“You’re All Adults, Not Children, You Can Hold It”: 30 Times People Realized They Needed To Drop A Class Immediately
While good professors and teachers become an inspiration you carry within you throughout your life, toxic professors are just as common. Sadly, they make the academic environment poisonous with their words and actions.
From the sense of entitlement and the feeling that they are above the rules to offensive behavior, there are many ways they wreak havoc on your student life. What makes it particularly challenging to deal with difficult educators is that they can be found in every field and at every level of academia, from adjuncts to full professors. And their words carry a lot of weight.
But there seem to be red flags that instantly scream that you would be better off changing the class rather than staying in. “What are some red flags for teachers that scream ‘drop this class immediately?’” someone asked on Ask Reddit, and people started sharing endless real-life experiences. Below we wrapped up some of the most tell-tale signs.
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I had a teacher that I loved but everyone hated.
my economics teacher was an absolute madman.
first day of econ-
Madman- " FIRST RULE!.. ANY AND ALL CELLPHONES ARE TO REMAIN OFF!. IF I SEE YOU USING THEM, I WILL THROW THEM OUT THE DOOR!"
**cellphone rings**
*its his*
**madman looks at class.. grabs cellphone and throws it out the door**
Madman- " didn't need to talk to my wife anyway! "
WHEN THEY READ THE POWERPOINTS WORD FOR WORD. I.CAN.DO.THAT.AT.HOME. TEACH PLS.
One of the first rules of making a PowerPoint presentation is to keep the text to a minimum - simple bullet points will do. You then verbally elaborate on those when giving the presentation. When there's lots of text people will concentrate on the text and not on you. It also defeats the purpose of a presentation when the same could be achieved through handouts.
"These books are required for the class. I wasn't able to get the revision into the bookstore in time, so the only place you can get them is from me directly or from my website. I will warn you, if you don't buy the books you won't get the login information to be able to take the final, which is 90% of your grade."
"Oh, and no, I can't accept financial aid for them, but it's only $250 so it's not a big deal."
Never seen an entire class get up 5 minutes in and leave before.
That sounds so scammy...Students should be able to get their tuition payed back to them for the class...straight out of the profs bank account.
Bored Panda reached out to marketing expert and book author Alex Wong who is better known as the “Hijack” Copywriter. Wong has been on a mission to help small and corporate businesses “hijack” their client’s minds and help them to grow their businesses and sales.
When asked whether he had a toxic teacher, Wong confirmed that he has had a few bad teachers. “Being so young, I didn’t know how to deal with the situation. One of the teachers I had was for an elective in high school, French. I should have just chosen another course since it wasn't worth the misery,” he recounted.
Another teacher Wong had was for a required course in college so this option would have ben much more difficult. “For both situations, I didn’t say anything and I just tried my best to improve as a student.”
Pride in the difficulty of their course.
If everyone fails, it's not for an inability to learn, but for an inability to teach.
No one will get an A in this course because (insert some philosophical highbrow b******t answer)
"No one will get an A in this course because I am not capable of teaching people that well"
Had a drawing professor that put a stack of pre-signed withdrawal forms on his desk. Told us to grab one when we were ready.
Having a bad teacher is very damaging to any young student. Wong argues that having a good or bad teacher can mean the difference between thriving or failing a class. “It also negatively impacts your self-esteem and desire to learn. You start wondering if there is anything wrong with you. After surviving the year with my French teacher, I never studied French again.”
But when it comes to education and academia, Wong thinks the problem is bigger than bad teachers. “I believe the entire system needs to be overhauled and improved. Because in the end, who hires these bad teachers and allows them to continue to teach students every year?”
Professor claimed she didn’t allow people to step out of class to use the bathroom. “You’re all adults, not children, you can hold it.” Exactly lady. We’re adults, we paid to be here, and adults have to use the bathroom.
I love when adults try to tell other adults they aren't allowed to pee.... I once asked my friend with whom we were driving to pull over as I needed to pee.... he said you can wait till we get home.... then he had to pull over because he was bleeding and dizzy all of a sudden to quote John pinette rip
Personal experience, I literally dropped 4 classes my sophomore year ....
Prior to starting the classes the disability department contacted all of my teachers to tell them that I am deaf and that I would need some form of written/typed paper to follow along with lectures.
"Im completely deaf ....."
"sit closer, i cant give you special treatment"
Illegal in many countries. Once notification has been given that a student or employee has a disability or illness that requires accommodations to be made, it is illegal not to provide them.
Think that their students should only focus on this particular class for the upcoming semester as if they should spend all their time on it
My chem teacher, on the first day of school, said, "I will not give you homework on Fridays or anything that is due the next day. I'll give you as little homework as possible; you have seven other classes, after all." He's my favorite.
“The problem is that even if you do speak out, the board or department may not take your concerns seriously and end up doing nothing. Even worse, the teacher often finds out and ends up taking it out on you in the end. I ended up dropping out of a college program because it was so poorly run,” Wong told us.
The marketing expert argues that there has to be some kind of system in place where both teachers and students are supported and can feel comfortable speaking out if any issues arise in the classroom without fear of retaliation.
"No laptops, all code will be handwritten."
