You’re just…a loser. I cannot imagine having your shitty attitude and expecting success. I have polite, great students on my hands because we don’t as a family blame teachers for our deficits. |
+ 1. |
+2 |
Adding "calling home every time a student is disrespectful" or "stopping class to comment on disrespect every time it happens" to the long list of things that keep teachers from actually spending their time on teaching, preparing lessons, grading, etc. is not a viable option. Maybe a secondary grade (that doesn't get reported to colleges) commenting on behavior in class should go along with the academic letter grade for each class. Unfortunately, the parents most likely to notice and act on that would probably be the least likely to have kids with issues. |
OP, I feel for you and promise my current HS freshman will represent herself well and know how to properly address professors. |
Hmm, not my experience with Rate My Professor. From what I can tell by the occasional glance, at my kid's LAC the difficult profs often have very high overall ratings (overall and difficulty scored separately.) Academic rigor and nice profs are not mutually exclusive, as least there. As for taking classes from someone who is tops in their field, that can be an interesting experience (I went to a big research university), but I think the academic priorities for undergraduate study are to master the fundamentals of a field, learn to learn, and develop a passion to learn more. I think these objectives are more compatible with a prof who prioritizes undergrad teaching first and research second. In my experience, the profs who make it clear they don't want to be in the lecture hall with undergrads don't instill the same desire to go beyond what's needed to get an A, and usually aren't the ones grading exams or papers or answering questions in office hours anyway, so are a step removed from the actual learning to begin with. I also found certain researchers in some of the less black and white fields were less likely to adequately cover theories that conflicted with their own. My apologies if I misunderstood PP. Also, none of this is a criticism of OP. |
This is why the kids have issues - an enabling mother making excuses. |
I have long wondered the same thing here. |
Dear Nitwit, No, college teachers are not just like protected government workers. There are very few tenure track jobs out there. Most of these college teachers are adjuncts. It's called a Phd glut. Most have to teach at several local area schools just to scrape by. Learning to be respectful is a skill that pays dividends in the workplace, marriage and life in general. |
I don’t think teachers should do that. The point is that the Prof is under the misimpression that parents know what is going on in high school classrooms. |
This post could have been posted by a teacher at any level above 5th grade. As an 8th grade teacher, I feel every bit of the OP's frustration |
Look, I get it and I find this frustrating behavior too. But some people just don't absorb information that way. People learn differently. They pick up information differently. And, lbh, some written materials, be it an email or syllabus, are not always examples of clarity and don't answer all questions. So, have a little grace, whether you're a professor or a cabinet level admin. |
There is nothing unreasonable with the above-stated expectations. Even workplaces have orientations and settling in periods to get up to speed. Workplaces have expectations for responding to emails. And canceling learning time without notice is just a lazy, dick move. |
It's a difference at LACs though where there are typically no adjuncts and relatively few professors who are all focused on teaching. There you might get a handle on quality --but even then, I think take it with a grain of salt. I think though at a research universities, there are a lot of adjuncts who make a class fun, depend entirely on their ratings, but won't have a lab you can work in, write meaningful letters of recommendations, have as good of insight into where the field is going etc. The reality is that the low pay of adjuncts mean they are less likely to update the course, less likely to be as meaningfully involved in the field, and with each passing year if they are not finding a full-time position they are getting further away from their knowledge base rather than building it. |
OP, my guess is you are now understanding my students are going to college unprepared. And all too many cases, everyone is to blame except the parents. |