People who like to teach solely because they enjoy showing off

[FixMyIgnorance]

Go fuck yourselves.

Wipe those smug grins off your faces and quit acting as if you're just trying to help. We can see through the bullshit, you highfalutin, ego-bloated, cockbag-fucktard bastards. When your explanations are obviously way too fast or are loaded with jargon you have yet to explicitly define, you're not making any real attempt to connect to your students in order to help them understand the subject material better, you pricks.

No -- you're merely trying to hammer them with as much complex shit as possible so they think you're a goddamned genius, since, after all, you're the one who apparently understands all this stuff. Everyone else is just a drooling, blithering idiot in your presence, unworthy of drinking from your intellectually-dense verbal ambrosia.

If all your students are getting abysmal scores, that does not automatically mean they suck or that the subject material is inherently too hard for them. It may be because you guys have spent too much time auto-wanking your precious self-images, amounting to nothing but a big self-aggrandizing waste of everyone's time and energy. Fucking assdicks.

[Thudlow Boink]

Good rant. I would have preferred a few more specifics, but I give it an 8 out of 10, with a bonus point for username/post appropriateness.

[Typo Negative]

Did you fail the class or something?

[FixMyIgnorance]

Oh, no, I finished college a while ago (did very well academically). It just annoys me to no end when a professor or teacher is obviously more interested in tooting his/her own horn than educating.

[Blaster Master]

While I do think this happens, I'm not sure it's the motivation in a lot of cases. When I was in college, I had a few professors who weren't there to teach but there to do research. There problem wasn't that they were showing off but that their pet research project which seems so obvious to them because they're buried in it all the time wasn't really as obvious as they'd grown accustomed to believing it was. They had just lost touch with their audience. This is why I tend to think it's often actually better to have a graduate student teaching a 100 level course over a tenured professor and particularly why taking the course with the professor who wrote the text book can often be daunting.

That all said, when I do run into people who act elitist as a teacher, particularly since it's completely contrary to the purpose of education, I find it particularly more distasteful than elitism in other contexts.

[Vinyl Turnip]

Oh, no, I finished college a while ago (did very well academically). It just annoys me to no end when a professor or teacher is obviously more interested in tooting his/her own horn than educating.

Which you come into contact with.... how, again?

[Anaamika]

I agree, actually. My organic chem professor was exactly like this. I am of the mind that if everyone fails your class, the problem was your teaching ability. Especially if a good portion of the class re-takes it with another professor and they pass, and now the grades are all over the place as they should be.

[silenus]

Somebody got his AP scores early.

[enomaj]

Look lady. I don't give a fuck if you learn to play pool or not. I just wanted to hit it.

[Kolga]

Given that I have gotten student evaluations of "she thinks she's so smart she should stop showing off!" when I have used words of more than one syllable in an explanation, or when I have used the actual field-specific name of a concept that students should have read about before class that day, I'll take the OP's rant with a grain of salt.

This, of course, isn't to say that teachers of the type described don't exist. But some students (not saying that the OP is one) feel that if the teacher uses any word they don't know, or describes any concept using the actual words used within that field, the teacher is "too hard," "showing off," or "not helpful."

In any event - yay, another anti-teacher rant.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I agree, actually. My organic chem professor was exactly like this. I am of the mind that if everyone fails your class, the problem was your teaching ability. Especially if a good portion of the class re-takes it with another professor and they pass, and now the grades are all over the place as they should be.

But that's different than showing off. My orgo prof was a disaster of a teacher but not due to showing off. Just due to completely missing the fact that he's a chemist BECAUSE this stuff was easy and interesting to him. He never figured out how to reach the students who didn't get it the first time.

[Jackknifed Juggernaut]

No doubt that there are plenty of teachers that are more interested in showing how smart they are. I just don't know if it's that easy to determine based on their inability to teach. Sometimes they just aren't good communicators. It's always difficult for me to disparage someone's motives because motives, by definition, are unknowable.

[Meyer6]

Given that I have gotten student evaluations of "she thinks she's so smart she should stop showing off!" when I have used words of more than one syllable in an explanation, or when I have used the actual field-specific name of a concept that students should have read about before class that day, I'll take the OP's rant with a grain of salt.

I've also gotten "she uses big words" or "she goes too fast" on student evaluations. I know that some student complaints are reasonable,and I take many of them seriously, but I have a pretty good idea which students made those particular remarks. These are people who skip class for a week, miss the introductory lecture on some topic, and then come up at the end to complain that they didn't understand the terms used. Or who tell me I'm going to fast when I have seen them texting, talking, or snoozing instead of taking notes all class.

There are definitely poor teachers out there, but there are also tons and tons of poor students. The prof isn't there to spoon feed you information and make sure you do well.

[B. Serum]

Interesting thread title / username combo.