Yes that really happened.
Over the winter break of my freshman year I was diagnosed with a degenerative bone disease in my knees which meant I had to use crutches for a while (then eventually a wheelchair for a time). I was late to my philosophy 101 class (due to adjusting to my newfound limitations). I apologized for my tardiness and tried to find my seat without making a fuss. As I was making my way across the classroom my philosophy teacher remarked “everyone, let’s just patiently wait for the cripple here to get to his seat.” It’s possible she had believed I was one of several skiing injuries that the student body had incurred over winter break, but either way after that first day I never came back to that class.
Discrimination earns lawsuits. Punish this horrible practice with the hammer of law
Saw a course at my college called "Digital Media and American Culture." Sounds neat, I thought, I'll go to a lecture during the shopping period. The professor is 10 minutes late, an 80-year-old man, who gets up and literally asks a student in the front to tell him how many Facebook friends she has and then "how many REAL friends do you have?!" Was flabbergasted when he asked if anyone in the classroom had read "1984" and most of the class raised their hands. He was 100% convinced that millennials never pick up books anymore.
Yeah, no.
When I was 18 I took a Beauty Therapy and Science class. One of the units we had was business studies, I had previously sat an A Level in business so I still had notes and books left over.
We didn't have the usual business teacher because she was signed off sick (Cancer I believe) so instead of getting a qualified teacher in, the department bought in a beauty salon manager who was a b***h. Knew nothing about teaching but thought she knew everything about business.
First class we have, she's doing the "Introduce yourself" thing, then she asks "Who in this class is a Leo?" I raise my hand and its only me .... "Oh because in my star signs I ALWAYS clash with Leos. Sorry". Ok so we have a crazy b***h, the class is sat in a stunned silence as I simply say "Ok cool"
The time comes to write the assignment for the class and me being savvy I used my old business class notes and books and hand it in with the biggest smile on my face.
Results day. Everyone passes with high marks all except me. She has me up in front of my head tutor for "Plagerism" and "She's clearly copied and pasted all of this from the internet" my head tutor explained that "Shakenshake has sat a A-level in business so she should know what she's talking about"
My head tutor re-marked my paper and passed it with a high merit. I later told her about what was said, regarding the star signs and how I felt attacked due to some insignificant fact about my birth sign.
Next lesson she announces she's "Leaving due to my teaching methods being questioned and having a complaint" whilst glaring at me, the rest of the class was relieved.
My tenured organic chem professor asked, 'Any questions?' and 50 hands went up. He then said, 'It's a fairly simple concept, so you'll get there. Let's move on.
I once had a professor say "you get 2 absences this semester. More than 2 and you fail. It doesn't matter what the excuse is."
Sorry, with older relatives who were sick and dying... and not being a psychic myself to know whether or not I'd get sick or if I'd forget to set an alarm, or any number of unforseable things... that level of rigidity and unwillingness to compromise isn't worth it.
In our first lecture, my professor for Intro to Communications said, 'I don't believe in the artificially inflated grading system we are experiencing, so I grade on a strict bell curve. There are 25 people in this class, so no matter how well everyone does, some of you are getting an F.' You may not care about that inflated grading system, but the job market and grad schools certainly do
This shows a basic misunderstanding of statistics and how it should be applied.
2-hour, in-class, pre-recorded PowerPoint lectures from 2008, 'because it saves time for me, and please don't ask questions until after the end of my PowerPoint'.
This was in 2017.
Back when I started college, I got straight A+s in a class, but when I went to check on my overall grade, I had a B+, found it odd and went to question my teacher about it, he said that he dropped down my grade because the class was a bit of a pain in the a*s (he didn't use those exact words, but thats what he meant)
Then I questioned him again about my posture, asking if I did anything wrong, or disturbed class or whatever, he promptly said I didn't and that I was a great student, which made me ask again "Why is grade lower then", he told the same excuse from above, then I asked if he was planning on changing my grade at all, since I had only As, and he promply said he wasn't going to change.
Fast forward a few days, I ended up filing a complaint about him and his method of grading students, and the college made him change my grade. After that he approached me and said something like "Hey u/Phorcyss you didn't have to file a complaint about me, I was gonna fix you grade" yada yada.
I had a professor that in hindsight I really should have dropped. It was a Western Civilization History class, and the first day the entirety of the class he spent talking about how he missed his old job teaching in Europe because "American students are more lazy and incapable of getting as high of grades." Then he showed intro YouTube videos from his personal laptop hooked to a projector and all of the "Recommend" videos all had titles like "grinding with thong", "sexy college babe grinding", etc.
I thought he was just eccentric, but the guy was easily the worst teacher I ever had. He would expect you to totally memorize all the chapter-- he would quiz on material that didn't matter for concepts. (Ie: What was the name of Caesar's second cousin?) When the information would be found in a huge family tree. The only students in the class with A's were women, and he would grade their quizzes differently and be MUCH more lenient. (The students compared quiz results.) Someone in class called him out and he said that he was tired of teaching Americans and doesn't get paid enough. (Literally)
Gives a test on the first day that WILL be counted against you. Had one of my mathematics teachers do this.
