Everyone’s told me how much fun Sociology is to take, so I registered for it this term. Halfway through the semester, I find my interest in sociology eroded to a dim awareness of the subject. I’m getting a fine grade in the class – 95% on my first test and 20 out of 20 on my first two papers, but the class is just so damn boring.
Lemme 'splain what exactly is wrong: The professor has decided to approach the subject as basically a lecture history class while throwing in bits of sociological analysis here and there. Add two cups of vocabulary and name memorization and you basically come out with a dry, tasteless material in which no one in the class participates.
The professor is a very nice man and I’d hate to hurt his feelings, but how should I tell him that he needs to spice up the subject matter a few notches, and make it more relevant to today’s society?
At many schools you are given a chance to evaluate the class at the end of a semester. If that is not the case at your school, I would write a factual, polite evaluation after the class ends and ask your academic advisor where to submit it.
My husband teaches sociology at our local university branch campus. When taught well, sociology is a fascinating subject. (I’ve atteneded quite a few of his lectures just for the entertainment value.)
There’s another teacher there who is just as you describe. The students who’ve taken his classes and then taken my husbands whisper to him after class that the other teacher is very boring, goes off on tangents, and doesn’t explain important concepts very well. My husband just nods in sympathy. He’s heard it many times. The administration has heard it many times.
I’m sorry to tell you that there’s really not much you can do. Some people simply can’t teach. There’s a certain facility with communication, a charisma which is present in good teachers that can’t be taught-- it’s something in the personality of an individual.
You can always approach your teacher about certain concepts you don’t fully understand, but you can’t approach him about changing his teaching style. He could become offended, and hostile to you as a student. Even if he didn’t, there isn’t much he could do-- in essence, you’d be asking him to change his personality. It’s probably best not to rock the boat, when there’s little possible gain.
Nor will complaining to the higher-ups likely do any good. My husband’s university distributes surveys at the end of each quarter. The bad teacher consistently gets poor marks, but not poor enough to justify his dismissal-- he’s not being offensive or sexist. He’s not being unfair or making impossible demands of his students. He’s just a poor lecturer. (A student can pass his tests by reading from the book.)
There are lots of professors out there who can’t teach their way out of a wet paper bag. They may be excellent researchers, but they’ve never really been taught how to teach.
I’ve got this problem right now in a Mid-East history course I’m taking. The professor really isn’t a good teacher. Most of us taking the course are majors and minors, and this is an elective course, so the interest is there, but the material is presented in a very confusing way that makes it hard to understand or put into any kind of context. The prof is at least receptive to suggestions, which may make the rest of the course easier.
I second the evaluation, or at least talk with the prof’s department chair. If you can, get other students to go with you. It helps if you’re not the only one with concerns.
The chances are actually quite good the Prof already knows he’s bad. I have known professors who are actually proud of this. (Research viewed as the main thing.) I have worked at two colleges where the Teaching Award was also known as The Kiss of Death Award as anyone who won it didn’t get tenure. (And tenured profs never got it.) So smarter junior faculty would deliberately avoid getting good teaching evaluations.
He knows, the chairman knows, etc.
If he’s tenured, the admin can’t really do much of anything even if they wanted.