College Professors
 

As college kids, we all have teachers we absolutely adore, and those we despise with the burning hot intensity of a thousand suns. Have any good rants or praises on your professors?

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Good
My psychology professor makes his class fun! The class is about 90% lecture and is two and a half hours long, so it COULD be incredibly boring and a major drain on class morale. But he's a really funny guy, which contributes to cheering us all up, and we're allowed to interrupt, interject and just plain discuss things with him at all times. It feels more like a conversation than a lecture.

Bad
My English professor is a community college teacher who thinks he should be at a big university, and that's how he teaches it. This is a freshman class (126, or humanities), but there's more research, homework, and testing material required than any class I've EVER taken. I wouldn't complain about the workload so much, but I have school only three days a week and work on all the others. He literally makes things due on days we DON'T come to class, and my campus is an hour's drive away, with me paying for my own gas. Why should I have to drive an hour just to turn in a paper when we have class the next day? I've spoken to him about this politely and he just doesn't get it, the moron.

I used to teach at two different colleges, and I can understand his logic. Students do tend to only show up when they absolutely have to and then throw a fit when they fail. Professors can be at their wit's end trying to get students engaged in the process. The excuses I used to hear could be so over the top and a lot of students thought they were owed exceptions and that nothing I said applied to them. The good students are an absolute joy to teach, but the bad ones were their own worst enemies.

If it is hard to hand in things on the due date, why don't you hand it in before the due date? That's what I used to do. It used to drive some of my teachers crazy because they felt their classes were too easy -- but then I'd just bite the bullet and get it over with...

I had a teacher that used to assign things on one day then have them due the next day even though we did not have class. It was dumb. Since yeah, gas was expensive and I went to school about 45 minutes away.

I had an instructor fail me because I missed class because I was in the hospital. It was for a television class and his excuse was that in the real world you'd be punished for missing your job for two weeks. Excuse me but I think my health is more important than a job or any class that I'm taking and most work places will excuse you if you're in the freaking hospital. I complained to the owner of the school and he let me take the class over for free. he was pretty upset that one of his teachers had that type of attitude when it was obvious that there was no way I could have come to class due to my injuries.

I don't get when students who PAY to take optional classes blow them off or try to make excuses. It's not high school, it's not like you HAVE to go to college.

If you have a note from the doctor, I don't think they can fail you. People get sick in the real world, after all. That's why we have people who sub for people who are sick. That's just gratuitous on the teacher's part.

No, but sometimes, mom and dad pay for it, and the student doesn't appreciate what that means.

I taught a lot requisite classes, have a student do well in it, then drop out of the class, even though they were doing well and could have passed the course if they handed in one more project, but then come to me a year later because they can't graduate because they didn't pass the class. Even if I wanted to do something I couldn't. I never get to ask what were they thinking, but I don't think I would ever get a straight answer...

True. I forget that some parents spoil their kids and not everyone has to actually work for what they want in life. XD

That's one reason I'm not paying for my kid's classes, if I ever adopt children. I think that people appreciate things more when they work for it and realize how much money really goes into things.

Technically I didnt pay for my classes myself(at least the first semester). It was money my grandfather put into an account when I was borne, and was just over what was needed for tuition, books, etc. But the other two semesters, I had to pay(though it was put on my parents credit card, and I was paying them back a monthly instalment). Even though I only ended up paying back only 1/4 of what I owed them, due to the company I worked for having to downsize and being let go, my parents decided my graduation present was me not having to pay back the rest.

Though, I did fail one of the required courses, and had to put it on my credit card(didnt really want my parents to know I failed it) and ended up finally paying that off about 4-5months after I graduated and had a new job that actually paid.

Now, since that was kinda off topic of the original discussion...here is the actual topic. :)

A professor(well, for us it was Chef's) that I absolutely loved having as an instructor was my Breakfast Cookery instructor. He made class fun, he brought in his own personal ingredients to allow those who wanted to learn a little bit more AFTER our hour of theory a chance to stick around, and he would tell us everything he knew(with us sampling the products :drool:) to try and give us an idea of the different versions of things we can find, and how best to use them(like different salts: Flavoured, regional, smoked, etc). We actually ended up being his first class he taught EVER. And everyone(with the exception of two people that always complained about ANYTHING) enjoyed the class, including him. Even on the buffet days when we had to be there at 6am(usually started at 6:30). He made us want to be there because he made it fun. He even let us cook ourselves something to eat after we finished service...for free. xD


The instructor I didnt really care for was the Health and Sanitation, "Kitchen Math", and overall paper work related teachings. He had such a monotone voice that 90% of the people needed an energy drink, or 2L of coffee, just to stay awake in his classes. Some people slept, and were subsequentially kicked out. Some didnt bring a pen, or even paper, and were kicked out. Others, well, they back talked him and got kicked out. Luckily, we usually had his class after lunch service, or first thing in the morning. So I was either awake from doing lunch service, or awake because I just finished my coffee/energy drink.

I would if it didn't deal with complex subjects like panethnicity; subjects I'd much rather go through the lecture in class with him first so I can figure out what I'm supposed to write about. I can understand wanting to make a class challenging - English is my favorite subject, and up until now I've loved it - but not allowing a student who works full-time and lives an hour away to email her work to you is just being an ass.

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That breakfast teacher sounds awesome! Which reminds me, mmm... breakfast!