The idea here is to stop students who don't have sufficient knowledge continuing with the course. If students do badly in this assessment they have plenty of time to withdraw from this course without penalty and find a more suitable course. It's much better than having the first assessment halfway through the course, which basically gives students no chance to withdraw. OK, it's unfair if students aren't aware of an impending assessment, but other than that, I have no problem with this.
The required textbook is a saran-wrapped package of loose-leaf papers that cost $100, authored by the professor.
When the first thing they say before reading the 2 page, 1.0 spaced syllabus is; "I've been teaching for x years so I deserve your respect" or something like that. That's basically a 100% accurate indicator that this person *cannot* be wrong and they will talk to you like you're a piece of s**t. They can't *earn* anybody's respect so they have to ransom it.
I took an economics course and bombed the first test. I went to the professor and told her “I really want to do well in your class, what are some suggestions you might have on how I can be successful?”
She looked at the grade on the test and said “you should drop the class and change your major.”
I may be s**t at economics but I can follow instructions.
I'll make the class too hard and curve the class average to a C, because C is average.
We didn't even have those sort of grades at uni, everything was Fail, Pass, Credit, Distinction, High distinction. The well known phrase is Ps get degrees, because all you have to do to complete your course is get a pass. A pass means you meet the necessary points of the assessment rubric. No shame in getting a pass, but they do want you to aim for more than the bare minimum. Until my most recent job, no one looked at my transcript anyway.
"Too many people got A's last semester, so I'm changing my syllabus for you all"
Of course this is an awful thing to say and a terrible orientation, but as a former professor, I can tell you that there is pressure from the top to keep your average class grade down. Administration wants the grade average to be lower so that they can brag about the academic rigor of the school.
"Get out the science textbooks and work on chapter 5, activity 1".
*Proceeds to sit down at their desk to do random s**t on their computer*
Teachers did this in elementary school all the time! Lol. I was ok with it because they usually spent that time grading papers for other classes or something like that. It's not optimal but I'm sure it saved the teachers' sanity and we, the pupils, learned to work on a task without needing to have clear instructions first.
"This class will be using a textbook that I am writing and editing during the semester"
Translation : it's going to be amateur hour. In addition to trying to learn new stuff, you are paying the school for the privilege of proofreading your professor's book.
I encountered this when completing my Masters - the lecturer had NO experience or knowledge of the subject so the students prepared the lectures for the entire semester. Lecturer insisted on being given a USB containing the lecture material from every lecture. Following year he had a text book comprising - surprise surprise - all of the student lectures. A number of us went to the Dean - partly because he was incompetent and partly for using the notes without our permission or credit to us......it was completely wrong. Refused point blank to attend any class in which he was involved.....
Reviews on RateMyProfessor. There are a few times that the student was just mad that they got a low grade..but more often then not, they are spot on
A prof who is clearly off his meds.
Over the course of my one month in the class, he was constantly rude and unbelievably condescending to literally everyone. Example: We were on a section talking about multiple sclerosis and how its signals misfire from the brain. A student said "my cousin has MS and sais this is how he was told what was happening. Is that correct?". Prof gets red in the face and yells "I DONT CARE ABOUT YOUR COUSIN WITH MS!" and proceeds to rant about how interrupting him with stupid questions is a waste of his time. He never answered the question.
During the second week, less that half the class showed up (or a noticeable chunk). He yelled at us that DID show up about how disrespectful it was, then said we would have to learn this section on our own and that we would be heavily tested on it, then stormed out of class. There was no participation mark in the class.
Also, he stated at the beginning of the semester that more that 50% of students dropped his course. Our grades consisted of a 40% midterm and a 60% final. I took the midterm before dropping the class. It was the hardest test i have ever taken in my life. He expected us to answer questions that we hadnt been taught. When confronted, he said "you should always be applying the course material to future study". Class average on that was 15%. Highest mark was 68%. Next highest was 32%. He doesnt scale.
Want to complain? Talk to the head of the department. SURPRISE! He *is* head of the department. HotD can only be held for 2 year. He managed to hold it for 4 due to a loophole or something (no department head wanted to upset him probably).
Yes, he had been required by the university to take meds to keep his job. I dont think he ever actually took them.
TL;DR: If a prof seems like a looney nut job, they probably are so GTFO of that class. Too much stress for minimal reward.
The Head of Department has as boss too, and complaints can be escalated.
When the teacher doesn't even explain anything, he just goes on youtube and shows the class a video and everyone is left without a clue of what is going on. I dropped computer science because of this, and I'm glad that I did.
Also, when the teacher hardly ever explains anything and insists in "independent research" , more like "I can't be asked preparing lessons so just go ahead and do it yourself".
A red flag that the teacher has a really bad ego problem is if they require you buy their books. Especially if they ONLY recommend books they've written.
Yes, you are the ONLY person who has ever written about James Baldwin. No one else has anything remotely worth adding to the conversation.
Also, using your students as a means of increasing your sell numbers/making more money is a shitty, egotistical thing to do.
The opposite: Purchasing the book for this class will not be necessary, save your money. I have a PDF copy if anyone needs it, but we will follow along together, and I have printouts of all the questions.
