Have you had a professor that's a complete jerk? (Inspired by Mowsie Dreamer)

[Pin Wizard]

Mowsie Dreamer had a thread on bosses that were a jerk. My biggest complaint is my algebra professor. He just loves to pass judgment on his students. I swear that if I hear one more come out of his mouth, I'm headed to the counseling office to find out who the head of the department is. Then send them a letter with a cc to the college's president.

 

[Keli]

Yep, a couple of my profs were real doozies. We had student evaluations (that were taken seriously) at the end of the year. I always filled mine out completely and then wrote down all the incidents that happened during the semester that I felt unprofessional, unjust, or just plain stupid. One prof I ended up having twice and the first day of class the second time around he mentioned what someone had said on his evaluation the semester before (they are turned into the department, not the profs so obviously the department took it to him). I was the student but I sure didn't act like it (the department doesn't let the prof know who wrote what). I did see a big improvement in his behavior the second time around.

 

[browneyes]

Oh yeah. My Principles of Economics teacher. Calling him a jerk would be a compliment. And he's well aware of that.

 

[holycow]

Absolutely...my Astronomy Lab Prof. was a horses hiney!...(and my Astronomy Prof. (for the class) felt the same way!

and I did take the time to report him...he was so arrogant...oooohh...just makes my blood boil....!

Holycow

 

[Rajah]

Right now I have an excellent one, but I can think of 3 real jerks.

First one was a physics prof. Average score on his tests was usually around 24 points OUT OF 100! High was typically about 34 or 36. This guy would start just about every lecture with "as any IDIOT knows..." then proceed to explain a very complex Physics equation that most of us had never heard of. "Idiot" and "stupid" were huge parts of his vocabulary and not a lecture went by without him using at least one of those words at least once and always directed at either a student or group of students or the class as a whole. The guy totally *ruined* electromagnetics for me, and it took me 4 years to recover my self esteem in physics that he destroyed in that class. Luckily, I've had a couple of really good physics profs since who were able to undo the worst of the damage, but to this day I still cringe when I encounter anything physics dealing with electricity and magnetism -- and this is coming from someone who LOVED (with capitals all the way through) physics before this class.

Then, my senior year, I had another jerk. This time to my advantage, though. I was taking a GPS (Global Positioning System) class as a geophysics student in an aerospace engineering class (along with 3 other geophys students). This guy was so biased against non-aerospace engineers that he was bound and determined that anyone NOT in aerospace engineering could absolutely NOT pass his class without him grading easier, so he automatically gave non-AE students a different and easier curve. Had it been any semester but my last, I would have proven him wrong. But I was hit with a major case of senioritis, so I said "you're practically guaranteeing that I can NOT fail this class even if I try? Why should I bother?" So I didn't bother. Didn't even attend more than 1/3 the classes, and I still got an A.

Then, two semesters ago (and the semester that made me decide to leave the pseudo-Master's program I was previously in and change to the program I'm now in and LOVE!!) I had the second biggest jerk, following right on the heels of the physics prof. This one was Java, and I swear this jerk couldn't write a Java program to save his life. He was a pathetic professor, wasn't any good as a teacher, ended up throwing out half the questions on each test as being ambiguous or poor questions, and pulled this horrible stunt during the final that sent me to the dean of students in complaint for the first time in my life. Just thinking about this jerk still makes my blood boil. Telling students who are working that they can't return to work until the full 3 hours of the final is up even when the final only takes 30 minutes, and NOT GIVING ANY WARNING OF THIS was the first straw during the final. If he'd said at the beginning of the semester that you had to stay at your desk until the final period was up even if you finished, that would have been fine -- we could have all arranged with our employers to accomodate that time. But to give NO NOTICE of this and then try to tell those of us who were expected back at work two hours later that he was going to hold us in the classroom and we'd automatically flunk if we tried to leave AS he was handing out the final was pathetic and totally unacceptable. THen to say no one can go to the bathroom for 3 hours, and if you can't go that long without going to the bathroom then you will be sent to the nurse's office where you'll be given a BEDPAN and a HARDER TEST was pure discrimination against those with bladder problems. I don't know if the dean ever did anything about this prof, and now that I'm not there any more, I don't care.

But, out of all the profs I've ever had, those are the only three I'd lable as jerks. And I have twice that many that I'd lable as FANTASTIC, three I'd consider true Mentors in the best sense of the word (one of those is the prof I currently have), and the rest are either great or average. As a whole, I've had good experiences with profs.

