Thread: Rishnix rants: College Professors

First off, wasn't sure where to put this topic, so mods, feel free to relocate it if you deem it appropriate.

Okay, so as you may have guessed, I've got some thoughts about the majority of college professors. The short of it, they suck. I'll go into the long of it though. So, I guess I'll just cite my personal experiences. Most don't know how to teach. They may know their craft, but they have no idea how to pass on that knowledge. I'm at 2 years now, and there's only 1 who I can say is genuinely good and deserving of respect, I'll get to him later. Another was solid, but not spectacular. The rest, eck.

Physics professor. Had him for 211/212/213 and now for 214. He's so disjointed with his lectures. He'll spend 10 minutes on something just to then cross it off and mutter "Don't worry about that". Then there's also his favorite phrase "Read the book". I get it, reading the book is important, but if that's 90% of the class, then why are you needed? I'm not taking anything away from the other 10%, so seriously, why the fuck are you here? There's other things about this guy too. He likes to open the window. It's 20 degrees outside! If you're hot take off your damn sweater! Can't do that though. So now I've got feet going numb from the cold while my head is constantly being blasted by hot air as the heater comes on over and over again. The chorus of sniffling noses that results from this is a nice distraction as well. Also, when the wind blows the blinds make a huge racket. My one friend told me that his dad had this guy when he went through college. Apparently his dad gave him the highest of praises, saying that he was easily the best professor he had. I don't see it, and neither does my friend. Maybe 20 to 30 years ago he was, but he sure as hell isn't now.

Calculus professor. Had him for Calc 2 and now Calc 3. He seems to know Calculus, but frequently makes very basic math mistakes. Recent example is when he put 2 points on the y-axis but labeled them with x values of 1. Assumed he actually meant 1 and didn't bring it up, because that might make me look like some uppity asshole trying to belittle the teacher. It was actually supposed to be zero though and the whole problem was a mess because of it. Why didn't I speak up though? Well, he's kind of an asshole. On our most recent test he marked half the class completely wrong on a problem. He went over it and showed how to do it. I did it that exact way, as did many others, but he had marked it wrong. This wouldn't be too big of an issue, except he then went on avoiding trying to give people their points back. After 2 weeks I finally got him to angrily say "Fine, I'll give you the points back!" He said it as if I was only getting those points because I annoyed him and not because I actually did the problem right. I may be screwed in the class overall with this guy, but I was only trying to get credit for where it was due. Most of the other people in the class had forgotten about it and stopped asking him, I hadn't and he got pissed. Fuck this guy. And yes, I am 100% sure that the problem was right, even had it reviewed from multiple sources.

Circuit professor. This guy clearly got into teaching because it's easy. He's so disjointed and just mumbles on most of the time. I feel kind of bad saying that because he's actually at least a really nice person. It just seems that whenever he's teaching a new topic it's like he's teaching it to himself as well. I'm not personally affected by this too much because, well, I was an Electrician's Mate in the Navy, so these Electrical Engineering course are still review to me.

The "Dr." title. You're not a doctor. A doctor is someone who uses medicine to help the sick. I don't care that you have some specialized 7 year degree in your field, that doesn't make you a doctor. You could have come up with any title you wanted for your field. The Grand Poo-Bah, as my uncle joked once. Point is, it could have been anything, but you all choose to go with doctor. Probably because real doctors are in a profession that most people have a lot of respect for and you want that level of respect without actually being a doctor. It makes you look pathetic and insecure when you insist that people refer to you as "Dr. so-and-so". You're lucky you even get the professor title. Why is the teacher title no longer good enough when it comes to college education?

Nothing to do with anything. There are lots of examples for this, but thankfully I'm experiencing less since I'm taking less and less electives. I'll give you guys 1 example though. English professor made us all go to a soup kitchen to volunteer for a day. Justified it by having us write a report about our experience there afterwards. You know, it's not that I even had a bad time, but that has jack all to do with an English class.