When a teacher does that I'm like "Okay, they obviously care about making this a good experience and not wasting my time or money."
I had a professor once who even regularly asked other authors for pdfs or scripts to have the course work with it. The best part of that was not even about the money we did not have to spend on textbooks, , but we got sources that more often than not were more current than the published versions, along with annotations from the author, sometimes even pre-print.
If they treat the class like a highschool class.
Had a professor proclaim NO CELL phones or she would take them away. Attendance was mandatory and if you are not going to be in class without telling her she will assume your lazy and fail you.
For some reason she hated me on day 1 which was weird. I was motivated to get a good grade to bump my overall GPA up (I just needed a D- for degree requirement). Sat up front, took detailed notes, left cell phone face down like the prof requested. However no matter what I could never get above 70% on ANYTHING. About 1/2 way through the class I noticed the bias bc my friend just copied all my s**t and always got 15% higher. I went to her office hours and pointed this out. She flat out looked at me and said "Youre a lazy pos I can see it, I dont want to see you pass. You have an attitude in my class. However, you showed up here so Ill keep a better eye on you and see if Im wrong." My grades slowly started going up after that, still never reaching my friends. Than I made the biggest mistake. I decided to tell her I would miss the next class to pick up my bro from the airport who I havent seen in 7years. She threw a fit, yelling at me in front of the class on how I was a nobody and wouldn't amount to s**t and no matter what I would never get a good grade with my attitude. I later learned she always picked someone at random in everyone of her classes and makes their s**t miserable only to give them C- so they would need to retake the class if it was required to get better than a C.
TLDR: If a professor treats the class like high school they are on a power trip and theres no telling what they will f*****g do.
When the History teacher makes the German exchange student cry for simply being German
“If you arrive late then you’re absent”
Yes. Be in the seat when the class starts, because I can't f*****g teach and the others can't f*****g learn when I have a 20-30 minute stream of late arrivals with their Starbucks cups and McDonald's bags. There is a legit grace period, but if you are the person who ALWAYS shows up 20 minutes late? Mine isn't the class for you.
“I haven’t quite finalized the coursework and grading so I’ll be adjusting them as we go along.”
Surprise assignments, surprise tests, way too many group projects. I should have known.
This happens when we get assigned a class at the last minute. One of my colleagues just had a weekend to pull together an entire syllabus. A WEEKEND. It usually takes an average of 40+ hours to build a complete course and syllabus. All unpaid, btw.
If all your professor does is read from the textbook. Then drop that class! If you can. Sometimes you need it for your major, or a time conflict, but if you can. Drop it. You know how to read.
That is potentially an easy A. People purposely find professors who teach like this.
“You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t understand your American sentiments, *as an international,* I’m unfamiliar with your culture.”
Stated by a woman who lived in America till the age of twelve. She thought she was the most intelligent person because she’d been able to live abroad. Worst professor I’ve had.
I once got out my laptop and dropped a class during the first lecture when our ~~professor~~ grad student told us that instead of an exam, the final would be "a group (no thanks) video project (hell no) about contemporary social issues (later, tater)."
"For this two credit course, you'll be identifying a functional problem, inventing a solution, building said solution, presenting it to the public, and filming a commercial for it." No, I'll be finding another course to fill this GenEd, thank you.
"You should take this teacher, if you just show up for the final he will give you a passing grade."
Fresh out of HS me thought that this sounded great.
First day of class, 45 chairs in the class are all full and there are people lining the wall to get in. Fast forward to the final, me and maybe 10 other people attend. I pass the class, even though the teacher was awful.
This was precalculus. I show up to Calculus the next semester. First class, "We'll review the stuff you'll need to know from your pre-cal class to succeed in this class. Here's a practice worksheet."
I couldn't do a single problem, I had not learned a thing from my precal class and knew that I would have to retake it. In the long haul it pushed me from my science major to a liberal arts major. Would not recommend.
You got what you were told. A passing grade without making an effort to learn.
"This is my first time teaching, so you'll be my guinea pigs" her test averages were low 50s with no scaling, it was great.
I've had teachers that I just simply couldn't understand due to a language barrier and in hindsight I should have dropped immediately. I learned that basically if you can't understand what the teacher is saying, be prepared to teach yourself a lot of the class. I had an accounting teacher one time who was Chinese and I remember sitting in that class on the first day scratching my head because I had no idea what she was saying. I looked around and a lot of the other people had the same look on their faces. The next week I showed up to class and what was once a classroom of about 40 people was now about 12. I should have known right there to drop, but I didn't. I stuck it out and a few weeks go by and it didn't get any better. I got my first test back and completely bombed it. I told myself right then that I was going to have to teach myself the material and that coming to class was pointless. So I taught myself accounting by using the textbook. Since I didn't go to class I missed all of her pop-quizzes but just told myself I'll make it up on the tests. I only showed up for tests and the final and lo and behold, I passed the class.
