How do professors who went to top schools feel about teaching students at bottom tier colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m aware that the academic job market is really competitive, and thus people with PhDs from top schools can end up teaching at regional colleges. I imagine that it must be frustrating to teach those students. I looked on the website of a directional university and the faculty have PhDs from Harvard, Yale and other schools that are much, much higher ranked for grad and undergrad than that school.

You’re off my holiday card list now.

[Anonymous]

I left a T10 to teach at a public comprehensive university. I don't regret leaving and have found teaching more rewarding. The decision didn't negatively affect my research productivity.

[Anonymous]

I have taught kids at elite schools and no name schools. I found the latter to be a much more satisfying experience. The kids soaked up the information and worked really hard. They appreciated the opportunity they had been given.

Of course, both types of places have whip smart kids who amazed me. But they are hardly the type who need intensive faculty support.

At the elite school, many of the students were incredibly entitled and demanding. They treated me like someone who worked for them and had unrealistic expectations about what was required of them. They also showed little respect for the faculty who were trying to help them achieve their goals. It was just the way they walked around the world. They thought they were already superstars. If they did poorly, it had to be my fault. If they got less than an A, I had to justify every point they did not earn. Many were there for the wrong reasons. They did not value learning.

So no, your stereotype of who is preferable to teach is not at all accurate.

[Anonymous]

I concur with the sentiments above. I have had terrific experiences teaching adult students -- including those who may have served several years in the military before going to college. It's great to teach people who have real world experience because they ask better questions and question some of what they're learning and what they're being asked to assume. I also really like teaching people who are paying their own tuition -- because they tend to take the whole educational experience much more seriously.

I taught at a top tier university and the top student I encountered was an older guy who had transferred in from a community college. (See above). The elitism and disdain in the original question are laughable, quite frankly. I've seen people who started out at community colleges go on to win Rhodes scholarships, Fulbright awards, etc. There are decent, hard working smart people in all sorts of unlikely places, it's a joy to teach recent immigrants in particular, and often people who don't get everything handed to them have a much better work ethic. (They are also much less likely to have their parents "proofreading" -- er, writing -- their term papers; managing their semester's tasks because of their 'diagnosis' of executive skills deficits, and they are also much less likely to have to bring an emotional support animal to class.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I concur with the sentiments above. I have had terrific experiences teaching adult students -- including those who may have served several years in the military before going to college. It's great to teach people who have real world experience because they ask better questions and question some of what they're learning and what they're being asked to assume. I also really like teaching people who are paying their own tuition -- because they tend to take the whole educational experience much more seriously.

I taught at a top tier university and the top student I encountered was an older guy who had transferred in from a community college. (See above). The elitism and disdain in the original question are laughable, quite frankly. I've seen people who started out at community colleges go on to win Rhodes scholarships, Fulbright awards, etc. There are decent, hard working smart people in all sorts of unlikely places, it's a joy to teach recent immigrants in particular, and often people who don't get everything handed to them have a much better work ethic. (They are also much less likely to have their parents "proofreading" -- er, writing -- their term papers; managing their semester's tasks because of their 'diagnosis' of executive skills deficits, and they are also much less likely to have to bring an emotional support animal to class.)

+1

[Anonymous]

My FCPS kid had a teacher who went to an ivy. That teacher must be punishing herself to stoop so low as to teach at a low ranking public school. They probably make fun of her at reunions. Really OP, get a life.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why OP is getting all this abuse. It is a reasonable question.

OP: Professors of all types. Those that have made peace with their situation at very low rank schools and who have really gotten into teaching. Those that are still striving to make it to the top. And those among the latter who are cursing out their students for not being good enough to support their research ambitions (by serving as RAs etc).

Likewise students of all types everywhere. Burnt out students at T10 who just want to chill and admittedly a small group of highly motivated students at lower ranked schools who are outstanding (and about equal to the top tier students anywhere).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's a "directional university"?

Also, no. My friends who are professors are frustrated by ignorant students who don't try hard and administrators who impose pointless requirements to justify their existence, but you both of those anywhere.

East Carolina University, Central Michigan University etc

Lol, northwestern

[Anonymous]

I think in general professors who teach at research universities want to deal as little as possible with undergrads regardless of university rankings. Graduate students is a different story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's a "directional university"?

Also, no. My friends who are professors are frustrated by ignorant students who don't try hard and administrators who impose pointless requirements to justify their existence, but you both of those anywhere.

East Carolina University, Central Michigan University etc

Lol, northwestern

Northeastern, University of Southern California

[Anonymous]

I can only share this anecdotal story...a friend who went to a prestigious high school and a top tier undergrad and grad school, though not Ivy top tier, and is currently teaching at what they would even call a 4th tier public university.

1) people who are on the big schools and Ivy are under heavy pressure to publish and have strong research grants etc, so for them, the time it takes to teach undermines their revenue for themselves and the university and

2) the people who are teaching at these lower tier schools actually like to, you know, teach, and derive professional satisfaction from imparting knowledge on young minds.

In many circumstances, the quality of the actual teaching by professors at lower tier schools is actually much better than the distant professors and their grad students at the top level institutions.

[Anonymous]

I will give you two anecdotes in response to your question:

1. My sister went to UChicago for undergrad, Cambridge for an MPhil, and Berkeley for her PhD. She did a postdoc at Stanford, and currently teaches at NC State. I’ve heard about her students throughout all of this. She does no more complaining about her NC State students than she did the Stanford or Berkeley students. She talks about having terrific students, and others who are lazy, bad writers, etc.

2. One of my close friend’s dad left a teaching job at Harvard to teach at University of Vermont because he found the Harvard students to be generally arrogant, imperious jerks. He enjoyed teaching the UVM kids a lot more.

[Anonymous]

One of the best schools for learning is at a local community college. Profs there do not have the usual publish or perish mandate. They focus more on students. You might say it's a poor man's SLACs that charge $80,000+ per year. My point is, don't rule out outstanding profs from higher ranking schools who teach there.

[Anonymous]

I love this question! As a former student at two lower-to-medium-tiered state schools, I can tell you the professors that did not have ties to my state were generally incredibly snobby and overall unhappy to be there. On the other hand, it was incredibly inspiring to get to know professors from my state who had gone on to Ivies, worked and taught oversees, had prestigious clerkships and then come back to their home state to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:David Foster Wallace preferred teaching at Illinois State University to Pomona, where he went after being offered an endowed faculty Chair

What do you expect them to say? "These kids are lazy underachievers, very few actually read the assigned material, plagiarism is rampant, and lectures are like talking to a wall."