This Professor sucks!!!

[Kiki]

Alright, so I'm in class on Saturday's. I work during the week and I'm off on the weekends. So I tell my boss's last week that I'm in school again. Thought there was no problem. Well Monday comes around this past week and the one doc ends up giving me problems about my class on Saturday and suddenly "needs" me here today. Fine, I gave in because I sort of felt like it was going to put my job on the line.

I email my teacher on Monday first thing, let her know that I have this situation. I can be in class from 8-8:40, then I have to leave, and I'll come back at 10:50 to finish the lecture, then go to the lab. I asked her in the email if my partner and I could go first with our presentation for the extra credit. She emails me back, says she's trying to understand my situation and yes she'll make an exception this time, but not to let any of the other students know she's doing me this favour.

---Ok this is her first year teaching at this college. She has 2 MD degree's behind her and has studied at Oxford. She's originally from India, so she can be a little difficult to understand at times as she has 3 different accents coming out all mixed in to one unique accent.

Anyway, we had our first test last Saturday. I reminded her this morning that she said we could go first with our presentation. Ok no problem she says.

We get in to the class, suddenly she starts arguing with some of the other students about our test grades. She ends it by saying we're not getting our tests back--therefore we can't see what we got wrong. She tells everyone they can come up and see their grades. Well she does this and doesnt hide everyone elses grades. In fact she points out what other peoples grades were!!!!!!!!

I was freaking pissed at this point.

Well 8:40 rolls around and she's started class and won't look at me or anything. So I told my partner that if she calls her up, she can take my notes and get all the extra credit for herself and I'll take a zero and argue with the teacher later.

So now Im here at work contemplating just what to do and if I'm wrong in thinking I should go to the Dean. This teacher hasn't given out a syllabus. She came right out and said today, "All you need to know for these exams is right in your book. Know your book and not your notes and not what we do in class, and you'll get A's on the tests. It's not my fault if you didn't study for the test."

Well.....I studied my ass off. Ask me anything about blood or the heart and I can tell you. Ask me things that we never covered and that were NOT in our chapters we read---but in later chapters in the book.....and yeah I'm not going to know it!!! So this one outspoken girl in the class raised that as a question, "Then why do we waste our time being here for class on Saturday's? If all we need to do is study the book....why are we wasting our time?"
The teacher recanted then, but ended up crossing the line in my opinoin.

She said this word for word, "If you did not get an A or a B on the test, then you are not a good student and the test proved you did not study, therefore on the next exams you will only do worse then you've done on this exam. You will not make it in the medical field as you are not a good student."

WHAT????????????????? I'm sorry....I'm 26 years old and 6 years ago I was in the nursing program. I walked away from it. It wasnt right for me at that time. I had been through all these classes before. I've done this shit. I know what kind of a student I was then, I never studied, I just skimmed my way through the tests. It wasnt that I was stupid back then, and now that I'm actually working my butt off to study, every single night-----EVERY NIGHT I get up and lock myself in another room, taking 2 to 3 hours a night away from me spending time with my husband, after I've already worked a 9 hour day, and you want to stand there and tell me because I got a C on a test that I'm stupid and I don't study???????? What the hell??

I'm so pissed off right now. I'm ready to argue her big time and I don't usually stand up to teachers like that.


UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

As a professor myself, I usually get defensive when people complain about professors, but your professor is being ridiculously unfair.

She is absolutely not allowed to show your grades to anyone else without your written permission, even if it's just one example. It's a violation of federal student privacy laws, and you can complain to the chair of the department about it. In fact, I encourage you to do so, because she needs to be firmly reminded (ie chewed out) by her department chair that she's not. These privacy laws usually pertain to releasing information to parents, but they also pertain to other students. It's the same reason why professors aren't supposed to leave graded papers outside their offices for pickup. These laws are called FERPA laws, which stands for Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act .

Also, a single test is definitely not a measure of how smart a student is. In fact, if a lot of students did poorly, it may be more a sign of how the test was designed than of the students not being "smart." If there isn't a direct connection between the reading material and the class lectures (thus your notes), then there is a serious problem. I can see what she was trying to do; she's right that you have to work hard to do well in the medical field, but she seemed to be using that as a scare tactic and not as a motivation for you and the others in the class to work hard. A good professor will make you willing to work your ass off, but a bad one makes you feel like no matter how hard you work you're never going to do well. There's obviously a big difference there.

Tests aren't supposed to be some sort of trap, which is what it seems like this test was. If she continues to act this way, you have every right to complain to the department chair, and you should urge other students to do so as well. The more students who are coming forward and making the same complaint, the more it helps higher ups to see there really is a problem and that it's not just a student whining.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Keep your head up as best you can and keep working hard. Even if it doesn't pay off right away, it will in the long run.