Yes, because when you can't understand someone due to language issues, just assume nothing can be done. "Hey, Dr. Whoever/Prof So-and-So, there are some ESL issues, and a lot of us are having problems understanding the lecture. Can we have a shared document with the notes in writing?" "Hey, Dean of Econ, Prof Whoever is hard to understand due to some language issues. What are some ways we can make the lectures more accessible?" FFS, JUST ASK SOMEONE. We have six thousand things going on and can't read your minds. You could have ended up with a freaking club where Dr. Whoever teaches you multinational theory and basic Chinese econ terms, making you even more marketable.
*Class of 80 averages a 40 percent on a test*
Prof: That's what they get for not learning the material!
Depends whether the grade boundaries reflect the difficulty and scores. Medical exams often have around 40% pass rate maximum, and they will move the boundary to keep that level regardless of actual scores
"We'll be doing 3 group projects this semester. I will assign the group and it will be the same group for all 3 projects." NOPE.
I hate group projects with a passion. There’s always at least one person who does f**k all and doesn’t care how you feel about it.
From one I just dropped:
-no exams, at all
- a ten page paper was worth 50% of the mark and the other 50% was from giving a presentation to the class
-there were two extremely expensive textbooks, which she told us at length about how hard they were to find and that the bookstore didn't have any (she said she called the publisher and even they didn't have any copies)
-the textbooks were required starting next week and the discussions would be based off of the textbook readings (the fastest shipping would still take at LEAST two weeks to get the books there!!)
-she was very condescending and rude
-said that if we didn't have prior background into <subject> it would be an extremely steep learning curve (but there wasn't a prereq for the class in <subject>)
Definitely one of the biggest things you need to consider is that even if there is a large workload, depending on the subject it may help. You have to remember that the professor has to also grade this stuff so assuming there’s no TA doing all of the grading, it is extra work for him. It’s not what you want to hear, but take for example my Physical Chemistry professor. He assigned 1-2 homework assignments per week, and they took anywhere from 3-6 hours on average to finish. It sucked a*s, but instead of guessing on exams, I fully understood the material. This professor was ALWAYS answering emails as well, within an hour at almost any time of the day. If they have shitty response times, they probably won’t be that helpful and I’d recommend dropping. The most helpful professors I’ve had were the ones that answered emails ASAP
There’s a HUGE waitlist of students for a different section with a different professor.
Oh and she doesn’t speak your native language well enough to communicate the class material.
Yes you will go to class, study for tests, and do all of the bonus projects, but rest assured you’ll get the first C of your college career in a damn general education requirement because of her.
First up, if you're teaching a class, people have to be able to understand you. If your accent is so thick that nobody can understand you, that's life, not racism. If someone were to say prejudiced things against a person, then yeah, that's being racist. But being clear is absolutely important.
Load More Replies... I took a physics class when I was in college. Day one, I am paging through the syllabus (which was like 5 pages long by the way) and I see that there's a 5 page paper due later that week. I asked the professor if that was a mistake. He said it was not. I dropped the class that afternoon.
Edit: This post is getting a lot of attention so I will address what seems to be a common theme in replies I am getting. I agree that a five page paper is not a large amount of work. The red flag was more about the fact that there was a term paper assigned for a hard science like physics. I did not need the class to graduate, I only took it because I was interested in it. So I decided it was probably not the right fit for me.
A group project worth a substantial amount of your grade.
F**k group projects.
I had a biology class with a professor who wore a f***y pack and had stains on his shirt. On the first day, he said that the class would require at least 4 hours of studying every day. The professor also said that he didn't mind "crushing our dreams" and giving us an F. The class was full at the beginning and ended with 3 students.
You are required to use LockDown Browser for exams, have your webcam on, and must give a tour of the entire room with the camera and the volume on during normal working hours. Nah, no one invades my privacy. My normal working hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. There's not much I can do about taking an exam before 5 p.m.
Day 1 of grad school for electrical engineering (multivariable Laplace transforms) -- everyone takes their seats and professor smiles and says in a thick Russian accent, "*dis forst cless I tich, OK*?"
If they do ice-breakers not just on the first day, but the second day as well. It means they have no idea what they're doing.
"I've never taught this before so I'll be learning along with you."
Edit: She ended up getting double teamed by two seniors and let go.
"You have to buy this online book to have access to the online homework"
When I can get the pdf of the book by various means...
Who the hell want to pay to do homework twice?
Edit*: see i was going to reply to everyone, but then there a buttload of comments
Pearson, Sapling, Hooks, Wiley, all of them are crooks in book. I've been fortunate to not have any of those classes since sophomore year but did I hate it when did
Edit Jr**: obligatory "my highest updooted post" comment is to me fussing about how something costs too much. I approve.
It's a real shame college administrations by and large promote this tomfoolery for a bird dog fee. I don't see it ending soon, not without some sort of textbook industry collapse and rebirth. For the short term, if you can galvanize your classmates to discuss better and affordable options, there could be success there. It sounds idealistic, but sometimes just asking makes a big difference, or maybe just a free cookie
Last school I taught for dropped an expensive but great textbook to go with a free, open source option. I has TWO HUNDRED PAGES OF CORRECTIONS. But it save the students money so admin decided to keep it.
I had an accounting professor tell us that there was no way you could get an A in her class with a full time course load and a part time job. I remember being infuriated because I supported myself and had a full time job and a full time course load. I would have dropped it if it she wasn't the only prof that taught it. I got an A and felt super smug. But I still have nightmares about that class.