The great one. Let no one say that I'm just a griper because I've encountered at least 1 professor who is truly great and I'm happy to be able to tell you about him now. How great is he though? Well, I had to late drop the class, but I've still been sitting in on it because I want to get the notes and be taught it from him before I have to retake it elsewhere in the future. Doing this sit in has caused me to miss lunch and would otherwise open up a 2 hour block of free time for me. So yeah, he's good enough for me to skip lunch to take his class when I'm no longer even getting credit for it. But why is he great? Well I'll tell you. The class is Differential Equations, easily the toughest course I've had to take to date. I've not heard a single person ever say it was easy. Re-taking it is also pretty common too apparently. This professor clearly knows his shit and is a master of his trade, that alone is not what makes him great though. He realizes that the students are not at his level, something that seems to be lost on most professors. As a result of realizing this, he's developed a teaching method that breaks everything down step by step. He communicates clearly and never gets angry or annoyed when a student interrupts him with a question or to correct a mistake he's made between steps. For problems that can get to be 3 pages long, proper continuity is important and anyone can make a copying mistake between that many steps. He's always smiles a little bit when one of us questions something and he genuinely seems to like it when we correct one of his copying errors because that means we are actually following along and understanding what he's teaching. Personality wise he's boring, but it's not his job to be entertaining. It's his job to teach and he does it very well with a very tough topic. So this guy gets my full respect.

So that sums up my current batch and some general examples. The biggest problem seems to be that all these pros in their field have no clue how to relate their knowledge to someone starting at square 1. They act like you should already be at their level and also that their class is the only one you should be concerned with. I'm grateful to have encountered at least 1 who is really good, but sadly he's the golden exception and not the standard.

So I'm done ranting now. I'd like to hear the thoughts from my brothers though and what their experiences may have been.

I'm glad I did my teaching at Defense Mapping School - where the focus wasn't on how Impressive are your Credentials, but whether or not you knew your shit and how well you could get the students up-to-snuff on the skills you were teaching them.

I wouldn't characterize myself as a "popular" instructor. Certainly I wasn't there to "get the students to like me." I was there to teach them how to make maps, and the only thing that mattered to me was whether or not they learned to do the job right!

Pardon me if I take a little pride in the fact that most of them did....

At school for my BSEE, I remember telling my Circuits professor (a PhD) that he couldn't design his way out of a paper bag. When I retired at 50 after selling my electronics business, he was still teaching. Moral? If you can't do, teach.

Hang in there Brother. You're ultimate payback is to become more successful and make more money than them. When you do, be sure to pay them a visit and let them know their class ill prepared you for your career and all the self study you needed to catch up and drop that nice salary you're making.

Originally Posted by Rishnix

The "Dr." title. You're not a doctor. A doctor is someone who uses medicine to help the sick. I don't care that you have some specialized 7 year degree in your field, that doesn't make you a doctor. You could have come up with any title you wanted for your field. The Grand Poo-Bah, as my uncle joked once. Point is, it could have been anything, but you all choose to go with doctor. Probably because real doctors are in a profession that most people have a lot of respect for and you want that level of respect without actually being a doctor. It makes you look pathetic and insecure when you insist that people refer to you as "Dr. so-and-so". You're lucky you even get the professor title.

The education types seem to be real sticklers on this, more so than actual doctors. I've been introduced to several professors as well as doctors by mutual friends. 9 out of 10 times the medical doctor will shake your hand and say something to the effect of, "Bob Smith, pleased to meet you Chef." while the professor 9 out of 10 times say "Dr. Smith, pleased to meet you Chef."

I don't put up with that Dr. nonsense from educators. I look them square in the eye and boldly say, "Well, you're not my doctor Bob but pleased to meet you as well. BTW, that's Mr. Chef." Doesn't make you very popular but calls them out on their bullshit which I have absolutely no problem doing, ever. Why do I give a fuck, it's not like I want to forge a friendship with some pretentious douchebag.

