COLUMN: Pitiful professors and piqued pupils
There are two types of students who decide to further their educations after high school.
The first type is there because they want to expand their knowledge and actually gain something valuable from higher education, in hopes of landing a great job in the future and living a happy and successful life.
The other type doesn’t want to be there, but they feel like they have to go to college to get a degree.
This same concept, in my opinion, applies to professors.
There are professors who want to help guide their students in an educational way toward their future, and then there are professors who don’t want to be in the classroom and are simply there because they have to be.
Lack of engagement
I once had a professor tell me that if I ever entered a classroom where the professor basically handed their notes to his or her students, to let that professor know they are doing a horrible job.
That really stuck in the back of my mind. I’ve had some of those professors in the past. The type of professor who shows up late, fires up a PowerPoint presentation and tells you to take notes while they read the same boring words they’ve read hundreds of times.
Monotonous, dull, tedious, repetitious.
It’s almost unbearable to sit through these types of lectures, which leads some students to blow off class because the professor will eventually put the presentation online anyway.
A single hard night of memorization guarantees them an "A" in the course.
Where is the enthusiasm? Professors should be teaching courses because they are passionate about the subject. They should want to attract students to their classrooms by gaining their attention and actually making them think about things in class.
For the amount of money a tenured professor makes, they should at least be able to show an ounce of vivacity.
Handing back work extremely late
Many professors put off grading assignments for sometimes weeks at a time. However, students don't receive that same luxury. A deadline is a deadline, and professors should be able to keep students updated on their progress in the course.
Students already have enough anxiety on their hands when it comes to getting their school workload done on time. Making students wait for an extensive period of time just builds onto that anxiety.
But, professors can’t take all the blame
Students:
- Too many students are content with monotonous and unmotivated professors as long as the class is easy. They should actually want to learn.
- Students should take professor evaluations seriously. If they have problems with a professor they shouldn’t give them an “excellent” in every category. Also, they should fill out the comments section on the back and speak their mind.
- Don’t sleep in class. It's just flat-out rude.
- Come to class. If students never show up to class, the professor might feel like they are unimportant and unneeded and might eventually end up not caring themselves.
- Be just as engaging as you wish your professors were. Raise your hand, ask questions, question your professors, let them know they did a good job after class.
