5 Warning Signs Your Professor Might Be Bad News

August 29, 2008     Posted in Back to School, Reality

thursday_17_november_2005_40000_pm_jeffrey_pfeffer_professor_of_organizational_behavior_from_stanford_university_is_giving_a_lecture_at_cbs_executive.jpg1) English is as hard for them as Algebra is for you.

15

By Mapofrussia

There’s nothing wrong with knowing two languages. Actually it’s pretty cool. But if your professor teaches at a University in the U.S and they are not a fluent English speaker, and they aren’t teaching the language they are fluent in, you could be in for a rough time, especially if the class is science or math. The only thing more difficult then college level mathematics is college level mathematics from Russia (with love).

2) A complete lack of syllabus.

In college, stuff matters. Papers, grades, stuff that is trivial in High School gets more weighty once you sign away a few thousand bucks a semester. A syllabus is a contract between you and the professor to minimize f*ck-ups on both ends. With a syllabus, they can’t bust a giant exam on you and be all “I said!”, and you can’t claim you misheard the due date for the term paper (damn!). If your professor doesn’t come with a syllabus on day one, ask about it. If they don’t have plans for one, you may in some troubs. Write all important dates down.

3) Where did I put my…

People who forget stuff a lot can be cute. Unless you pay them to teach and grade you. Then it’s just annoying. We admit, teachers are people and forgetting stuff is fine, occasionally, but if your teacher forgets most of the stuff they were supposed to bring during the first week, you can bet on a semesters worth of waiting for AV equipment that wasn’t requested and photocopies that didn’t get made. Your assignments are at least slightly in your control, so make 2 copies and keep one for yourself.

4) Militant Political Views (In any direction)

It doesn’t matter if you agree with your new professor’s crazy theories, prof’s who bring their crazy into the classroom end up wasting your time. If you’ve got a super liberal, there is gonna be one Bushie student who never lets anything go. If you’ve got a right-winger, there’s gonna be a granola child who throws red paint on them. Crazy fem-nazis hate you because you have a boyfriend, and idiot chauvinists who won’t stop suggesting your ‘female chemicals’ make you irrational. It’s a free country, and you can believe whatever you want. But I don’t pay you to talk about those beliefs, motherf*cker!

5) Mr/Ms.Smiles

Every class has jerks. Kids who need the credit but don’t want to be there. They ask stupid, sarcastic questions, yell aloud, text and use the cell phone — I even had one girl bring her yippy dog to class. Jerk students are all around distractions, wasting everyone’s time. No one wants a Prof who’s mean, but you need someone who will check these offenders when the time comes, before the classroom devolves into some bizarre Lord Of The Flies type setting. Be wary of teachers who refuse to tell kids they are incorrect or out of line.

[Any other warning signs? Let us know!!]

15 Comments on "5 Warning Signs Your Professor Might Be Bad News"

  1. N says:
    Fri, 29th Aug 20085:33 am 

    Watch out for mood swings – very, very dangerous. Commen in women (or men) who look menopausal, or you know, middle aged (think crisis).

  2. Chels23 says:
    Fri, 29th Aug 20086:30 am 

    Steer clear of the professors who wrote the course book!! That just has disaster written all over it.

  3. THIS PICTURE OF says:
    Sat, 30th Aug 20087:58 am 

    PUTIN ON THE SIDE HERE WITH NO SHIRT ON IS STRAIGHT UP GIVING ME A BONAR

  4. BJ says:
    Mon, 1st Sep 20083:57 pm 

    I have 2 that you don't have listed

    1: The professor who sidetracks him/herself

    A calc professor I had would start on the subject matter and, somehow, end up talking about how, for example, they don't make engine blocks like they used to.

    Don't ask me how he managed this sort of thing, but he did. It really made me miss my favorite prof in that department – a little Romanian guy who turned down a job at NASA so he could teach.

    2: The former grade school teacher.

    One of my chem professors was, I kid you not, a former grade school teacher and it showed. She treated everyone in the class like they were 5.