[Agent Foxtrot]

The OP describes my bioinformatics professor perfectly. She spoke very, very fast, went on 86 different tangents per lecture, made concepts a lot more difficult than they needed to be with extraneous detail, and all the lecture slides were based on her work -- she wouldn't let us forget all the pioneering research she's done in the field. She would interrupt student presentations and often take the presentation over.

So glad I got out of that course with a B.

[Anaamika]

But that's different than showing off. My orgo prof was a disaster of a teacher but not due to showing off. Just due to completely missing the fact that he's a chemist BECAUSE this stuff was easy and interesting to him. He never figured out how to reach the students who didn't get it the first time.

I'm sorry, I neglected to add the part where he kept blaming US for not getting him, and using flashy techniques to teach, without ever considering that there were smart people in the class and could have gotten it. He went way too fast, and when someone asked a question - I certainly didn't dare - he would fix them with a look, and then answer "As is obvious...." with emphasis on the 'obvious'.

He was a jerk, no two ways about it. I'm amazed at how many people think it's entirely on the student. Yes, often it is. In all my college classes I've only encountered one prof like this, and generally when people complain about the other profs, they are the ones who have the problem. However, nearly everyone has met the ONE teacher!

[Kimstu]

I tend to agree with the OP that in general, "everybody failing the class" = "problem with the professor".

I'm not so convinced that the problem with the professor is necessarily a matter of egotism or showing off, though. A lot of people are very touchy about what they perceive as being "condescended to" when they run up against words or information that they don't already know.

My general rule for such situations is "Just because I feel embarrassed about my ignorance on this subject does not mean that the person who made me realize my ignorance was intentionally trying to embarrass me or act superior to me".

[Meyer6]

I tend to agree with the OP that in general, "everybody failing the class" = "problem with the professor".

I'm not so convinced that the problem with the professor is necessarily a matter of egotism or showing off, though. A lot of people are very touchy about what they perceive as being "condescended to" when they run up against words or information that they don't already know.

Yeah, if everybody really is failing the class, then that's a problem. I had one (terrible) prof come in after the midterm and announce that every single one of us had failed the exam rather badly. He then berated us for about 10 minutes about it. That I thought was jack-ass material. But in my experience that's very rare (only one prof like that in many years of school) and it's much more common to hear students bitch about how bad a professor is when actually the problem is that the student wasn't paying attention or working hard enough. Some classes are damned hard - that doesn't necessarily mean the teacher is making them hard just for the joy of cackling maniacally and rubbing their hands together while the students fail.

In any case, I doubt most poor teachers are that way because they are 'showing off'. I think it much more likely that they are untrained, inexperienced, or just don't care much about teaching as compared to research. Some might just naturally be assholes. But I can't imagine that many professors care whether the average undergrad considers them to be a 'goddamned genius'.

[The Second Stone]

I tend to agree with the OP that in general, "everybody failing the class" = "problem with the professor".


If everybody who takes a class fails to learn the subject, clearly the first place to look is that the person hired to instruct the class failed to convey the information to the students, who all met the prerequisites of the course. Assuming that all 30 or 100 or whatever number of students are some combination of stupid and lazy is statistically unlikely. If the students then retake with another instructor and pass, then it is a fair conclusion that the teacher wasn't doing his/her job.

I remember one of my college professors, an older man who was an expert in Soviet relations. He assigned two enormous major textbooks and several minor books. I read them all. So did my study group. The highest grade on the mid-term was a C, and I got a D. The only D I ever got in higher education. I squeaked out a C for the final grade. The guy was the second poorest lecturer in my college career. It was in the midst of the Solidarity crisis in Poland, and the professor was certain that the Soviets would be hands off. That was our final exam question. I wrote that based on Soviet foreign policy and goals that they would clamp down and replace the government. I got myself a C on the final. Imagine my smug satisfaction when Jaruzelski (sp?) got replaced by Moscow during the winter break. IIRC. The worst lecturer I had simply read his very extensive notes all during class. Introduction to international relations. He assigned 14 required texts and another 8 optional texts. Among the optional was Thucydides. I learned enormous amounts in this class, but not from the lectures. I did not properly appreciate Thucydides at the time, but later in my college career and to this day I now consider it the most important book I have ever read regarding war, politics and international relations.

[Euphonious Polemic]

I agree, actually. My organic chem professor was exactly like this. I am of the mind that if everyone fails your class, the problem was your teaching ability. Especially if a good portion of the class re-takes it with another professor and they pass, and now the grades are all over the place as they should be.

Exactly my organic chem experience as well. Do they train them to be arrogant pricks?

We got the old "look to your left and to your right. One third of you will drop out and one third will fail." If I was taking the class now, I would stand up and say "Professor, does that mean that you are so incompetent that you cannot teach basic organic chemistry to a group of intelligent science students? Maybe you should take some remedial teaching courses"

[Simplicio]

Most professors I've know are concerned with proving how smart they are to other people in their field. They generally don't care what their students think about them (which might be part of the problem), and so I'm pretty sceptical that any significant percentage of them are using jargon to try and impress a room full of undergrads.