I lived with one of my professors. His son was my best friend at the time, and the son started dating a girl in my class. Would have looked really bad if a female student moved in with her professor, so my friend begged me to move in along with his girlfriend.
Was really strange as in class the professor was lovely, but at home he was a depressed alcoholic.
Spent several evenings convincing him not to hurl himself off the roof.
I didn't realise I was supposed to be babysitting him as well as helping my friend out.
Was hard work. Especially as it was my final year.

Hey, I didn't take any bird courses, either, and I could manage it. And no, he is not being an ass. You are not from his side of the lectern, you do not know what stunts some students pull on professors -- sending a virus or Trojan through email, or not sending it and then pretending that they did. He may have to wade through hundreds of essays -- it is just easier to have them all in one place. And if he makes an exception for you, then he has to do it for everyone else and is more trouble than it is worth.

I loved teaching, but everyone has an excuse. They have to work, they had the flu, their computer was down, their boyfriend had knee surgery, they couldn't get a babysitter, they lived far away -- you have to manage you time somehow. I had another job, I got sick, my computer was on the fritz every so often, I didn't live close to work, I had family emergencies -- I still made it to work on time every day, prepared classes, made assignments, and marked the hundreds of papers when I said I would.

It takes a lot less work to hand it in early when you are already there, then to get worked up over something that you cannot change...

Most of this I won't bother arguing with - you're right, professors will always be old and grumpy, kids will always be devious and complain a lot. But the class is a "hybrid" class, which means half of our assignments are THROUGH email anyway, via a system called ANGEL. ;P He just wants hard copies of certain ones and refuses to accept emails of those particular ones. He will also not take a hard copy of something that should have been emailed. So it's not a fear or mistrust of emailing that stops him from accepting it. This is a man who felt the need to re-invent the world-accepted standard MLA format because he felt it "wasn't descriptive enough".

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Wow, talk about an interesting situation. Sounds like it'd make a very good book... I'm sorry you went through such a hard time.

I hated my head of department tutor at college, not only did I go to Primary School with his son, but he was very sexist, there was only 3 girls on the course, and the rest were guys. He managed to get one lass to leave by saying some very rude things to her, and he made fun of the other girl who was in the class and he always, always shouted at me even when I had never done anything wrong, and his most favourite comments were ones such as, a womans job is in the kitchen etc etc. The couse was ICT, and in his eyes girls shouldnt be learning how to use a computer, they shouldbe learning how to use vacuum cleaners. I proper hated him, all the rest of my tutors were awesome though.

I'm going to sound bitchy, but I'm going to go for it -deep breath- Now a days, community colleges are supposed to be on par with universities. Shouldn't you be glad that you're not getting a shit education?
I'm not trying to be unsympathetic. My schooling nearly killed me, I know the toll it can take on a person.

Yes, I should be, but the vibes I get from him are "I'm only teaching Humanities because I couldn't teach Ethnic Literature." Guess I'm just a little frustrated that no matter what professors I'm getting in college, I'm never learning what the class is seriously supposed to teach. No, seriously, my last English class - composition - became a political critique class, and my friend, who was in the same class with a different professor, had hers become a feminism class. Neither of us learned a THING about English.

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Yikes! Did you bring it up with the dean ever? I have a friend who had that happen down at Georgia Tech, and so many women complained that they got him fired.

To be fair, I've never had and English class that was just about english.
It was always some type of literature or a certain culture or something.
I've had classes about traditional Canadian literature, Folk lore, Scottish literature and nature-related literature.

That does sound difficult - Being geared towards one class, being given the tools to deal with it, and then being forced to deal with a different subject... On the plus side you get a riveting anecdote out of it.

He's had a lot more students in his classes -- that sounds like he was burned in the past. You have no idea of the stunts some kids try to pull. It's not fair to the ones who actually hunker down and study to earn it. I have had students try things that just floored me. I used to devise the seating for my students during tests -- they would all say I treated them like babies, but when you don't, the marks are way too high for some students, but don't change for the good ones. I used to have several versions of multiple choice tests -- having the same questions in a different order -- just so wandering eyes wouldn't get a mark they didn't earn.

I know of someone who tried to cheat by getting an excuse to write an exam early in the professor's office, and then when they were left on their own, called people to give them the answers.

It's people like that who make professors resort to methods to curb cheating -- if you are going to mad at someone, find the person whose stunt left a bitter taste in his mouth.

And professors hear every excuse under the sun from some students -- and then they have students who have severe disabilities, chronic pain, cancer -- and they hand in everything on time without ever asking for a thing.

Students don't know what it's like to have to teach a group of lambs and wolves -- you are trying to herd the lambs to safety while keeping an eye out on the wolves...

I had my first psychology teacher exactly like this, except one thing.... minus the work and effort. He really half-assed everything, and whenever someone brought up the subject of ghosts he dropped the entire lecture to talk about it for the entire class. The bad thing is I actually wanted to learn, and was starting to dislike the class.

Luckily, this silly teacher was recruited into some research group or something, meaning he left the class. The second half was wonderful, and one of the influences I can safely say to me wanting to go in my current career choice! This teacher was bright and funny, and cared about his students and wanted to get to know them. He always had a fun quote or saying that linked with what we were being taught, and was very understanding with certain issues. One of the few I wish I could have kept in touch with.

I had a professor like that -- he could get distracted at the drop of a hat and then you'd learn nothing for the rest of the class. The worst thing was he was a brilliant professor and it would always start out learning all these great things until something reminded him of his personal life and then it was Anecdote City the rest of the class.

I always doodled if the professor veered off topic and took notes again when it was back to the grindstone. You should have seen my lectures notes from that class -- the doodle/note ratio was appalling...