# World's Dumbest University Prof? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126 "2010-11-10T01:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/1 "2010-11-10T01:12:33Z")
We’ve all heard of dumb elementary and high school teachers, but they’re supposed to be smart when they’re professors in degree-granting institutions, right? A friend of mine at a prominent university here in the Toronto area just showed me a handout in which the prof quotes To Kill A Mockingbird. According to the prof, the author of that classic novel was… “Abicus Finch.” Top that. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/2 "2010-11-10T02:47:26Z")
Well, a professor was once quoted saying his favorite book was Victor Hugo’s “Lame Is Rob,” but that turned out to be an editing error. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/3 "2010-11-10T02:47:37Z")
Abicus… as in abacus, the ancient Chinese counting device. Those damned colored beads… ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/4 "2010-11-10T03:17:14Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We’ve all heard of dumb elementary and high school teachers, but they’re supposed to be smart when they’re professors in degree-granting institutions, right? > > A friend of mine at a prominent university here in the Toronto area just showed me a handout in which the prof quotes To Kill A Mockingbird. According to the prof, the author of that classic novel was… > “Abicus Finch.” > Top that. Pretty much anything that comes out of Noam Chomsky’s mouth these days qualifies him. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/5 "2010-11-10T03:28:00Z")
All the folks in Maycomb said you could count on Mr Finch. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/6 "2010-11-10T03:38:07Z")
You’re a mean one Mister Finch You’re a rotten, medieval, calculator! You’re as slippery as a gator And as evil as a Hun, Mister Fiiii-inch! ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/7 "2010-11-10T05:44:35Z")
My statistics syllabus was so poorly prepared that I began to wonder if my professor was using some strange math language I hadn’t come across yet. After quite a bit of staring (and eye crossing), I was finally able to decipher the spelling, spacing, and punctuation errors and I finally figured out what the hell he was trying to say. For the most part, I don’t read his emails in depth. I just peruse them for anything that might apply to me and then I ignore the rest. I realize he teaches math in a community college but he’s still a college professor and should have some standards. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/8 "2010-11-10T11:03:33Z")
Stop the presses! Person makes error ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/9 "2010-11-10T13:32:14Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Stop the presses! Person makes error Person who is a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR makes two major errors that any high schooler should be able to catch regarding basic information about one of the best-known books of the 20th century. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/10 "2010-11-10T13:43:15Z")
Yeah! How hard is it to spell “Atticus”, anyway? And I dunno why you’d waste time at a university level discussing a book that’s just about kids finding stuff in a tree. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/11 "2010-11-10T13:45:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > A friend of mine at a prominent university here in the Toronto area just showed me a handout in which the prof quotes To Kill A Mockingbird. According to the prof, the author of that classic novel was… > “Abicus Finch.” Harper Lee might be surprised to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/12 "2010-11-10T13:56:58Z")
I think that’s kind of **Rick** ’s point. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/13 "2010-11-10T14:37:51Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > Those damned colored beads… Let’s leave race out of this… ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/14 "2010-11-10T14:47:13Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Let’s leave race out of this… Don’t be ridiculous, leaving race out of a discussion of \*To Kill A Mockingbird \*is like leaving war out of a discussion of _Gone With The Wind_. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/15 "2010-11-10T14:56:39Z")
It’s so easy to let your brain turn into mush once you’ve got tenure, you know? I mean, why bother trying anymore? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/16 "2010-11-10T14:57:32Z")
You rang? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/17 "2010-11-10T16:14:49Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Person who is a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR makes two major errors that any high schooler should be able to catch regarding basic information about one of the best-known books of the 20th century. All professors are supposed to know everything about everything are they? I guess it is a good thing \all professors are banned from appearing on _Jeopardy_\, or it would get very boring indeed, what with everyone always knowing every answer all the time. I have been a university professor (sort of), and I can’t think, off the top of my head, who wrote _To Kill a Mockingbird_ (although I do recall that Atticus Finch is a central character). In fact, outside their area of specialization, there is really no reason to expect professors to be any more knowledgeable than any other reasonably intelligent person. Have you never encountered the stereotype of the absent minded professor, who knows everything about their own subject but nothing about anything else? We have not been told that this is a professor of English Literature (if it is, then I will agree to to mildly shocked at their brain fart). Also, I rather doubt whether _To Kill a Mockingbird_ is quite so well known outside the United States as it is inside. (And this professor is in Canada.) I certainly never learned about it at school in the U.K., and although I have read lots of novels in my time, including many American ones, this is not one of them. It may be that it is on most American high school curricula (presumably because it is - so I have heard - concerned with some uniquely American social problems), but that is not the case elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/18 "2010-11-10T16:20:53Z")
No University Professor writes thier own stuff. This is more like unpaid TA or overworked departmental admin makes mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/19 "2010-11-10T16:38:28Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > No University Professor writes thier own stuff. This is more like unpaid TA or overworked departmental admin makes mistake. Really? At Purdue a professor who is teaching a class really does write his/her own syllabus and exams. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126/20 "2010-11-10T18:47:37Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > All professors are supposed to know everything about everything are they? I guess it is a good thing \all professors are banned from appearing on _Jeopardy_\, or it would get very boring indeed, what with everyone always knowing every answer all the time. > > I have been a university professor (sort of), and I can’t think, off the top of my head, who wrote _To Kill a Mockingbird_ (although I do recall that Atticus Finch is a central character). Did you make a quote from “To Kill A Mockingbird” the centerpeice of the title page of a major presentation to your students? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-dumbest-university-prof/560126.md?page=2)