Generally, its more a problem of people teaching classes who have been immersed in the field for decades, and so have trouble thinking like someone who is just being exposed to it. Jargon is pretty useful when talking to other people who understand it, and if you've been doing it long enough, its hard not to use.

[Manda JO]

Somebody got his AP scores early.

No kidding!

I don't teach to show off. I teach because of the God-like power. I get to tell 18 year olds when and whether they can go empty their bladder, and if their shorts are long enough. I bet you mere mortals envy me.

The hopeless adoration and admiration of my students is more of a perk, like the fame and money.

[Maeglin]

I'm sure your professors perceived that you were a real thought leader in class.

[madrabbitwoman]

My maths lecturer was Dr Buckley. You has Buckley's chance of passing. On my first attempt more than 75% of the class failed. He used to walk into the class and hand out the roll an start writing on the board - hardly saying a thing.
When we complained we were told to cut him some slack because he was autistic!
High functioning sure - but teaching?
gah

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

I'm sorry, I neglected to add the part where he kept blaming US for not getting him, and using flashy techniques to teach, without ever considering that there were smart people in the class and could have gotten it. He went way too fast, and when someone asked a question - I certainly didn't dare - he would fix them with a look, and then answer "As is obvious...." with emphasis on the 'obvious'.

He was a jerk, no two ways about it. I'm amazed at how many people think it's entirely on the student. Yes, often it is. In all my college classes I've only encountered one prof like this, and generally when people complain about the other profs, they are the ones who have the problem. However, nearly everyone has met the ONE teacher!

Can't argue with that. Sounds like a prick. What is it about orgo teachers?

[FixMyIgnorance]

Given that I have gotten student evaluations of "she thinks she's so smart she should stop showing off!" when I have used words of more than one syllable in an explanation, or when I have used the actual field-specific name of a concept that students should have read about before class that day, I'll take the OP's rant with a grain of salt.

This, of course, isn't to say that teachers of the type described don't exist. But some students (not saying that the OP is one) feel that if the teacher uses any word they don't know, or describes any concept using the actual words used within that field, the teacher is "too hard," "showing off," or "not helpful."

In any event - yay, another anti-teacher rant.

If it helps, I went to a good school, so it's not like I am retarded and incapable of understanding big words or something. I'm not talking about people who may be a bit wordy in trying to explain a difficult subject, or those who are teaching inherently tough concepts that demand lots of jargon. I'm talking about jackasses who are powertripping assholes who feel as if everyone constantly needs to know how smart and awesome they are.

[FixMyIgnorance]

The OP describes my bioinformatics professor perfectly. She spoke very, very fast, went on 86 different tangents per lecture, made concepts a lot more difficult than they needed to be with extraneous detail, and all the lecture slides were based on her work -- she wouldn't let us forget all the pioneering research she's done in the field. She would interrupt student presentations and often take the presentation over.

So glad I got out of that course with a B.

I'm sorry, I neglected to add the part where he kept blaming US for not getting him, and using flashy techniques to teach, without ever considering that there were smart people in the class and could have gotten it. He went way too fast, and when someone asked a question - I certainly didn't dare - he would fix them with a look, and then answer "As is obvious...." with emphasis on the 'obvious'.



This. Exaaacctly what I mean.

I remember one time I asked a question in my math class as a freshman -- I had forgotten what tan(45) was or something dumb and didn't understand where this one particular value on the board had come from. I asked the prof and he went on this 2-minute tangent to berate me in front of the lecture hall, acting like I was totally in the wrong class and biting off more than I could chew just because I asked a clarifying question. He suggested that "people like me" should seriously consider dropping the class, etc (I went on to get rank 2 in that particular course). Answer the question in <5 seconds and move on. Don't waste everyone's time with your self-entitled malarkey.

Another professor of mine was a bitter old codger. I forgot why -- he was up for some award or position or something and lost it to his rival colleague. Ever since then, he had earned this reputation of being a control-freak hardass. No matter how brilliant your presentation/work was, he'd find something to criticize and try to make you feel stupid. I witnessed one such presentation that was virtually flawless... the professor didn't criticize any of the math and instead picked on the members for some completely irrelevant grammar mistake. What the hell am I paying for, again? Some people apparently don't feel like they're doing their job unless they constantly add in their two cents, no matter how trivial.

Another made it a habit to remind us every damn lecture that he attended three different Ivies and had a PhD. He wouldn't shut up about his experience in the Fed and would just stare at you, unblinking, and answer your questions with this sort of "this is so obvious; you must be an idiot" sneer.

