnold was pursuing an online sociology degree at Southern New Hampshire University.  

She definite did her homework, but her professor sure didn't.

One of her assignments was to compare a social norm in the United States with that of another country. She picked Australia and got to work, and handed in her paper on time. Excellent!

Um, no. Her professor gave her an F for the assignment. Here's why, in the words of our glorious professor. "Australia is a continent, not a country."

As BuzzFeed, which broke the story, and everybody else knows, it's both. Yes, it's a continent. And any bozo will tell you it's also a country. Arnold sent the professor an email, supplying a few references from reliable sources that tell us that indeed, Australia is a country.

This definitely nutty professor was not having it, though. This is the snippy reply from the professor:

"I will gladly re-examine your week 2 milestone project report. But before I do I want you to understand that any error in a project can invalidate the entire research project. Research is like dominoes. If you accidentally knock over one piece the entire set will also fall.

Australia is a continent; it is not a country. That error made it nearly impossible for you to accurately complete your week 2 research outline correctly. As I mentioned above, I will look over your week two paper once again and see if you earned more credits that I gave you."

In other words, the nutty professor says no dice, you messed up.

Arnold,  perplexed, told Buzzfeed: "With her education levels, her expertise, who wouldn't know Australia is a country?......If she's hesitating or questioning that, why wouldn't she just Google that herself?

Good question. But, always the trouper, Arnold conducted a very, very easy follow up research project, one that a first grader could do, but apparently the professor could not.

Online college student Ashley Arnold
insisted that Australia is a country. She's
right, but a professor gave her an F because
the professor somehow doesn't believe
Australia is a country. 

She found the official Australian government web site, and found on that site a link to "About Australia." She sent it to the professor.

One clue that Australia might be a country is the top headline on that "About Australia" web page. That headline is "Our Country."

Arnold included that link with a snippy email of her own. It read:

"Australia is both a country and a continent. It's the only country that is both. I provided a resource in in the first email that clarifies that for you. If you need further clarification Google or the SNHU Shapiro Library has that information for you. 

Again, I mean no disrespect but my grade is affected by your assumption that Australia is not a country when in fact it is. Thank you and let me know if I need to provide further resources proving Australia is a country."

The professor then relented, sort of: She replied to Arnold via email: "Thank you for this web address. After I do some independent research on the continent/country issue I will review your paper."

Arnold also filed a report with the university, because she said she doesn't want to fail because she picked a country that IS a country, and doesn't want her online classmates to be similarly screwed.

BuzzFeed contacted SNHU, which was not happy when it learned about the professor's stupidity.  "At SNHU, we hold our professors to a high standard of excellence and strive to provide high-quality degree programs for all students.......On this question, the student is right. We take this concern seriously and our academic team is working to resolve the matter."

It turns out that resolving the matter involved SNHU firing the professor, says the Manchester (New Hampshire) Union Leader. 

The professor, who has not been identified at Arnold's request, was let go, according to Lauren Keane, a spokesperson for SNHU.

"We deeply regret the interaction between our professor and our student have apologized to the student and refunded her for the class," Keane said. The class costs about $1,000

Going forward, the class will now be taught by another professor, who presumably knows basic geography and considers Australia a country.

In an added gesture, SNHU wished Australia well in the current 2018 Winter Olympics. Being an obvious country, Australia is competing there.

As for why the original professor was confused, Arnold theorized that the professor was fairly old. "When did Australia become a country? Maybe she thinks it's still part of England," Arnold wondered to Buzzfeed.

Australia became an independent country 117 years ago. The fired professor is not that old.

Oh, well.