Opinion on this professer, please

[kimmyann]

My DD has just started her second semester at community college (she's doing 2 years here then transferring to the University to become a teacher). She is taking a government class and has complained about the teacher because he doesn't teach, just talks about his opinions. Anyways, that I know is just something that she would learn to deal with, just study and pass his tests, no biggie. Today though, she called me after class to tell me how horrible it was today. He was discussing politics and such and then proceeded to start yelling and cursing. He then talked about how ignorant women are for who they vote for and even for who they marry. (he said women vote for dumb rednecks and we are the cause of the goverment's problems) He then gave his opinion on what should be done with the 9/11 site and said how & why they should agree with him. I understand that some classes can contain some debate, but to have to listen to this guy go on rampages of cursing, yelling and making discrimatory remarks just doesn't seem right. I told her to go speak to the guidance office about it and they told her that her only option is to drop the class. If she drops it, that will mess up her entire schedule of transferring.

Does anyone have any opinion of how this should be handled? Should she just suck it up and get through it or should I become involved?

 

[IdesOmarch]

WOW, that's pretty bad. I majored in Poly Sci, it does seem to be true that the poly sci professors are very biased and opinionated. They typically rave against one political party or the other, just seems to go with the territory, but it is frustrating. Don't remember anything that sounds this bad though.

 

[librarygal]

I would contact the Dean of the department. This is not professional behavior.

 

[tlbwriter]

I'd record him on my cell phone and send it to the dean, but that's just me.

 

[Jennasis]

Welcome to college.

Seriously...she will have to keep her head down and get through it. College is/was full of prof who were idiots, biggots, etc...just spouting off their own agenda. Nothing to do but just roll with it. In real life, we are all exposed to people with differing ideas..some WAY out there.

Suck it up.

 

[mdsoccermom]

You should NOT get involved. Your daughter is a college student and it's up to her to fight her own battles. If the problem is that bad, she and other students should go talk to the department head or dean. She can also try dropping the class.

 

[Angelhalo]

Welcome to college.

Seriously...she will have to keep her head down and get through it. College is/was full of prof who were idiots, biggots, etc...just spouting off their own agenda. Nothing to do but just roll with it. In real life, we are all exposed to people with differing ideas..some WAY out there.

Suck it up.

Agreed.

Even if you complain the University isn't going to do anything. As long as he isn't molesting people they really don't give a hoot. Been there, done that with the crappy professors. It's just part of being a college student.

 

[FireDancer]

Welcome to college.

Seriously...she will have to keep her head down and get through it. College is/was full of prof who were idiots, biggots, etc...just spouting off their own agenda. Nothing to do but just roll with it. In real life, we are all exposed to people with differing ideas..some WAY out there.

Suck it up.

I would suggest this. In life she very well might have a boss like this and it is never too early to learn to deal with it (perhaps not the women are dumb part but the politically opinionated part).

I had to take a PolySci class while I was in college and the teacher taught more his opinion than fact or theory. When it came test time I knew what kind of stuff he was looking for and answer not as I thought I should be as I thought would get me an A.

It's only a semester so suck it up.

ETA: She is in college so whatever she decides you should not get involved at all. My parents didn't get involved in my college life because I was an adult and handled things on my own.

 

[punkin]

Welcome to college.

Seriously...she will have to keep her head down and get through it. College is/was full of prof who were idiots, biggots, etc...just spouting off their own agenda. Nothing to do but just roll with it. In real life, we are all exposed to people with differing ideas..some WAY out there.

Suck it up.

I completely disagree. If he was a rabid liberal or rabid conservative spouting his agenda, you would probably be right, but when he disparages women in a class full of women, I think a stand should be made. I would go to the dean.

Bigotry, racism, and sexism should not be tolerated in an academic environment (any environment really). This man probably grades the women lower too.

ETA: OP's DD should go to the dean, not OP.

 

[lspst8]

Don't want to sound mean, but you shouldn't do anything. You aren't enrolled in the class, and your daughter is technically an adult now. If your daughter wants to complain more, it is up to her to take more action. Your daughter should be the one to contact the dean or president of the college, not you.

When I was in college the poli-sci/econ professors always seemed to be the ones who loved to express their own views in class. Luckily, you just had to parrot back their opinions on the tests to get good grades. Maybe it isn't ideal, but I think some people become professors just so they have a captive audience for their crazy opinions.

 

[AshleyW]

My DD has just started her second semester at community college (she's doing 2 years here then transferring to the University to become a teacher). She is taking a government class and has complained about the teacher because he doesn't teach, just talks about his opinions. Anyways, that I know is just something that she would learn to deal with, just study and pass his tests, no biggie. Today though, she called me after class to tell me how horrible it was today. He was discussing politics and such and then proceeded to start yelling and cursing. He then talked about how ignorant women are for who they vote for and even for who they marry. (he said women vote for dumb rednecks and we are the cause of the goverment's problems) He then gave his opinion on what should be done with the 9/11 site and said how & why they should agree with him. I understand that some classes can contain some debate, but to have to listen to this guy go on rampages of cursing, yelling and making discrimatory remarks just doesn't seem right. I told her to go speak to the guidance office about it and they told her that her only option is to drop the class. If she drops it, that will mess up her entire schedule of transferring.