"My name is Konstantin Makarov, I was nuclear physicist in Russia. This course will not be easy, not all will survive, but we can get through together."
First words uttered by my Differential Equations professor.
The instructor either seems to have trouble speaking in the language in which the class is being taught or their accent is so thick that it's difficult to understand them. While plenty of people are incredibly knowledgeable about their topic of interest without being great at multiple languages, the fact of the matter is that you're not going to learn much if you're going to have to devote so much of your attention into just figuring out what the instructor is saying.
You are required to log on to blackboard at least 3 days a week. — I didn't register for an online class because I've got ample hours in my day to log on and do school work I take online classes because I have the ability to successfully compete weeks worth of work in 1 day.
I had some issues with my schedule and wasn't registered for a particular course on the first day of class, so I registered and attended on the second day. He had already paired up the class into groups of 3-4 on day 1 for a project that would span the entire course and count for a large part of our grade. When I asked if I could be joined into a smaller group he told me no, that I could do the work solo for the semester. I was peeved, but needed that course as a prerequisite for something I needed next semester so I silently fumed. After week 2 I had "failed" two reports because he just didn't like what I wrote. Not that the reasoning, research, or writing was unsound- he just didn't like the subject so he gave me failing grades. I dropped the class, took it with another teacher the next semester, and graduated a semester late because of it.
I don't regret it. He was a horrible teacher and I'm sure my mental health would have suffered if I had continued in his class.
If they segregate students
I had an American history class where on the first day the teacher told everyone that no one was to sit in the furthest left row of seats.
Those seats were reserved for the what she called idiots. Idiots were people who arrived late for class.
My class before this ended five minutes before this class did and was on the other side of campus. I took the safe route and dropped the class.
This was before the school made it a rule that you had to have ten minutes between classes, and the professor was an adjunct professor.
On an unrelated note I had an English teacher at this same school that thought when someone had a number on the back window of their car, a number the dmv makes you put there due to some issue with your registration, it meant they were bad drivers and essentially on notice. She thought this because she said she had only ever seen Asian drivers with them. The girl who explained what it actually meant knew because she had had one, and was also Asian.
That last teacher I know for a fact no longer works as a teacher.
"Over half this class is retaking this class" More a reflection on the professor than the students.
Professor was semi-retired. One of his conditions for coming out of full retirement was all his courses had to be done by 9AM so he could still enjoy his day.
No one passed his 7AM advanced calculus classes....
I wonder if I’ll ever reach an age where voluntarily getting up at 6am becomes desirable. I doubt it.
Let me tell ya'll a story from second year university. I had a course that started in second semester, and due to weather the first class had to be cancelled. Okay, that's unfortunate, but obviously not the teacher's fault. She sends out a class wide email saying "here are the slides I would have shown today, can you all please read through them in preparation for tomorrow?" Okay, seems reasonable enough, I can understand that.
But then I'm reading through those slides I found this, which I'm going to quote to the best of my memory:
"If the class misbehaves the homework assignments will get longer and more difficult, and the final exam will get more difficult."
Excuse me? I have literally never met you and you're already threatening me? What the f**k? So yeah, to answer your question: that.
Was a freshman in college, needed to get some science credits with a lab... took geology because I wanted to try something besides bio, that I just took in high school. The teacher gave a speech the first day of class about how it gets under her skin that people take Geology because they're required to take a lab and just "assume" that it'll be an "easy A." So, she said "this class will NOT be an easy A!" And then proceeded to make it hard as f**k. Like make it challenging so people will be engaged, but make it nigh impossible to pass just to prove a point.
Doesn’t speak clear English and doesn’t hold office hours. (This is for a University in USA)
PS: Holding office hours but never being there doesn’t help anyone. By appointment only... but having zero availability also doesn’t help anyone.
Adjunct faculty often do not have an office. Adjunct faculty, which make up about 70% of US university faculty are also paid next to nothing per class taught.
Had a professor in an online class who answered all of my questions by telling me to Google certain phrases.
In an English class for the 12th grade, I was handed back an essay and with it a mark of 64% (hard teacher but I'm not the best at English) with this mark was a comment that read "Excellent Work!". That's when I knew, this b***h was Lucifer.
They hand out the syllabus and you see that the first 4 chapters are covered in week 1 with an exam scheduled for week 2. And then, upon further examination, you realize that this is a recurring theme for the next 15 weeks...NOPE!
Which would be okay, IF that was the only class you were taking that semester.
I completed my MS part time while working full time. As a practicing engineer, I wanted to focus on courses that had practical, real world application potential. For my very first MS course, I enrolled in Elastic Stability. First day of class in my first semester of grad school, the professor open up with the following:
"This is an entirely theoretical class; we won't be using experimentation to determine our answers, but will determine everything through mathematical manipulation. Basically we are going to derive, derive, derive."
I dropped that class the minute I got home.