 

[Ilove8Trax]

I have never really had a horrid professor, but do dislike those fresh from grad school who follow the traditional rules way too much...they always take attendance, need a doctor's note if you miss class, and expect you to use complex lanugage in all of your essays. I also get the feeling that some think that you have no other life outside of their class, therefore a week to write a research paper seems like plenty of time.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Wow, Rajah! That's unbelievable. I find it somewhat comforting that others out there have had jerks...sorry! I'll definitely try to steer clear of this one's classes in the future. There's one guy in class who has now taken this class for the third time. That's the limit! If he doesn't pass, he's out of school. This idiotic teacher said...if you can't do this stuff, you don't belong in college. What an attitude! Won't that comment encourage a student! Personally, I can see trying to be sure there's a minimum requirement of things a person can do. On the other hand, if you're not in a field to use the stuff, why waste the time learning it. And his big line is...you learned all this somewhere along the way. Yeah! For me that was over 20 years ago in 7th and 8th grade. How much algebra did we have then? One unit? Algebra wasn't required when I was in high school. So that I don't jump on him the next time he says something, I think I better move from the front desk to somewhere around the middle.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

only had 2(thank goodness)


One was a English professior,who was a total jerk.I happened to be a journalism major and this guy seemed to think we were all stupid.I ended up using a paper from another class for my research paper and cut most of the term since he almost made me switch majors(and that's pushing it).My current prof is great and I ended up passing the jerk's class with a B

Number 2 was also a Math professior,who was just as bad.He saw anyone who landed in remidal math as stupid and in my case I just was 2 points from passing and was stuck for the term.I tested out inside 2 days and he almost did not let me escape.Good thing I did after hearing some of the stories

 

[tkd lisa]

Being that I was an engineering major, I had many who were "unique". Seems to be a mindset in engineering types in general (LOL). One in particular was my number 1 WORST professor.

First off, my major was mechanical engineering, and it was in the mid 80s. There were only 3 women out of the 100 ME majors.

This professor was from a middle eastern country, and began the year with the statement that all women are good for is having babies. Yes, those words came directly out of his mouth! One of the 3 women was married, and he pointed out to her that as soon as she had kids, she was staying home to raise them, right?

Anyway, our final project was a group project. I worked with 2 other guys, and we split the work up. I did the detailed drawing and the model, and they did the written and oral presentation. We all agreed that having the "women" in the group giving the presentation would bring the overall grade down given his prejudices. The day of the presentation, I wasn't there (by that prior agreement). After the presentation, the professor said "Now, did all of your group do an equal amount of work, or did you have to make up for anyone who didn't help?" Both guys said that we had divided the work ahead of time, and everyone did their part. He kept pushing and pushing it. One of the guys weasled and said "well, now that you mention it.....". The other guy just kept insisting that our work was done the way we agreed. (this guy told me the story just as soon as the presentation was done). When grades came out, the weasel got a mid 90 grade, the other guy got a mid 80 grade, and I got a mid 70 grade. By that stage in the game, I was so glad I passed that I didn't go into a major war over it.

At my graduation, that professor had the nerve to come over to me and say "So you actually made it? I'm surprised". My snappy comeback was "No thanks to you."

 

[Boots]

I had an economics professor in college who was called in at the last moment. He was an office administrator and didn't want to teach. First day he came in we were told. I do not want to be here, I do not want to teach, I do not want to be your friend. Do not come to my office to see me. I give standardized tests. I do not review. I will not come in except to take roll. Good day and see you next class. Gave us a sheet of what to read and when tests were given. DS had a professor who taught Business Law. He was an attorney and only taught one semester. Gave all the males D's and females A's. The guys went to the dean. The dean said he was sorry but he couldn't change the grades after the fact, but could make sure it wouldn't happen again. DS couldn't graduate with honors because of that D, but graduated with a 3.78 grade point average. He had a friend who would have graduated with a 4.0 if not for this one class.

 

[Eeyore1954]

I had one who thought his doctoral dissertation was handed from God's hands to his -- so it was the basis for all his classes whether it was pertinent or not. We were amazed he was able to get into the classroom each day -- his hugely inflated ego took up so much space around him.

One other was beyond a jerk -- this guy was certifiably insane. Biology class -- prof kept a BRICK on his table which was used to "wake up" any student he felt was not paying close enough attention. Needless to say he kept the infirmary on its toes! But the best part was during exams -- he'd put his stool on top of one of the tables in the center of the room. During the exam he sat on the stool, spinning around, brick in hand, ready to "crown" anyone he thought was cheating.