    As if that wasn't bad enough, she didn't teach well at all. However, the worst part was that you couldn't complain to the head of the department, because SHE was the head of the department!

  5. Koley says:
    Wed, 3rd Sep 20088:43 am 

    Oh wow… The Fem-Nazi. I had one of those as an English professor and she wasn't too bad – the worst are the ones in the Women's Studies department. My roommate's boyfriend had one and he swore everything he handed in was graded harshest due to him being a "straight male business/psych major."

  6. Suzanne says:
    Fri, 5th Sep 200810:20 am 

    Many, many years ago I attended a community college and I had the same professor for Psychology and Inter-Personal Relationships. I used to catch him checking me out, but I thought he did that to everyone, including the guys! So, he asked me after class if I would work after class for him, doing some filing, typing, grading

    papers and other misc. secretarial duties. He usually wasn't even there when I was working, as we had two different schedules. However, one day he was in his office with me, as I was finishing up for the day. As I was ready to leave, he called me back and asked me to give him a hug! What? He's my professor, I was thinking! Why would this guy want a hug? What about a handshake?? Anyway, naive, stupid me gave him a hug. It wasn't the typical friendly hug, where it would only last a few seconds. No, this hug was something more romantic than your average hug. I could tell as I was breaking away from the hug that there was a kiss about to come from his side so I turned my head the opposite way.. That way, there was no way he could kiss me! There were more hints to show that he was "hot for student," but I didn't let him get that far. I stopped working as his secretary and moved on.. I was only a 19yo young lady, while he was a 48yo educated pervert!!!

  7. Julie says:
    Sat, 6th Sep 20086:54 am 

    A few years ago I was taking Cal A with this guy that barely knew the material himself. We would be patiently writing down example problems in our notes and he would get to the end and look at his notes, and his answer on the board, and say something like "That's not right. Where did I go wrong?" Or sometimes we would have other students in the class correcting him as we went. It was ridiculous! Needless to say, I bailed out early. There was no way I was going to struggle through that class because he couldn't tell a derivative from a denominator.

  8. lvleph says:
    Mon, 6th Oct 20087:44 pm 

    I would say that I fit two of these categories (3 and 4), but I get terrific reviews from my students. I only had one student that did not give me a good review and that person claimed that I would not help them, even though they never came for help. Which by the way is quite typical of students, they expect you to teach them everything they should have learned all 2 weeks before the final.

    Anyway, I would have to disagree with these "watch-outs", because I myself have had instructors that fit many of these categories and I felt they were probably my best instructors.

  9. Jenny says:
    Fri, 10th Oct 20085:05 pm 

    I took my Pet TickleMe Plant to my Biology class. I figured my professor would love show off the plant to the class and how it MOVED and closes it leaves when Tickled? Maybe he would even explain how it does that and why.

    Well he said never heard of the plant and didnt even give me a chance to show how it interacts.He just said no plant moves when you tickle it, at which point everyone laughed.

    Then last week he saw the plant on CSI NY and now guess who got the last laugh. I found it at http://www.ticklemeplant.com Check out the video if you don't believe its real either!.

  10. Kevin says:
    Fri, 14th Nov 20088:38 pm 

    My worst professor was my Calc III professor, who would frequently change numbers in the books examples so he could do the problems. Also, each one of my tests was misgraded by at least a full letter grade.

  11. Viagra says:
    Fri, 14th Aug 20097:40 pm 

    This is a great innovation. I am going to try it right now and see what happens.
    Thanks

  12. Trisiana says:
    Wed, 30th Dec 200910:23 am 

    Jenny, my Botany professor keeps one in laboratory just so everyone in class can poke it. It's his pride and joy. You got robbed of hilarious plant jokes.

  13. Nelson says:
    Fri, 1st Jan 201010:04 pm 

    Really good and informative post!! I am glad to read this post.
    http://blog.itechtalk.com/2009/max-acai-power-rev…

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