Ended up being "don't take this class in the first place", but we had the AP English teacher come into our Honors English class to talk to us about what to expect if we signed up for AP English next year... and he basically told us he doesn't give a c**p if our parents would beat us over not getting an A or if we would go kill ourselves or something. I'd always been pretty much a straight-A student with the exception of gym class and I'd never gone to a teacher and asked them to change my grade in my life, so it's not like I anticipated needing a "compassionate grade boost" or anything, but I did not sign up for that class and took Scholarship English that year instead. It was way too easy for me and all of my friends were in the AP class, but high school is dehumanizing enough without having a teacher who feels the need to explicitly state he doesn't care whether you live or die, f**k that.
SERIOUSLY. The most amazing feeling in the world is being able to teach others who are interested in learning it, and then seeing what they do with it as a result. If I could pay bills with that feeling, I'd teach for free. But there are always going to be the gatekeeping assholes who think that a thing -- be it knowledge, culture, a shared experience, an identity -- is all theirs to dole out to whoever they approve. The Smaug approach to anything just renders it all useless.
Load More Replies... So much of this is just people who have no idea how a college/uni course works. It's not like high school. It's also not a "product" you're buying. If you have questions or concerns and don't ever talk to your profs or deans or advisors, we can't help you. If you don't show up for class, we can't teach you. If you don't do the assignments, you won't learn. If your life is so busy that you can't participate in class, you should drop it now and take it later or it's just a waste of money. College education is collaborative, but ultimately, you have to do the work. You have to make an effort. And if you're too overwhelmed, you have to let us know. Sadly, though, most students don't realize this when they start college (and there's so much ill will and misinformation, more than ever now), which is why I repeat it here and elsewhere: talk to your teachers and let us know what your needs and circumstances are. And listen to ours, too.
"So much of this is just people who have no idea how a college/uni course works" - post 2: reading off PowerPoint slides; post 3: demanding students buy book direct from prof; post 5&9: no allowances for disability; 8: handwritten coding exercises; 17: prerecorded lectures for an in-person course; 4&12 arbitrary down-marking (not scaling); 14&16&29 breaching university rules; 21: xenophobia and favouritism; 22: bullying; etc. You are actually right in that this *is* how many university courses work - but it absolutely shouldn't be. Most of these are legitimate complaints. (Post numbers may change from when I've written this cos of up and down votes).
Load More Replies...
The whole concept of taking and dropping classes is so alien. When I was at uni we got to pick a couple of modules in the last two years, and that was it, there was no changing them after that.
It's a very American thing. Usually it's a trial period, so you can get your money back within a few weeks if the class isn't going to work for you. You won't be stuck losing thousands and thousands of dollars for an F on your transcript.
Load More Replies... I maybe have slightly more experience than average with uni profs/lecturers, having done an undergrad and 2 postgrad courses, having worked at unis in various roles, including teaching, for many years, and my view of profs/lecturers only decreased during that time. Of course there are many exceptions, but it strikes me that the majority of them are: a) incompetent and unproductive - it's commonly said in my field that if they were working for a company the way they do for the unis, they'd be fired. b) arrogant, but in that way that comes out of insecurity rather than actual confidence - a need to project authority because they're actually fearful, y'know? c) awful educators with no awareness of pedagogy - they've often been hired for their knowledge of the subject, but have no idea how to teach and done no teaching courses d) self-centred - connected to 'c', they rarely have an awareness of what the students need or do during their courses.
I minored on Political Science only because I loved the one professor that taught it at my college. I took every single one of his classes. You would find out the day before and day of a test how many people were actually in the class because they would show up to find out what to study for the test. He would tell us exactly what he was testing. My favorite bit was his "if I'd had more time I would have discussed 'xyz'" That was always the essay part of the test. Lol He had a ton of personal experience in state, local, and federal politics and had the best stories.
I'm luvky for my math teacher. HE wants the class average to be 70%+, so he gives you enough points back for redoing the wrong answers and fixing them that the class average should be 70%+.
Oh boy do I have a doozy. Statistics class early 00s. Teacher didn't believe in email so you had to call her to make an appointment for tutoring or just to ask a question outside class. She would answer "Thank you for calling x department at y school, this is z, how can I help you" If you did not follow the script of "Hello z, this is A, the reason I'm calling is N" she would hang up on you. I called once and as she finished with her greeting spiel, I sneezed, completely uncontrollable bodily function, she hung up on me then refused to answer the phone again when I called back. Also, her extra credit opportunities were to go to a small town 60 miles from the campus to volunteer an 8-hour day in a soup kitchen if I remember correctly, nothing to do with statistics. I commuted to campus 60 miles from my home, the extra credit town was another 60 miles on the other side of the campus from my home for a total of 120 miles ONE WAY for ONE SINGLE POINT of extra credit. NO ONE passed
Had one med school anatomy professor who would lock the door to the anatomy theatre the precise moment the lecture was to start - so if you were even one minute late, you were locked out and missed out on class
I had a five minute grace period, but locked the door after, with a written assignment for late students so they wouldn't be marked absent. There are few things more disruptive to a class than constant tardiness. You think it's just you this one time, but I have had morning classes where fully half of the students couldn't manage to be on time. That's not fair to the ones who are already there. Welcome to being responsible adults.
Load More Replies...
