[Education] Not So Good Professors [Undergraduate]

Everyone has a story about not so good professors-

Today, I would like to share the not so good professors that I have encountered.

I pray that all professors become more loving and caring and that everyone learns more.

However, it is not always the case.

So here is my list from my undergrad.

The Professor Who Really Didn’t Want to Teach

I had a professor who outright told us that he loved research more and did not want to teach. He has fought with the department because of teaching issue. In class, he would talk about his research, which I like but the issue was that this was an intro class! So everyone was lost- His quizzes were impossible. And his tests made people cry. The worst part was he used his research setting to ask questions. Not appropriate for intro class. Lot of people got Cs-

Nobody learned much in his class. And after year of complaints, he got his wish and doesn’t teach any more only research.

The Vindictive Professor

There was a professor who was not really good at teaching. He would mess up a lot while solving problems and could not answer questions well. He was smart but he didn’t prepare for his class. Yup, he was also busy doing research. Anyway, because he felt embarrassed during class he didn’t like us so much. So he got back at us with his test. His homework was Ok but his tests were super hard. And not hard in a good sense, hard that if you didn’t use a specific math trick, you would not be able to solve it. Again, many people got B- and Cs. Didn’t learn much in his class…man those questions were hard.

The Seemingly Nice Professor

There was an assistant professor who seemed very nice. He always told us that we were doing great and that we were awesome. Because I wanted to get an A, I went to his office hours often. Every time, I asked him something he would praise me that I was doing it the right way. So once, just to see if he was listening or paying attention, I purposefully said something very stupid in regards to solving the homework. He smiled and told me that I was doing great and that I was on the right track. Yup- That is when I knew he did not care and would always just tell us we were awesome. Yeah…I did well in his class. But I was so shocked that he really didn’t care about us. Anyway, later after many years, I found out that he had tremendous research pressure and could not focus on teaching so he would just tell us that we were fine so we would not bug him…ahhh..the day, I died a bit more inside.

The More Important Stuff Professor

This professor was really nice and cared for his students. But the issue was that he didn’t teach us well. He told us that the field was full of ___ and that reality differs a lot, which I appreciate. However, he would go on how the theories are broke and that researchers are not doing a good job and on- I appreciated the honest criticism but you still need to teach us. I mean…so how should we approach it if the theories don’t work. He told us that we will know and learn once we are on the field. I was like Ok…He was a nice professor but I didn’t learn much…

The I am Too Smart to Teach You Professor

I had a professor who was the star of his cohort. I didn’t know back then but I found out later. Anyway, he was a shining star- This professor was brilliant. So what was his issue- He did not like teaching intro courses. His classes were not good because he said everything is obvious. Wow, I heard that a lot during my PhD but not during undergrad. The one hour class would start with him reading stuff from the book and saying that is obvious and clear. So everything was obvious and clear….We ended up learning everything from the TA…

His tests and HWs were hard. The TA told us that these were simplified PhD HW sets yeah…no wonder, everyone hung on to the TA for his dear life.

I look back I still don’t remember if I learned anything- But one good thing came out of that class, he often mentioned papers…and when I became a PhD student that was helpful. When in doubt, go read more papers…

I have few more not so good professors. But the post becoming long, so I will save the other professors for another post-

Thank You Jesus for all Your blessings. Let us always be thankful for all Your love and mercy Amen!

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