A legal studies professor I had once was one of those "I'm too cool for slides so I'm just going to sit in this chair without any course plan, and drink coffee/talk at everyone for an hour because I'm worth it" guys. He'd linger on every one of his words as if everything he uttered was gold -- as if his profound mind should be setting us ablaze at every turn. He'd often go on tangents (which involved things not in our book, on the websites, in our tests, or on the final) and assign a TON of "optional" reading and still act confused when few-to-none had read it all. One kid called the prof out on this, and got accused of not being "intellectually curious" in a very passive-aggressive manner. Apparently if you don't spend all your waking free time studying *his* subject and reading everything *he* reads on *his* timetable, you're not intellectually curious enough. Life-outside-class be damned!

[Vinyl Turnip]

My question may have been unclear. I'll rephrase.

Why are you, an adult who (as you say) finished college successfully some time ago, presently compelled to pit this type of teacher? Leafing through your old transcripts and felt the bile rising at the memory an undeserved B minus? Recently spent time with a son, daughter, niece or nephew who complained that like, not just they but like, EVERYONE in the class is failing, cause the professor is like, SUCH an asshole/bitch, OMG, and it reopened some old wounds of yours?

Because you know what really chaps MY ass? 5th grade teachers who treat you like you're still a baby. Like we really need to hold hands on our field trip to the museum!

[Kimstu]

I asked the prof and he went on this 2-minute tangent to berate me in front of the lecture hall, acting like I was totally in the wrong class and biting off more than I could chew just because I asked a clarifying question. [...]

Another professor of mine [...] had earned this reputation of being a control-freak hardass. No matter how brilliant your presentation/work was, he'd find something to criticize and try to make you feel stupid. [...]

Another made it a habit to remind us every damn lecture that he attended three different Ivies and had a PhD. He wouldn't shut up about his experience in the Fed and would just stare at you, unblinking, and answer your questions with this sort of "this is so obvious; you must be an idiot" sneer. [...]

A legal studies professor I had once was one of those "I'm too cool for slides so I'm just going to sit in this chair without any course plan, and drink coffee/talk at everyone for an hour because I'm worth it" guys. He'd linger on every one of his words as if everything he uttered was gold -- as if his profound mind should be setting us ablaze at every turn.[...]


Hmmm. While I sympathize with your experiences in having to deal with professors who didn't have very good teaching or class-management skills, only one of your four examples (the third) comes across as someone who's actually "showing off" (if, indeed, he really made a point of mentioning his own accomplishments as often as you say. The most surprising thing about that behavior is that he allegedly boasted about having...a PhD?! Really? The vast majority of college professors have PhDs; it's hardly a striking accomplishment for a faculty member).

The rest of them sound like people whose teaching styles were simply somewhat abrasive or, in the case of your fourth example, merely didn't appeal to you. The alleged "showing off" part seems to be just your personal interpretation of why they were like that.

It's true that many people are not very good teachers, or are not very sensitive about preventing students from feeling embarrassed by their own ignorance. But that doesn't necessarily mean that such people are deliberately trying to make their students feel embarrassed so that they themselves will look smarter and more knowledgeable.

As other posters here have noted, there's really not that much prestige to be gained on the part of a professor by appearing smarter and more knowledgeable than an undergraduate, so most professors don't deliberately aim for that. IME, it's more likely that a touchy student will imagine that a clumsy teacher is trying to "show off" his/her superior knowledge.

[Farmer Jane]

Quote from an undergrad instructor (it was Legal Research & Writing):

"I'm here for my ego." (Because as a successful litigation attorney, it clearly wasn't about the paycheck.)

He was actually pretty awesome and cared if we 'got it'.

Quote from another:

"You have time to sleep when you die."

He was brilliant but had no rhyme or reason to his lectures. You couldn't take notes in them, but we always had great conversations. He had a horrifying fail/drop rate. I did well with him because I adored him and listened intently and liked the topics in general. (He was a polisci prof and also my advisor, so I pretty much lived for him.) But other kids? I felt sorry for them. I remember he had this habit of putting a minus minus on your papers, e.g., You got a B-- and you're lucky I didn't give you a C.

Being a good teacher is hard. I'm in my late twenties and I can say that I've unfortunately seen more bad teachers than good ones. And I'm a teacher. :/

[FixMyIgnorance]

My question may have been unclear. I'll rephrase.

Why are you, an adult who (as you say) finished college successfully some time ago, presently compelled to pit this type of teacher? Leafing through your old transcripts and felt the bile rising at the memory an undeserved B minus? Recently spent time with a son, daughter, niece or nephew who complained that like, not just they but like, EVERYONE in the class is failing, cause the professor is like, SUCH an asshole/bitch, OMG, and it reopened some old wounds of yours?

Because you know what really chaps MY ass? 5th grade teachers who treat you like you're still a baby. Like we really need to hold hands on our field trip to the museum!

