Their standards are damned high,
Bah. Their standards of teaching are low.
Why is it that college students pay outrageous fees, and so often get terrible customer service from the profs?
The student is responsible for learning the material, period. Professor's are there to help. Sometimes life sucks and they don't help as much as we would like. Sometimes the textbook sucks. Well, too bad. It's still the student's responsibility to learn the material sufficiently to meet the standards. Whining about poor customer service is a BS excuse.
I don't mean to cast aspersions at zahc, but it sounds like he let himself fall behind in a notoriously difficult class, then didn't bother to see the professor about it until it was too late. The professor is within his rights to provide only limited help.
"I'm sorry, but if you were falling behind you should have come to see me earlier. Now I'll have to spend this month teaching you what you should have learned last month. Next month I'll be teaching you what you're supposed to learn this month but didn't because you were too busy making up old work. It simply won't work. And I have too many other students who are trying to stay caught up, they need my help too."
I heard this speech twice, in classes where I'd let myself fall behind - thermo and dif eq. Each time I was pissed at the prof, and tried to blame him for my failings. But years later, now I realize that it was nobody's fault but mine, and the profs couldn't possibly have done anything differently. Whining about it, either at the time it happened or years later, doesn't solve anything.
Take responsibility, zahc. Bust your balls trying to catch up. Get as much help from your prof as he's willing to give. Maybe, just maybe, you'll still be able to pass. But if you don't pass, accept responsibility for it yourself, don't blame the textbook or the prof or whoever. Try again net semester, and resolve to do better.
Everyone fails sometime. Lord knows that I have plenty of times. You will too one of these days. It isn't the end of the world. Be glad you're still in school where they give you another chance in 4 months.