If she continues giving you problems and you're not sure how to handle them, feel free to PM me. I obviously won't know exactly how your school works, but I know the kinds of things professors shouldn't be allowed to do and can help you figure out what your next move might be.

 

[martha]

In fact, if a lot of students did poorly, it may be more a sign of how the test was designed than of the students not being "smart."

Even as an elementary teacher, this is true. If a majority of my students do poorly on a test, I either have to take another look at the test, or take another look at how I taught the material.

 

[martha]

---Ok this is her first year teaching at this college. She has 2 MD degree's behind her and has studied at Oxford.

Is it her first year teaching anywhere? It sure sounds like it.

 

[Kiki]

Re: Re: This Professor sucks!!!

As a professor myself, I usually get defensive when people complain about professors, but your professor is being ridiculously unfair.

Yeah I realize now how harsh that sounds in the subject. I'm not one that's ever complained about a professor to a higher up before either, so I wasn't trying to come down on teachers. I hope I didn't offend anyone. I love teachers, I wanted to be a teacher myself, but went back to Medicine....so I wasn't meaning any disrespect.

Is it her first year teaching anywhere? It sure sounds like it.

no, that's the thing. She's been teaching at this other college about 45 minutes away, but I'm not sure for how long. She did make a comment today about how her students at that college don't seem to have any issues and therefore neither should we.

 

[Liesje]

Ugh, sounds frustrating! I also worked a ton as an undergrad and often skipped out on classes in favor of work, but I had to really play my cards right b/c my school was ALL about participation and bla bla bla (a significant enough percentage of the grades were based on attendance and participation, most classes were seminar style and not lecture). The nice thing though was that any prof that is not tenured is required to give out feedback surveys. As a freshman, I thought they were crap, but then I learned that people ARE fired based on those surveys so I always gave my honest opinion. I had a theology prof as a freshman that also designed exams and huge papers that were so excessive and difficult they HAD to be traps. I mean, it was a "core" required course, 100-level, that freshmen took. I don't get why she expected us to be cranking out masters thesis-esque work. SHE agreed to teach the crappy survey course! Gah! I don't mind profs being strict and having attendance requirements (to a point) and whatnot, but I can't stand it when profs think that their course is some graduate level capstone seminar when it's just a 100-level freshman requirement. And then like you say, they have the nerve to say YOU are the lazy one. Like HELLO!! you get to sit in a cushy office for 5 hours a day reading books of your choosing and sipping tea, you teach 1, maybe 2 classes a day and then go home to whatever it is you want to do and us students are working full time, taking 3-4 classes a day, and then having to put up with your crap. Anyway, based on feedback surveys from only two sections of a single course in a single semester, that professor was reprimanded. After her second semester, she was fired.

I also think it's really weird your prof would basically advertise everyone's grades. My profs would give us the grade distribution, to prove to complainers that there WAS a bell curve and plenty of people did do fine, but who got which grades was always confidential.

 

[No spoken words]

Like HELLO!! you get to sit in a cushy office for 5 hours a day reading books of your choosing and sipping tea, you teach 1, maybe 2 classes a day and then go home to whatever it is you want to do and us students are working full time, taking 3-4 classes a day, and then having to put up with your crap.

I wonder if you mean this as a general statement about college professors, or if this comment is directed at the one professor you were referencing.

 

[Liesje]

The one I was describing. She only taught 1-2 classes a semester, intro-level. The 2 sections she taught first semester had a drop-out rate of over 50% (and you can only drop out in a certain window of time). Based on that, the grades she was giving, and her feedback surveys she only lasted a year (and half of that was on probation).

In general, I don't have a problem with college professors. Mainly that one, and the one I TAed for.

 

[No spoken words]

Thanks for replying, Lies. My little sister is a professor, and she works a 2nd job as a tutor, and she takes night classes as she pursues another Master's Degree. I'm really proud of her work ethic and her ceaseless desire to teach and be taught. She doesn't even like tea.

 

[Got Philk?]

she doesn't like tea???


Ok, I'm back in school as well, I'm 25 years old, and I too did not study or go to class consistently the first time.

The difference is however, I have found that most professors are ridiculously understanding and WANT to help me out to succeed. They don't change their material for me, but things like due dates can be changed if needed and definately my professors will meet one on one if I need.

The two things she needs to be called out on however are the grades with your names present, and the phrase, "If you did not get an A or a B on the test, then you are not a good student and the test proved you did not study, therefore on the next exams you will only do worse then you've done on this exam. You will not make it in the medical field as you are not a good student." That pisses me off because I know that I study hard for a lot of classes, and sometimes a good grade to me is a C. Yes, I do have learning disabilities. Does this mean I cannot make it in this world? I think my disabilities could help me in my career.