Oh, no real reason -- I was sitting near a study group in a public food court recently and there was a group of students listening to this guy (likely a TA/etc) talking and his mannerisms just reignited all my old gripe-memories and I felt the need to vent. :P

[Manda JO]

A legal studies professor I had once was one of those "I'm too cool for slides so I'm just going to sit in this chair without any course plan, and drink coffee/talk at everyone for an hour because I'm worth it" guys. He'd linger on every one of his words as if everything he uttered was gold -- as if his profound mind should be setting us ablaze at every turn. He'd often go on tangents (which involved things not in our book, on the websites, in our tests, or on the final) and assign a TON of "optional" reading and still act confused when few-to-none had read it all. One kid called the prof out on this, and got accused of not being "intellectually curious" in a very passive-aggressive manner. Apparently if you don't spend all your waking free time studying *his* subject and reading everything *he* reads on *his* timetable, you're not intellectually curious enough. Life-outside-class be damned!


See, professors like that were the making of me. They finally got it through my head that it was ok to be obsessively interested in learning, and that school was the place for that. I grew up thinking that school was a place you went to get a receipt and that it just had nothing to do with actual learning, which you did on your own. I also thought that they level of knowledge I generally had about the things I was interested in was impressive--after all, it was deeper than any of my friends, and I really didn't compare myself to professionals.

Professors like you are talking about showed me that school wasn't about checking off boxes and jumping through hoops, it was about obsessive learning, and that life should be there to serve the learning--"life outside of class" is there to support "class" (more specifically, to support learning). They expected me to be professional-league and refused to be impressed with anything less.

[mozchron]

Most professors I've know are concerned with proving how smart they are to other people in their field. They generally don't care what their students think about them (which might be part of the problem), and so I'm pretty sceptical that any significant percentage of them are using jargon to try and impress a room full of undergrads.

A thousand times this. If I care about it at all, I care about impressing my peers and superiors (that's where my reputation and my pay raises/promotions come from). I care exactly zilch about showing off to the ignorant, arrogant students in the class who would much rather be sleeping than sitting in my lecture.

I use ignorant in its exact non-pejorative sense. If you are sitting in my class, you don't know the material. Sit there and learn it. If you don't want to learn it, why the hell are you sitting there?

[Nava]

Exactly my organic chem experience as well. Do they train them to be arrogant pricks?

Nah, my Orgo teacher was one of my favorites... even though in the first exam he gave me a zero because he was running late, started by scoring the questions most people do well in and didn't bother score the other part if the first one was poor. Guess who was better at this second part than the teacher himself (according to him).

Kind of funny, being able to tell a Jesuit "ego te absolvo. Now please don't do it again!"

[Anaamika]

My question may have been unclear. I'll rephrase.

Why are you, an adult who (as you say) finished college successfully some time ago, presently compelled to pit this type of teacher? Leafing through your old transcripts and felt the bile rising at the memory an undeserved B minus? Recently spent time with a son, daughter, niece or nephew who complained that like, not just they but like, EVERYONE in the class is failing, cause the professor is like, SUCH an asshole/bitch, OMG, and it reopened some old wounds of yours?

Because you know what really chaps MY ass? 5th grade teachers who treat you like you're still a baby. Like we really need to hold hands on our field trip to the museum!

Despite your sarcasm, I neither want nor need your permission to feel a faint irritation at said organic chem teacher! And I've been out of school fifteen years. He was a prick; when people bring up college, which on the whole was one of the best experiences I've had in my life, I also remember the guy that was a mega prick.

[FixMyIgnorance]

See, professors like that were the making of me. They finally got it through my head that it was ok to be obsessively interested in learning, and that school was the place for that. I grew up thinking that school was a place you went to get a receipt and that it just had nothing to do with actual learning, which you did on your own. I also thought that they level of knowledge I generally had about the things I was interested in was impressive--after all, it was deeper than any of my friends, and I really didn't compare myself to professionals.

Professors like you are talking about showed me that school wasn't about checking off boxes and jumping through hoops, it was about obsessive learning, and that life should be there to serve the learning--"life outside of class" is there to support "class" (more specifically, to support learning). They expected me to be professional-league and refused to be impressed with anything less.

And I agree with you.

Except in this case, he was largely just recommending a lot of books that were hundreds of pages thick. There was no way to reasonably expect someone to drop what they were doing in every other class and read through reams of optional material when you have hundreds of pages to read for every other class (and guys like me had to work on the side!). Almost everyone thought he was a class-A douchebag because of his constant attitude. The only kid he seemed to like was a guy who was there part-time and obviously had the time.

I attended an Ivy school so it is likely that my experience is different than most (I ran into a LOT of hot air during my undergrad years and I couldn't stand it. Hated my college experience).

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

Despite your sarcasm, I neither want nor need your permission to feel a faint irritation at said organic chem teacher! And I've been out of school fifteen years. He was a prick; when people bring up college, which on the whole was one of the best experiences I've had in my life, I also remember the guy that was a mega prick.

I suspect he's directing this comment to the OP, whose thread he says seems out of the blue. The rest of us are bringing it up because the OP got us thinking.

