10 Reasons I’d Let My Professor Sit At The Cool Table

April 12, 2011 5:00 pm     Posted in College, Reality  Jenn Inzetta g+ page

Let’s set the stage here.


By Jenn Inzetta

You walk into “The Application of Platonic and Hegelian Ethics to Business” (It’s exhausting just saying the name, isn’t it?), an extra credit symposium, take your seat between the girl who raises her hand every five seconds and the guy who comes to class only to fall asleep, pull out your books and suppress a yawn. You’re exhausted, having gotten no sleep after a late night Teen Mom marathon and barely made it to class on time.  You are in no mood to listen to lectures today. But you need the extra credit so here you are. And there your professor is, walking into class, putting down his bag, writing on the board, and then…calling in the strippers?

Yes, I said strippers. And I meant it.

This was not an exercise to make sure you were paying attention. This is reality, at least it was for the students of Jack Rapport, and assistant professor at La Salle University, who claims he was simply trying to  enrich his teaching by using real life application. And getting his students lap dances? Sure, just like the f**ksaws guy, right?

What is wrong with the world? Have all of these professors gone mad? Are these their attempts to gain media attention, be the cool teacher, or just get their students to like them? Because I hate to break it to ya, while I’m sure Rapport has given his students a great story, I don’t think this stint will win him any professor of the year awards. It’s fun in the moment, but that sort of thing won’t help students in the long run. This certainly wouldn’t get a guy on my professor of the year list.

But you know what would? A few things a whole lot easier to pull off than that, like:

1. Understanding that there’s more to college than academia.

2. Deciding not to make things difficult just because you can.

3.  Showing up for office hours.

4. Actually caring about whether or not I understand and/or show an interest in what you’re teaching.

5. Not assigning papers/test/presentations that are due the first day back from break.

6. Being willing to work with me instead of against me.

7. Not making it all about that one test or paper, or all about the participation and attendance, but about all of it.

8. Genuinely enjoying your job.

9. Not assigning busy work but rather work that actually helps.

10.  Letting us out of class early every once in a while.

What do you think, ladies? Do sex toys and strippers warrant a professor of the year award, or do you have less extreme (and obvious, and desperate) criteria?

4 Comments on "10 Reasons I’d Let My Professor Sit At The Cool Table"

  1. Kaylah says:
    Tue, 12th Apr 20117:44 pm 

    I've always, even in high school, hated the teachers that wanted to be your friend or wanted to be cool. I'm here to learn, you're here to teach, and there are certain lines between a student and a teacher that shouldn't be crossed. Strippers? Sex Toys? Definitely not something a teacher, college or not, should be doing. Unless its a class about sex these things shouldn't be involved. Something else I hate as well is the teacher who thinks their class is THE MOST IMPORTANT class you will ever take, even if it's a bullcrap class you're only taking to fufill your requirements. They make it known, give you crap loads of work to do, and over analyze everything you do, just looking for a possible mistake. There are VERY FEW good teachers left in today's world.

  2. Sarah says:
    Tue, 12th Apr 20117:44 pm 

    I'm happy reading this…a lot of my professors meet these criteria. Some of them don't, and are evil dictators who assign things due right after break and who just love to make us hate the subject. But some of my professors genuinely like what they're teaching, and make me want to like it too, even if it's a really random thing like Latin prose.

  3. Jenna says:
    Wed, 13th Apr 20116:46 am 

    This article is rather immature. You don't mention why you think the professor's actions were inappropriate there's just a slight implication that anything to do with sex is tawdry and wrong and has no place in academia. Remember that in general undergraduate students aren't the central focus of a professor's life, they are under enormous pressure to publish in order to maintain their own career, which they've invariably worked very hard to establish. Your life outside of academia and his/her class is probably of no interest to them. Part of their job is to teach and examine you and they should do that fairly (not necessarily in the manner most convenient to you), but other than that your issues sound like entitled whining. A college education is a privilege that most people in the world could only dream of aspiring to- stop moaning!

  4. Jenn - Wagner College says:
    Wed, 13th Apr 20119:47 am 

    Hey Jenna, thanks for your feedback but I have to disagree with you here a little bit.

    The focus of this article was not discuss why this professor's actions were wrong. mostly because I think its pretty strongly implied that there's no connection between women stripping and "Hegelian and Platonic ethics," and so it felt like an attention plot rather than a teaching tool.

    As for your second point, I understand that I am not the center of my professors' worlds. Nor do I wish to be. But the fact that professors don't need to do these things I listed and some do them anyway, is what makes them great, don't you think? There are professors that go above and beyond when they clearly don't have to, and those are the professors I deem to be "cool." I wasn't whining about how I wish more professors would do that stuff I was highlighting what makes a great professor, in my opinion. I have professors that do the things I listed above and I think that deserves a little acknowledgement.

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