I'm a professor at a 4-year college/university... ask me anything!

[Anonymous]

Is this seriously a period discussion??? If you have a medical problem at the beginning of the semester give your professor the medical note (or what is needed per school) policy. If you have to miss class or a test last minute they will know.

I do not have period problems but have used that excuse once or twice to skip class or a test. I also used migraines as an excuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that you feel that you know what it is like to have a heavy period. Mine is horrible. I have to accommodate it in some way. I work from home and hide as much as possible. The pain is unbearable to the point that I moan frequently. I double up, and still have to change at least once an hour. Luckily, the bad part only lasts about 12 hours, so it doesn't hit on a work day every month, but when it does, there is absolutely no way that I could work. Then again, I think a doctor's note would be necessary to miss an exam.

Don't tell women to go on the pill!!!!! That is not your decision. There are many reasons why someone may not want to, including that the hormones make some people crazy, and some people actually want to have children.

Look lady, if this student had been a model citizen okay. But when you've got a kid that constantly blows off class, doesn't turn in assignments, then e-mails 20 minutes before an exam starts saying a period is too heavy to take the exam... color me skeptical.

Is it the male tenure-track OP with "look lady" and "take Advil, hunny" or another poster? I need clarification. TIA

And, he wonders why he is single without kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Do you wear professor jackets with little leather patches on the elbows? Smoke a pipe? Wear a bow tie?

Enough about the periods. Let's get back to the important questions here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Do you wear professor jackets with little leather patches on the elbows? Smoke a pipe? Wear a bow tie?

Enough about the periods. Let's get back to the important questions here.

I wear golf shorts/khakis and polos. Don't get the comments hating me for not having kids. I'm a responsible, functioning, self-sufficient adult who isn't leaching off the government. I show up, do my job, do it well, and go home and mind my own business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The worst thing about the students today is they simply cannot or refuse to put the time into, writing well. It's abysmal. I thought I was judging too harshly so I went back and looked at my own papers in college. Even kids who are here spending 40k a year of their parents money and went to good private high schools turn in papers with multiple incomplete sentences. They are either dumb or lazy, or both.

OP did you see the story in the Chronicle yesterday about rethinking writing pedagogy? Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

How old are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old are you?

He said "30s." He's an Assistant Professor, tenure track, with a writing sabbatical next year (usually happens in year 4), so I'm guessing early-to-mid-30s.

A lot of us trained at top-tier research universities learn to treat students with some measure of patronizing contempt. Some of us grow out of that as we realize that we will never be Judith Butler (who is actually a lovely professor and person) or Jacques Derrida or Mark Sundberg (neither of whom I know personally). We will never be a name on the lips of anyone other than the people in our field who know the most current research.

At some point, most of us come to see our students as whole people, young and flawed, and recognize that dealing with them is part of what a college does. I would also submit that we have all proffered excuses at some point in our lives that are bullshit or sound like it. The excuse doesn't matter unless it comes with verification; what matters is not being an asshole when you explain to the student what will happen next, even if that is that s/he will receive a "0" for the exam unless s/he has some verification of an extraordinary circumstance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen studies incredibly hard, and gets good grades on essays and long answer questions, but due to anxiety can't do well on quizzes and similar exams.

Your teen either isn't smart or isn't studying nearly as long as they should. The whole "not good at tests" thing isn't a thing. It's just something dumb and unprepared people say to rationalize. Every local Barnes & Noble has 100+ books on study techniques.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The worst thing about the students today is they simply cannot or refuse to put the time into, writing well. It's abysmal. I thought I was judging too harshly so I went back and looked at my own papers in college. Even kids who are here spending 40k a year of their parents money and went to good private high schools turn in papers with multiple incomplete sentences. They are either dumb or lazy, or both.

My opinion: Shit writing is due to combo of 24/7 use of shorthand on iPhone & kids don't read books (no attention span ... due to being on their iPhone 24/7).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen studies incredibly hard, and gets good grades on essays and long answer questions, but due to anxiety can't do well on quizzes and similar exams.

Your teen either isn't smart or isn't studying nearly as long as they should. The whole "not good at tests" thing isn't a thing. It's just something dumb and unprepared people say to rationalize. Every local Barnes & Noble has 100+ books on study techniques.