[Anaamika]

I suspect he's directing this comment to the OP, whose thread he says seems out of the blue. The rest of us are bringing it up because the OP got us thinking.

Oh, I know. But I feel the same way about the OP - he can get irritated if he likes. :)

[Maeglin]

This thread has actually brought out a bit of my own insecurity. I worry very much about being an egoizing blowhard in front of my class. Sometimes I don't know if students find my communication and teaching styles to be "showing off." I can be a little theatrical.

But today I just got a wonderful present from a student from this past semester who said I was "far and away the best TA I ever had in my entire career at <elite private university>."

I suppose you never can tell with students. I had one evaluation last semester that said I was "inspirational" and "awesomely brilliant and a wonderful communicator" while another student in the same section said that her time in my class was "the worst 90 minutes of her life every week." Apparently I induce some pretty strong feelings.

[FixMyIgnorance]

This thread has actually brought out a bit of my own insecurity. I worry very much about being an egoizing blowhard in front of my class. Sometimes I don't know if students find my communication and teaching styles to be "showing off." I can be a little theatrical.

But today I just got a wonderful present from a student from this past semester who said I was "far and away the best TA I ever had in my entire career at <elite private university>."

I suppose you never can tell with students. I had one evaluation last semester that said I was "inspirational" and "awesomely brilliant and a wonderful communicator" while another student in the same section said that her time in my class was "the worst 90 minutes of her life every week." Apparently I induce some pretty strong feelings.

I think it's hard to find a teacher who everyone loves. Some people hate certain teachers precisely *because* they are loved, so there's really no way to win.

That being said, showy/arrogant pricks and intelligent/eloquent people are not the same thing. I mainly gripe about professors who spend too much time bloating their ego or powertripping or belittling others instead of actually teaching something and trying to aid understanding in a learning-conducive environment.

I think as long as you are constantly aiming for the latter, you're good to go.

[DiosaBellissima]

My only (almost) F in college came in Middle Eastern politics-- which was pretty impressive for a Poli Sci major (who got As in all of my other major classes) to fail. I even got 12% on my final-- seriously, 12%!

The professor was just awful--- everything that's being discussed here and more. She loved the sound of her own voice and loved, loved, loved to wax poetic about the fact that she got her advanced degrees at a prestigious school in Israel.

Being Middle Easter politics, our textbooks used Arabic names/words for. . . well, a lot. This was difficult for us to learn, but we were good students and got together in study groups, made flash cards, did the whole studying shebang. The professor, unfortunately, felt it was necessary to use Hebrew words for the things the book was using Arabic words for. While this would maybe make sense in discussions regarding Israel, she did this for lectures about places with no ties to anybody speaking any Hebrew. No one understood her. When we'd ask her to clarify, she'd snap at us and screech that we were ignorant and need to be more worldly.

She also would kick people out of class for even indirectly suggesting that Israel might possibly have ever done anything wrong in history. I mean, literally anything. Even when we'd read something in our assigned text books that made them look less than stellar and would repeat it in class, she'd say we were wrong.

Anyway, when I got my final back with 12% on it, I marched right into the Department Chair's office and handed him my test, laughing (I had taken a bunch of classes with him). His response was, "Wait. YOU got an F on a final? A 12%? Diosa, did you write this in something other than English? Did you spell your name right? How the hell did you get 12%?" Needless to say, he spoke to her and my grade was corrected, but man, she was freaking awful.

Maybe she meant to be an organic chem teacher ;):D.

[Maeglin]

I think it's hard to find a teacher who everyone loves. Some people hate certain teachers precisely *because* they are loved, so there's really no way to win.

That being said, showy/arrogant pricks and intelligent/eloquent people are not the same thing. I mainly gripe about professors who spend too much time bloating their ego or powertripping or belittling others instead of actually teaching something and trying to aid understanding in a learning-conducive environment.

I think as long as you are constantly aiming for the latter, you're good to go.

The only way to win is to get your students to engage the material consistently and come out better educated than they came in. But my motives are complicated. Part of me loves to dazzle a captive audience with my intellectual tours de force. But I really do care passionately about my job as an educator, and I like to think that comes through, too. I have tried to craft a teaching persona that harnesses my natural crudeness and vanity to a good purpose. But there is a fine, fine line between being a showy/arrogant prick and an intelligent/eloquent role model. I only hope I am on the right side of that line, but you never really know.

Higher education is not a very good career if you are into power-tripping. But sometimes a little chastisement really goes a long way. Five minutes of berating sounds like a waste of everyone else's time, so I believe you at your word if this fool went too far. But if someone asked me to remind him what the sine of pi/2 or some such is, I would probably take the opportunity to remind the class how to calculate it quickly oneself. :)

[FixMyIgnorance]

IIRC, it was a simplification step that I hadn't caught onto. He moved on from one step to the next and a bunch of stuff had dropped out (for seemingly no reason), and I asked why because it wasn't immediately obvious to me. As an incoming freshman, it really wasn't an unreasonable question. This was literally during my first week at college.