I dunno. You have the right to be pissed.

 

[No spoken words]

Oh, yeah, and for the record, I think that her derogatory comments towards the class is reprehensible, and, her showing the entire class everyone's grades is beyond comprehension.

 

[kafrun]

Even as an elementary teacher, this is true. If a majority of my students do poorly on a test, I either have to take another look at the test, or take another look at how I taught the material.

Yep. I remember a particular exam in school where the majority of students failed and another prof pointed out that if that had been his exam, he'd consider it a sign of his own failure as a teacher. The other prof didn't see it this way and it still counted towards people's grades Ridiculous.

 

[Kiki]

Yeah I think for now I'm not going to go straight to the dean. Someone else actually brought up the exact same point Liesje brought up about writing the review on the professor. I remember that we generally do have those come out and they are 100% anonomys. If we don't get them then I will be writing a letter to the dean after the final.

Don't get me wrong, she's a smart lady and she's studied alot to get where she is, she wouldn't have 2 medical degree's if she didn't. I just think she needs to be educated on how to be an actual professor and how to treat students grades with condfidentiality.

That and....I'm sorry but no real teacher that I've ever known has EVER had the audacity to say or give the impression that a student or group of students is stupid. Exactly like Phil said, teachers and professors in general usually want to help you succeed. They want to TEACH you something. Especially if it's something they're passionate about, why would you want to see someone fail at that?

Part of me feels like she's completely judging people and laughing at us. Like I said, I studied, I know I did everything I could and I studied harder than I've ever studied before and I'm taking this class more seriously than I've taken any other one. Therefore I decided to ease up on myself about getting the C, not beat myself up and tell myself I'm stupid. I realize and I know that something like that really has the potential to cut me so badly, that I'd start not carring and giving up and I'd start telling myself I'd be a horrible nurse---which is what I did last time, and which is why I gave up and walked away. I figured....I'm stupid....I wouldn't want a mediocure nurse working on me or taking care of my family or friends.....I don't want to be that nurse for someone else.

But in 6 years I've learned that I'll make a damn great nurse and I'm not giving up. Maybe I'll need to study something a little differently or have someone explain it to me 10 times for me to get it and really perfect it......but I'm not going to let anyone tell me I can't do this or that I'm stupid....especially in my first semester back!!!

So.... for all of you. Thank you.

 

[Laura M]

Yep. I remember a particular exam in school where the majority of students failed and another prof pointed out that if that had been his exam, he'd consider it a sign of his own failure as a teacher. The other prof didn't see it this way and it still counted towards people's grades Ridiculous.

This week we were told if we set an exam and most of the class do not perform well it means there was a problem with your test or it had something to do with how you taught the topic.

 

[Varitek]

Don't get me wrong, she's a smart lady and she's studied alot to get where she is, she wouldn't have 2 medical degree's if she didn't. I just think she needs to be educated on how to be an actual professor and how to treat students grades with condfidentiality.

Kiki I think you will make a great nurse!

In terms of your comment above, I totally agree. Not that I am complaining about professors as a whole or any specific professors, but American profs are not taught how to teach. They are usually bright and well versed in their discipline, they pretty much have to be to get a degree, but that doesn't translate directly into being a good teacher. Colleges and Universities should provide pedagogy training or something.

 

[yolland]

...American profs are not taught how to teach. They are usually bright and well versed in their discipline, they pretty much have to be to get a degree, but that doesn't translate directly into being a good teacher. Colleges and Universities should provide pedagogy training or something.

Interesting...has your experience been that it's different elsewhere? That pedagogy training is emphasized more in other countries? That hasn't been mine, but perhaps it's a question of where I've studied and taught abroad. I know you studied abroad, but I can't remember where right now...



And Kiki, I strongly agree with BonoIsMyMuse about addressing the professor's having revealed everyone's grades with the department chair. That's a legal issue, not just a subjective matter of how good or bad her teaching skills are, and if she doesn't know that already, she needs to get it through her head now.

 

[Kiki]

Kiki I think you will make a great nurse!

In terms of your comment above, I totally agree. Not that I am complaining about professors as a whole or any specific professors, but American profs are not taught how to teach. They are usually bright and well versed in their discipline, they pretty much have to be to get a degree, but that doesn't translate directly into being a good teacher. Colleges and Universities should provide pedagogy training or something.

Thank you Vari!!!!!!

Yeah I am going to go to the chair especially about the showing of the grades. I did however find out this week that because she's an MD and she's not a full time teacher, she doesnt have a teaching degree. This is the only class she teaches here. She may have had A course on teaching and thats it.