 

[Lanshark]

I had a foreign professor in the CIS program that would hand out projects a couple of weeks ahead of time and then change the requirements the day before it was due. His explanation was "Everything is subject to change". These were massive programming projects that took hours and hours to do. Back in 1979 us lowly freshmen had to line up behind everyone else to use the computer facilities on campus so we were usually working between 1:00am and 5:00am on these projects. No PC's then. A compilation could take 30 minutes. Getting a printout could take longer.

He was dismissed a year after I graduated. I think it had as much to do with his behavior as it did with the fact he couldn't communicate very well in english.

 

[helenabear]

My favorite professor was one who taught from his own book. If you didn't understand what he was saying he would reply and said "Well I stated it nicely on page.... so read that" We did and we still didn't get it Wound up dropping that class and retook it a different quarter!

 

[phanomouse]

In my 4th yr of Med school I had a Gynecologic Oncology class... my proffesor who was teaching the course for the first time. She felt that Men shouldn't be allowed to take the course, she told us many stories about how we just weren't sensative enough to handle the types of cases we would be encountering. I had learned long before this class to just put up with my proff. opinions no matter how unjustified. I made it through the course and at graduation this proff. spoke, she told about her experience teaching the class and how she was nervous that she had been to easy on the "Men" she didn't think we (she used some of our names) had learned enough to handle real cases... my ramblings don't do this situation justice. She was truely a beast, funny thing is I have delivered two of her grand children and it drives her insane to think about it!!!

 

[Pin Wizard]

I'm just floored! If I were to quote, there would be nothing to delete from them! It's horrible that there are teachers out there like this. They're worse than any boss I've been working for the past 25 years. I should see if I can Audit this class. I'm thinking that maybe I can't because it's a prep class. In that case, I'd rather mess up the tests to end up with a "D" so I could take it again with another professor during the summer. If you have a "C" or above, you can't retake the class. It really iritates me that some professors don't TEACH. What are we paying for??? And they're really pushing the online stuff. This class has an "online option, and it's strongly encouraged that we use it." Well, I mentioned that to my sister. Before going back to school I considered an "online degree." I also wondered about the validity of it when you're up for a job against someone who really "attended" their courses at school. My sister works for a great company. She said that her company does not hire those with online degrees! I guess they really do their homework and check up on them.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by phanomouse
In my 4th yr of Med school I had a Gynecologic Oncology class... my proffesor who was teaching the course for the first time. She felt that Men shouldn't be allowed to take the course, she told us many stories about how we just weren't sensative enough to handle the types of cases we would be encountering.

she was nervous that she had been to easy on the "Men" she didn't think we (she used some of our names) had learned enough to handle real cases... my ramblings don't do this situation justice. She was truely a beast, funny thing is I have delivered two of her grand children and it drives her insane to think about it!!!

LOL! I love that! Poetic justice. Send her over here. I love my male OB and wouldn't trade him for anyone...especially a female! He definitely has compassion for people.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

remeber the nutcase English prof?? It turns out most of the classes cut or dropped inside 3 days

 

[Pin Wizard]

Originally posted by CourtasanSatine
remeber the nutcase English prof?? It turns out most of the classes cut or dropped inside 3 days

Sounds like the first time I registered for Bio lab. After the first day with that professor, I dropped the class. I'm taking it this semester with my professor I had for Biology. She's GREAT! She even met with me over spring break to help me with something I had trouble with. I then got 100 on her next quiz! I WANT MORE PROFESSORS LIKE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I mentioned to her that I had previously signed up for lab and dropped it due to the professor, she said that a lot of his students do that. So why doesn't the college take the hint that's written on the wall?

 

[kylara]

Coming at this from a different perspective. I work at a college and teach a student success class. Since I have been working at colleges for over ten years, I always tell students in my class to make sure of the following: get feedback from other students if you do not know the professor, if you are having difficulties..don't just complain to your friends..complain to someone who can help or at least someone who can back up your story if you have to grieve a grade. Next, make sure you know your academic grievance policy. All colleges should have them in writing and it usually isn't just to the dean. To often students take unfair grades because they do not know of this policy. Also if you think you got a low grade due to discrimination, take action, often these professors get away with it because students are either afriad to complain or don't realize that there are avenues to complain.

All colleges are going to have at least a few professors who are jerks, inept, untrained etc. That is the nature of education at a level where many of the people teaching are not taught how to teach. They have been taught their subject, but not necessarily how to get that subject matter across to others.

Always complete the evaluations. Many students don't think that they count for anything but they do.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I amost came to blows with the English prof.He made a crack about women not being good for male oriented jobs and I almost fought back.I dropped the class to save what was left of my pride and my sanity