Either way, he had no problem wasting everyone's time making me look like an idiot in the wrong class when I was perfectly comfortable with math (2400 SAT, Calc BC 5, etc) and was just asking a quick question that shouldn't have warranted that kind of response, in my opinion.

[Frylock]

I agree, actually. My organic chem professor was exactly like this. I am of the mind that if everyone fails your class, the problem was your teaching ability.

It ain't necessarily so. If the students are not properly prepared for the class in previous semesters, there may be nothing the professor can do no matter how good or bad a teacher he is.

Especially if a good portion of the class re-takes it with another professor and they pass, and now the grades are all over the place as they should be.

Or it may be that the other professor has set his standards too low.

The problem may not be with individual professors, in other words, but with the institution as a whole. And--the problem may not be with the institution as a whole, but with colleges in general. :(

Also, of course, you've got some bad teachers out there. I'm just saying it ain't necessarily how you say.

[Frylock]

Needless to say, he spoke to her and my grade was corrected,

This is extremely surprising. College profs typically have zero tolerance for (and zero obligation concerning) interference from others (anywhere on any hierarchy) concerning their own teaching and grading practices.

[dngnb8]

Did you fail the class or something?

>----------^

[FairyChatMom]

I guess I was pretty lucky - I only had 2 teachers who were show-offs, and one was in a class I took for fun, so that hardly counts.

I was required to take an Electrical Engineering class as part of my Aero Engineering course of study. This particular class was taught by an arrogant ass of a grad student. His favorite line was "This is so simple, a child of 3 could do it!!" He all but said that if we didn't understand the material, we were stupid. Now, I had been trained and had worked as an electronics technician in the Navy, and while it's not the same as electrical engineering, I wasn't in a totally unfamiliar academic area. But if it hadn't been for my lab partner, I've have crashed and burned in that class for sure.

The other was a belly-dancing teacher. I wanted to take the class for fun and because it was supposed to be a good workout. I have no idea if it was or not. I attended 2 classes that consisted of maybe 15 minutes of us trying to learn something, and the rest of the time, the instructor was performing - literally. I wasn't paying good money and driving all that way just to sit on my butt while this egomaniac used us as her captive audience. I took guitar lessons instead.

[ioioio]

I took a college logic class (in the Philosophy department for some reason). It was the instructor’s first semester teaching after receiving a Ph.D. from Very Prestigious University. He thought he was real hot stuff.

One day he was madly scribbling a proof on the board, and it was obvious that no one in the class was following him. I asked for an example and he snarkily stated that he didn’t give examples because it made the students think in the concrete instead of the abstract.

After class, his TA approached me, apologized for his behavior, and gave me a nice example.

That was over 20 years ago, and I’m still ticked off that I was forced to waste 60 hours of my life watching that jackass preen.

[Loach]

Its been a long time but nothing like this sticks out from my college years. I seem to remember most of the professors being very disinterested in their students. My brother was in engineering and his major complaint was the large number of professors who could barely speak English. You might be brilliant but what good are you as a teacher if you can't communicate with your students?

I do run into this problem in professional seminars and classes. If the instructor opens up with 15 minutes of listing his accomplishments then I know I'm in for a long day.

[DiosaBellissima]

This is extremely surprising. College profs typically have zero tolerance for (and zero obligation concerning) interference from others (anywhere on any hierarchy) concerning their own teaching and grading practices.

I agree, but I think the issue here was that she was a new teacher and it was the department chair questioning her.

[Frylock]

I took a college logic class (in the Philosophy department for some reason).

Logic is considered to be a branch of Philosophy.

[TriPolar]

Logic is considered to be a branch of Philosophy.

Only by philosophers.

[Frylock]

Only by philosophers.



Can't tell if joking?

[TriPolar]

Can't tell if joking?

That's because of my deadpan delivery.

[Beware of Doug]

Not all high-handed teachers are show-offs, I feel certain. A good number are probably hung up to the point of obsession with the anti-intellectual laziness of young people. These are the ones doing their little idealist trip by making sure that no one in their classes - committed learner or not - enjoys the experience. They've become cynical, and they'll be damned if you don't leave cynical, too.

[Little Nemo]

I think there are people like the OP described. But I'd question whether they should be called teacher. To me, showing off as a teacher would be educating my students. I'd be bragging about how difficult my subject is - and how everyone I teach learns it thoroughly.

[al27052]

Exactly my organic chem experience as well. Do they train them to be arrogant pricks?

We got the old "look to your left and to your right. One third of you will drop out and one third will fail." If I was taking the class now, I would stand up and say "Professor, does that mean that you are so incompetent that you cannot teach basic organic chemistry to a group of intelligent science students? Maybe you should take some remedial teaching courses"

I was told that organic chem was the weed-out class for pre-med. A lot of people start out pre-med who don't have the brains, drive, and/or commitment to actually make it through med school and become doctors. Organic chem is a quick/easy way to get them out of that major quickly, first semester, freshman year.