Well lots of hate for my profession. It does not surprise me as I get these responses in social interactions, too. I try to avoid telling people what I do, because their attitude immediately changes when they find out that I'm in academia. It has even happen on these types of message boards, too.

I have to admit that there are many in academia that are poor teachers and that is a shame. The fact that most in academia earn less than those in industry should not surprise students if they are less competent than those in industry. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. There are exceptions of course!

Having spent 12 years of university getting my degrees, I have met my share of horrible teachers. However, my attitude towards learning is that it is my responsibility and if the classroom is not meeting my needs, then I will find the resources myself. Education is something you strive to improve for yourself and it is something that can never be taken away. College and university is one avenue to learning and is not appropriate for everyone.

Personally, I believe students are spending time and money in my class, so I need to provide value to them. Unfortunately, many students are unsure what they want and thus have trouble understanding value. It is impossible for me to convert all my students to be successful in my classroom, but rather focus on those that want to learn and provide the best opportunity. Every class that I have taught in my career has had a handful of students at the end thank me for my class and a special bonus is when they visit years later to tell me of their successes! This is the main reason why I still teach and not work in industry.

Here's an easy experiment, take a look at some of your classmates in class and note what they are doing. It amazes me that I will be covering important material and I see students accessing Facebook/Twitter/Youtube on their laptop/tablet/phone. For 1-2 hours, some students can not disengage from media long enough, because they do not find me entertaining enough. Sorry, I'm not an entertainer, but rather a teacher. Sometimes my lectures and activities can be entertaining, but it's about learning and sometimes there's no fun way to cover dry material... I try, though!

Not to take away from your rant Rishnix, as likely your teachers are crappy and you should be irritated/angry. Just remember your goal for going to university and that you will succeed despite the horrible teachers that you encounter, but realize this is a reflection of life in general. Once you graduate, you will face lots of incompetence in the workplace, but at least you have practice dealing with incompetence in your education. Sounds like a win to me!

Well, bollucks, I can't let Rishnix have all the fun, no?

My own small rant-I took a Calc course last semester, and it was a cast iron bitch. I went to the lectures, help sessions, labs, etc, and lecture. Did my homework on time, and studied for the test. My reward was 52% on the first exam.

Not understanding how I could pass the quizzes and labs with 80% grades and fail the test composed of the same fucking problems, I pored over the test to discover that I -and judging by the 60% class average, a lot of others- were being marked wrong for piddly shit. One question I got four points out of five taken off because even though I got the answer numerically correct using the correct process to solve the story problem, I didn't include the "meters" in the answer .

So I doubled down on the next test . Studied my ass off. Got a 59.9% for my trouble -apparently, I didn't show enough work on some problems, and showed the wrong kind of work on others even though I got the answer right. Here in Soviet College, Math Derives YOU! So I said "fuck it" and made plans to CLEP the requirement. If my college's math department is tripping on LSD that's their problem, cause Octavian's show goes on.

How's this for a rant (some 30 years later)...

I had one professor that felt his course should be 2 semesters and not one, so he threw so much information at us and required an unbelievable amount of reading (7 fricken textbooks). His attitude was that students taking his course for the first time should fail and then enrol the following year (offered only once per year). He really talked down to us (a real jerk) and I remember hating his guts (he was a horrible lecturer). Hence, I studied so hard that I got the top score on the midterm. He tried to get my grade reduced, as he claimed it was not possible that I had scored that high!

I had to meet with the dean and almost went to a committee for cheating! Luckily, I was able to demonstrate that I knew the material and I passed his crappy course the first time through. I still hate that professor!

