Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern:

I am writing to appeal for a credit standing in three courses. The course codes and years are as follows: ECON 222 Winter 2016, ECON 280 Winter 2016, and CLST 103 Winter 2015. However, one of these courses, ECON 222, I enrolled in a second time and passed with a grade that satisfies me, so for that course I was hoping to just expunge the 2016 Winter mark and keep the 2016 Fall mark.

The extenuating circumstances affecting each of the outlined courses above, and the majority of my first and second year courses, is related my single sided deafness. Born with 0 hearing in my left ear, catching 100 of the instructors lesson has always been difficult for me. However, in high school I went to a small school, so in general the smaller classrooms made it easier to learn. Making the transition to University, especially in first and second year, was very difficult, mainly because of the size of the classrooms. Even though I was sitting in the most beneficial spots (left side at the front of the classroom), the large size of the auditoriums make it impossible to catch everything and learn effectively from the instructor. In general, low frequency sounds are very hard to pick up with one functional ear, and because of this I am always at a disadvantage. In larger classrooms, these sounds travel larger distances, becoming dispersed across the room more, and therefore harder to perceive. Although note taking could be seen as a viable solution, it rarely helps. This is because I will miss very specific points, and sometimes these gaps are not adequately supported by someone else's notes. Moreover, there are many instances where a notetaker is not available. I don't think note taking is a solution. I do believe to a certain extent it is my fault for these poor marks, because other learning sources are available (textbook, etc.). That being said, I believe learning from the professor directly is invaluable. For the most part, I believe that learning in class is the primary source of education for most students; while readings from the textbook/other sources are supplementary. Therefore, in my case, my hearing issues inhibit the primary source of education, learning in class. Since first and second year, my grades have gone up considerably. This is strongly related to the size of the classrooms, as my third and fourth year courses have been situated in small rooms, making it easier for me to learn from the professor directly. If you look at my transcript, the contrast in grades throughout my first two years compared to my last two are considerable. Again, I ensure you that this is directly related to the size of the classroom. Some people might think well why don't you ask the professor to repeat themselves Well when you are missing fragments from multiple sentences in a row, or every minute or two, asking the professor to repeat their train of thought is pointless, as it would frustrate them and the rest of the class, mainly because the professor would not be able to teach their lesson in the designated time slot. I have tried to make up for this by sitting with a friend who can whisper to me what I missed, but again, this does not work very effectively because I would have to be bothering my friend throughout the whole duration of the class, therefore inhibiting their learning in the process.

I want to note one more thing. For one of the classes that I listed, ECON 222, I was at an extreme disadvantage because of the instructor, Zhu Wenbo. Due to his accent coupled with my SSD (single sided deafness), I was literally only able to here certain fragments of all his sentences. I tried to switch to the other section of that course, however, there was no available space. The second time I took that course I got an instructor that I could understand in a relatively small classroom.

Sincerely,

Dylan Janes
13dj19@queensu.ca
10135611