Does anyone have any opinion of how this should be handled? Should she just suck it up and get through it or should I become involved?

No and No. She's an adult, she can (and needs to) handle this on her own. The guidance office isn't going to tell her anything besides to suck it up or drop the class - that's what they're there for, basically. They don't have any authority over classes or teachers. If it was me, I'd go to the office of this teacher's department and make an appointment to speak with the department head or the dean of that program. If that doesn't work, and it's something she really wants to push, the school should have some type of Academic Affairs department that she can talk with.

 

[Hannathy]

Welcome to college.

Seriously...she will have to keep her head down and get through it. College is/was full of prof who were idiots, biggots, etc...just spouting off their own agenda. Nothing to do but just roll with it. In real life, we are all exposed to people with differing ideas..some WAY out there.

Suck it up.

Agree. Like I tell mine just do what you have to to get the A. It doesn't mean you have to agree with whatever it is. Just do what you need to and move on.


And let her deal with it.

 

[Spaceace5150]

Since this is at a community college, chances are that this is a part-time/adjunct professor (although his behavior makes it seem like a tenured faculty member).

I would discuss the issue with the department chair. If this is a part-time faculty, the college needs to know if inappropriate behavior is occurring and not hire him back. .

 

[si-am]

Let your daughter decide what to do about it and let her deal with it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I will only offer an anecdote of an experience I and other college students had with a media ethics course:

It was an Ethics class for television mostly, but we spent the semester learning about how unethically african americans were portrayed in the media. To learn the rest of ethics issues we had to do what was tantamount of rewriting the assigned textbook. (the turned in assignment was about 2-3 inches tall...too short and you would lose points before he began grading.)

It was the oddest class and many of us were unified in our opinions of how "unethical" this class was taught. So many issues were absent.

Anyway--noone ever said anything, but this was a repeated action from semester to semester. Well, the professor got tenured.

During my final semester, I had a required course that was taught by the dean. During an impromptu end of the semester gathering at a local off campus location, we were all chatting--and someone brought up the professor. Imagine the shock of the dean. Evidently--noone ever complained about this guy. Pre-tenure, they would have reconsidered the need of his contributions to the school. Post-tenure, little could be done. In the end, he was provided the task of teaching other course work that allowed him to share his ideals in an appropriate setting and another professor was given the task of teaching a more comprehensive media ethics course.

It is unlikely nothing can be done now regarding the professor. As crazy as his opinions are...they are just that, opinions. But issuing a complaint may at least pave the way for a course correction.

As a student--most of us were in agreement that our complaints would not be taken seriously, so we never bothered. But surprisingly, the dean was all ears when it was presented in a relaxed setting about what made what our professor did wrong--he wasn't teaching what he should have been teaching.

I am not certain what your daughter should do--but that is my experience with a professor gone rogue.

I attended UF--and our Dean took us seriously. But we were graduating seniors who would not benefit from our complaints, but were seeking to fix the problem for future students.

 

[honugirl]

It's college. You run into crappy prof's like that. You can either suck it up and finish the quarter and then go complain to the Dean or if he's not tenured, on his end of quarter eval or you drop the class. Pretty much the only 2 options you have. I wouldn't talk to the Dean until the end of the quarter when you'll no longer have that prof. Sorry. Colleges are a mixed bag in terms of what you're going to get. I have several profs that I just absolutely love and some that I just loathe.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Welcome to college.

Seriously...she will have to keep her head down and get through it. College is/was full of prof who were idiots, biggots, etc...just spouting off their own agenda. Nothing to do but just roll with it. In real life, we are all exposed to people with differing ideas..some WAY out there.

Suck it up.

I agree. This is part of the learning experience.

 

[kwelch10377]

You should not get involved in any way. Your daughter is an adult.

I would tell her that the decisions is her to make on what to do, she can suck it up for the rest of the semester, go to the dept head and voice her concerns or just drop the class. If she chooses to just suck it up then when they do the class survey at the end of the semester (which I would assume most schools do, could be wrong though) and voice her concerns then.

If I had to give her advice I would just tell her to stick it through, you will encounter people like this all through out life and you need to know how to deal with them.

 

[MrsPete]

If SHE feels strongly enough about it, she should go talk to the department head. High school is fairly well insulated from this type of thing, but college isn't. I have lots of crazy professor stories -- and I did learn from those nutcases!

Also, I wouldn't take too seriously the idea that he "doesn't teach". She's only a freshman, and sometimes new college students don't quite get the idea that different teaching styles exist. I'd be willing to bet that there's a good bit of substance in between his opinions.

YOU should not do anything (except give her advice if she asks).

 

[okeydokey]

You should not get involved at all. Your daughter should decide what she wants to do and then do it.