Thanks for sharing everyone. My rants should also always be taken with a grain of salt too. I'm not really angry at my situation, and like I said, the one is phenomenal. Overall, this hasn't been a good semester. Probably my worst so far actually. Lots of missed classes have caused some of them to try and rush through things even faster. I've managed to become more detached from the results of my class though and it's actually helped me relax and do better. Differential Equations was even a little enjoyable once the pressure of passing those tests was off.

I suppose I had the opposite experience. In high school I found that the teachers were often inept and had poor knowledge of the material. The exceptions were the teachers who were designated as the department heads. Maybe that's why they were department heads, but I suppose it was just that they were older. When I went to college, suddenly the teachers were all competent, except for some student teachers. Yes, some were lazy, like the philosophy teacher who taught several different courses, but they were really all Marxism courses. So he had a coterie of lazy students take all his courses to get an easy grade. But overall I was quite impressed. And the STEM teachers were the best at teaching, as long as you didn't get one with too thick of an accent. Oh, there was that theoretical physics teacher who was Chinese, and no one understood a word he said. So that was really bad. Super nice guy, but I feel sorry for the students who couldn't learn from the book in that class.

Why do people go on facebook and the internet in class?
Why does a dog lick itself?

The answer is the same for both. Because they can.

I'm almost done with university and I used to use internet all the time in class. With zero remorse. I did that because the course work was so beneath me and stimulating that I wanted to keep my mind from atrophying. I know that my college degree is just a license to get an adult job and actually retaining the information taught isn't relevant.

I'm in that year of school before the stuff Rishnix is taking, and yeah, they suck. Seems like the majority of teachers aren't tenured and maybe that's the problem? Then again, the best teacher I've had so far is an algebra teacher. Don't think anyone will ever top her in this school. The worst? A tenured sociology teacher. When the class starts and she introduces herself as a feminist, you know you're in for a bad time. I got past her class, sure, but entirely by regurgitating her book back to her. Anything where I went into properly arguing for a non-Marxist point of view got shot down.

This quarter was interesting. It started off with my male teachers for Sign Language and English Comp 2 giving me a brutally hard time in their classes, moreso my English teacher. However, it seemed like my Pre-Calc teacher was going to be in the same vein as my previous Algebra teacher, as they teach from the same philosophies. But that didn't seem to be the case halfway into all the courses. As I ran into some life trouble, I had asked for a little give so I could properly complete all my assignments. The men were... more than happy to give the leeway I needed to complete the classes, and their major exams. Hell, the Computer Programming teacher I'm working with was happy to have ANY help with his class at all! I felt like I did very little, and he instead professed considerable gratitude at everything I did. He's right. I did a lot, but it didn't feel like work. I really enjoyed helping teach his class.

If you don't like your teachers, go replace them. Either take a class with a better teacher, or teach it yourself. If you can teach the course better, do so. If you want to be a better teacher than them someday, go learn how now. Find and keep close to you those you find to be the best and most inspiring. Take a half hour out of your day to go talk to them on occasion during their hours, probe them about their careers. You will learn a lot about how you want to be.

My math teacher was a sick burn. I had been quite betrayed by her. The only real way to get ahead in her class was to feign neoteny. I am incapable of doing so, as is the woman that failed the class as well. Those who did, were able to cheat their balls off the entire quarter. Letting everyone know at once something was going on in my life was a positive experience, as the men gave infinitely more leeway than the none my math teacher gave. I won't know my grades until next week, but it was a very positive experience nonetheless. I've been affirmed of what kind of teacher I want to be, and of the values that I do hold, are more appreciated by the men than the women.

Originally Posted by Cicero

Why do people go on facebook and the internet in class?
Why does a dog lick itself?

The answer is the same for both. Because they can.

I'm almost done with university and I used to use internet all the time in class. With zero remorse. I did that because the course work was so beneath me and stimulating that I wanted to keep my mind from atrophying. I know that my college degree is just a license to get an adult job and actually retaining the information taught isn't relevant.

Well, the true question is... if one could lick them self, would one need to go on Facebook?