That's pretty harsh. I had crippling anxiety in graduate school for some exams. I would spend precious time in the bathroom tossing cookies because I had worked myself up so much over the outcome. Medication and a special accommodation to permit me 25% more time on exams was all I needed to earn the highest scores in the class. Study habits did not change one bit, and I only used the extra time in one instance over 1.5 years. The fact that I had a small time buffer considerably eased my anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The worst thing about the students today is they simply cannot or refuse to put the time into, writing well. It's abysmal. I thought I was judging too harshly so I went back and looked at my own papers in college. Even kids who are here spending 40k a year of their parents money and went to good private high schools turn in papers with multiple incomplete sentences. They are either dumb or lazy, or both.

My opinion: Shit writing is due to combo of 24/7 use of shorthand on iPhone & kids don't read books (no attention span ... due to being on their iPhone 24/7).

That's like excusing people from being obese because of the microwave and the innovation of fast food. There's self control for the mind too.

[Anonymous]

What kind of net did you cast when looking for a job after getting your Phd?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that you feel that you know what it is like to have a heavy period. Mine is horrible. I have to accommodate it in some way. I work from home and hide as much as possible. The pain is unbearable to the point that I moan frequently. I double up, and still have to change at least once an hour. Luckily, the bad part only lasts about 12 hours, so it doesn't hit on a work day every month, but when it does, there is absolutely no way that I could work. Then again, I think a doctor's note would be necessary to miss an exam.

Don't tell women to go on the pill!!!!! That is not your decision. There are many reasons why someone may not want to, including that the hormones make some people crazy, and some people actually want to have children.

Look lady, if this student had been a model citizen okay. But when you've got a kid that constantly blows off class, doesn't turn in assignments, then e-mails 20 minutes before an exam starts saying a period is too heavy to take the exam... color me skeptical.

NP here but also a professor (and a women). I'm on the OP's side here. He's not talking about a student who comes to him at the beginning of the semester and says she has a medical condition that will mean she misses class on certain days and has an accompanying doctor's note. I've had those students and I always work with them (and don't really ask what the medical condition is because it's none of my business if they have a doctor's note). He's talking about the kid who emails before a test (and often after a test) with some vague excuse and no doctor's note. I've had many more of them. I usually let them make up the test but I make the make up version harder (since the students have longer to prepare) so they are creating their own penalty as I see it. I also realize that the real world will kick them in the butt soon enough and their boss isn't going to hear too many vague excuses before they get fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that you feel that you know what it is like to have a heavy period. Mine is horrible. I have to accommodate it in some way. I work from home and hide as much as possible. The pain is unbearable to the point that I moan frequently. I double up, and still have to change at least once an hour. Luckily, the bad part only lasts about 12 hours, so it doesn't hit on a work day every month, but when it does, there is absolutely no way that I could work. Then again, I think a doctor's note would be necessary to miss an exam.

Don't tell women to go on the pill!!!!! That is not your decision. There are many reasons why someone may not want to, including that the hormones make some people crazy, and some people actually want to have children.

Look lady, if this student had been a model citizen okay. But when you've got a kid that constantly blows off class, doesn't turn in assignments, then e-mails 20 minutes before an exam starts saying a period is too heavy to take the exam... color me skeptical.

Is it the male tenure-track OP with "look lady" and "take Advil, hunny" or another poster? I need clarification. TIA

+1

Was this OP?

These are the professors at the low-end local colleges? No, thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe that you feel that you know what it is like to have a heavy period. Mine is horrible. I have to accommodate it in some way. I work from home and hide as much as possible. The pain is unbearable to the point that I moan frequently. I double up, and still have to change at least once an hour. Luckily, the bad part only lasts about 12 hours, so it doesn't hit on a work day every month, but when it does, there is absolutely no way that I could work. Then again, I think a doctor's note would be necessary to miss an exam.

Don't tell women to go on the pill!!!!! That is not your decision. There are many reasons why someone may not want to, including that the hormones make some people crazy, and some people actually want to have children.

Look lady, if this student had been a model citizen okay. But when you've got a kid that constantly blows off class, doesn't turn in assignments, then e-mails 20 minutes before an exam starts saying a period is too heavy to take the exam... color me skeptical.

Is it the male tenure-track OP with "look lady" and "take Advil, hunny" or another poster? I need clarification. TIA

+1

Was this OP?

These are the professors at the low-end local colleges? No, thanks.

OP already said he's a tenure track prof at a USNEWS top 100 school