My least favorite was a math professor whose teaching method was scribbling on a blackboard and mumbling. You couldn't hear what he was saying even from the first row and the handwriting was so messy that you couldn't differentiate between x and z which, "kinda" important in mathematics. He was also the only one teaching this mandatory course. Fun times
SERIOUSLY. The most amazing feeling in the world is being able to teach others who are interested in learning it, and then seeing what they do with it as a result. If I could pay bills with that feeling, I'd teach for free. But there are always going to be the gatekeeping assholes who think that a thing -- be it knowledge, culture, a shared experience, an identity -- is all theirs to dole out to whoever they approve. The Smaug approach to anything just renders it all useless.
Load More Replies... So much of this is just people who have no idea how a college/uni course works. It's not like high school. It's also not a "product" you're buying. If you have questions or concerns and don't ever talk to your profs or deans or advisors, we can't help you. If you don't show up for class, we can't teach you. If you don't do the assignments, you won't learn. If your life is so busy that you can't participate in class, you should drop it now and take it later or it's just a waste of money. College education is collaborative, but ultimately, you have to do the work. You have to make an effort. And if you're too overwhelmed, you have to let us know. Sadly, though, most students don't realize this when they start college (and there's so much ill will and misinformation, more than ever now), which is why I repeat it here and elsewhere: talk to your teachers and let us know what your needs and circumstances are. And listen to ours, too.
"So much of this is just people who have no idea how a college/uni course works" - post 2: reading off PowerPoint slides; post 3: demanding students buy book direct from prof; post 5&9: no allowances for disability; 8: handwritten coding exercises; 17: prerecorded lectures for an in-person course; 4&12 arbitrary down-marking (not scaling); 14&16&29 breaching university rules; 21: xenophobia and favouritism; 22: bullying; etc. You are actually right in that this *is* how many university courses work - but it absolutely shouldn't be. Most of these are legitimate complaints. (Post numbers may change from when I've written this cos of up and down votes).
Load More Replies... The whole concept of taking and dropping classes is so alien. When I was at uni we got to pick a couple of modules in the last two years, and that was it, there was no changing them after that.
It's a very American thing. Usually it's a trial period, so you can get your money back within a few weeks if the class isn't going to work for you. You won't be stuck losing thousands and thousands of dollars for an F on your transcript.
Load More Replies... I maybe have slightly more experience than average with uni profs/lecturers, having done an undergrad and 2 postgrad courses, having worked at unis in various roles, including teaching, for many years, and my view of profs/lecturers only decreased during that time. Of course there are many exceptions, but it strikes me that the majority of them are: a) incompetent and unproductive - it's commonly said in my field that if they were working for a company the way they do for the unis, they'd be fired. b) arrogant, but in that way that comes out of insecurity rather than actual confidence - a need to project authority because they're actually fearful, y'know? c) awful educators with no awareness of pedagogy - they've often been hired for their knowledge of the subject, but have no idea how to teach and done no teaching courses d) self-centred - connected to 'c', they rarely have an awareness of what the students need or do during their courses.
I minored on Political Science only because I loved the one professor that taught it at my college. I took every single one of his classes. You would find out the day before and day of a test how many people were actually in the class because they would show up to find out what to study for the test. He would tell us exactly what he was testing. My favorite bit was his "if I'd had more time I would have discussed 'xyz'" That was always the essay part of the test. Lol He had a ton of personal experience in state, local, and federal politics and had the best stories.
I'm luvky for my math teacher. HE wants the class average to be 70%+, so he gives you enough points back for redoing the wrong answers and fixing them that the class average should be 70%+.
Oh boy do I have a doozy. Statistics class early 00s. Teacher didn't believe in email so you had to call her to make an appointment for tutoring or just to ask a question outside class. She would answer "Thank you for calling x department at y school, this is z, how can I help you" If you did not follow the script of "Hello z, this is A, the reason I'm calling is N" she would hang up on you. I called once and as she finished with her greeting spiel, I sneezed, completely uncontrollable bodily function, she hung up on me then refused to answer the phone again when I called back. Also, her extra credit opportunities were to go to a small town 60 miles from the campus to volunteer an 8-hour day in a soup kitchen if I remember correctly, nothing to do with statistics. I commuted to campus 60 miles from my home, the extra credit town was another 60 miles on the other side of the campus from my home for a total of 120 miles ONE WAY for ONE SINGLE POINT of extra credit. NO ONE passed
Had one med school anatomy professor who would lock the door to the anatomy theatre the precise moment the lecture was to start - so if you were even one minute late, you were locked out and missed out on class
I had a five minute grace period, but locked the door after, with a written assignment for late students so they wouldn't be marked absent. There are few things more disruptive to a class than constant tardiness. You think it's just you this one time, but I have had morning classes where fully half of the students couldn't manage to be on time. That's not fair to the ones who are already there. Welcome to being responsible adults.
Load More Replies... My least favorite was a math professor whose teaching method was scribbling on a blackboard and mumbling. You couldn't hear what he was saying even from the first row and the handwriting was so messy that you couldn't differentiate between x and z which, "kinda" important in mathematics. He was also the only one teaching this mandatory course. Fun times