[digs]

I was told that organic chem was the weed-out class for pre-med. A lot of people start out pre-med who don't have the brains, drive, and/or commitment to actually make it through med school and become doctors. Organic chem is a quick/easy way to get them out of that major quickly, first semester, freshman year.

Because you can't be a urologist if you can't deal with a few pricks.

[al27052]

Because you can't be a urologist if you can't deal with a few pricks.

But...OK.:)

[digs]

But...

Oh, you want proctology. That's down the hall.

[BigT]

I was told that organic chem was the weed-out class for pre-med. A lot of people start out pre-med who don't have the brains, drive, and/or commitment to actually make it through med school and become doctors. Organic chem is a quick/easy way to get them out of that major quickly, first semester, freshman year.

And this is the type of stuff I hate. It's just justifying being an asshole to people, pretending like it's for their own good. You want to weed people out? Tell them ahead of time how hard you class is. Give them a chance to not wind up with an F on their report card or have so few hours that they wind up losing the scholarship. (Yes, that is what happened to me, albeit in another class.)

[Meyer6]

You want to weed people out? Tell them ahead of time how hard you class is.

That doesn't work though. If you're talking about a class that's a pre-requisite for med school, no amount of warning people is going to help. IME, kids who want to go to med school often have a rock-solid conviction that that's where they are going, and nothing else will do. I think in many cases unfortunately their parents have drilled this into them from a young age.

Obviously some of them can handle it and will end up as doctors. But a significant number of them do not have the chops and they have to get weeded out somewhere. May as well be freshman year. Unfortunately incoming freshman very seldom have the ability to accurately judge their own skills and decide not to take courses that are beyond them, so even if they're warned it won't help and it will still be a weeder course. The only alternative is to seriously limit enrollment to only very elite students, but that doesn't really work because high school performance is not that great of a predictor of how the student will fare when the shit hits the fan.

Just to be clear, are you saying that if the prof had told you on the first day that the class was hard, you would have dropped it? Did your college offer a way to drop classes partway into the semester and end up with an Incomplete or a Withdrawal on your transcript? If so, why didn't you drop the course when you realized you were failing?

[mhendo]

That doesn't work though. If you're talking about a class that's a pre-requisite for med school, no amount of warning people is going to help. IME, kids who want to go to med school often have a rock-solid conviction that that's where they are going, and nothing else will do. Not only that, but at any school with a significant number of pre-med students, organic chemistry is well known as THE killer class.

While my area of study is in the humanities, my grad school (Johns Hopkins) has one of the best-known and most highly respected med schools in the country, and quite a lot of Hopkins undergrads want to be doctors. I remember that, among the Hopkins undergrads, "orgo" was famous as a class that would completely kick your ass and leave you crying. It was, for the undergrads, a sort of metaphor for everything that was tough about pre-med, and about college in general. Even the student media would make references to it. Here's the opening of an article (http://www.jhunewsletter.com/news-features/organic-chemistry-professor-urges-students-to-explore-new-fields-1.2694187#.T9Wg1cUZMzQ) from the student newspaper, from last year:The phrase "organic chemistry" elicits a spectrum of different reactions. Some students shudder in fear while other students are excited to learn more about aliphatic compounds. Regardless of the feeling, organic chemistry is notorious for being extremely difficult, especially at Hopkins. And it's true, more generally, that you can warn your students about your expectations until you're blue in the face, but there will always be some who think that they can skate through with little or no effort.

Some students also have expectations conditioned by one discipline, and find it difficult to take classes in another. I teach a class that is required for students in a different (but related) major, and a lot of them find it tough, not just because some of the ideas and methods are new, but also because i have pretty stringent requirements regarding things like reading and writing.

I expect them to read about 70 pages a week, which seems to me actually quite low for an upper-level history class, but they constantly complain about how it's too much, and about how the readings are too hard. I also expect college juniors and seniors to be able to write coherent, grammatically-correct sentences, and yet my course evaluations constantly contain complaints about how "harsh" i am on their writing, and how it's more like an English class than a history class, and how i should cut them some slack.

I have students in some of my classes that can barely put together a coherent sentence, and yet a check of their transcripts sometimes reveals a long string of A's and A-'s in the other discipline. I don't know if those people hand out A's for just turning up, but i'm not going to do it, no matter how much the students complain.

[Docta G]

I pursued a PhD and a career in academics because I wanted to impress Young Americans (all night). Cuz, you know, Americans are just so impressed by intelligence and whatnot.

[Docta G]

Logic is considered to be a branch of Philosophy.

I'm a philosopher and a logician, and I consider it a branch of mathematics.

Then again, I'm just showing off.