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A Question About College: Does your class meet the expectation of the professor?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by kbm, Aug 29, 2002.

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  1. kbm

    kbm Member

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    I attend the University of Memphis -- not an ivy league school by any stretch of the imagination, yet most of our professors do come from ivy league backgrounds. And so I often find that they get frustrated with us as students. Most of us don't come into a course knowing everything about a subject as apparently they are a custom to, and this ignorance is intensified by the fact that when we're asked questions at least half the time we stare at the teacher for what seems an eternity until he answers the question for us or until someone takes a wild stab at the answer.

    My question is: does this type of thing happen at your university? And if it does, do you feel you are letting the teacher down? I do. I wish we could be a perfect class and answer all the questions because I feel sorry for the teacher. I think that it must be frustrating for him/her to dumb down lectures to our level. Or do you think the professor is at fault? Maybe he/she has an overblown ego? I don't know. I just know I often feel dumb after I walk out of some of my classes.
     
    #1 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  2. OldManBernie

    OldManBernie Old Fogey

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    I'm sure it happens all the time...

    However, my professors are politicians, and they won't say things like that outright... They realize that it is probably to the their own benefit to get favorable end of semester evaluations. If they were to tell the students that we're disappointments, it'd only piss the students off.
     
    #2 OldManBernie, Aug 29, 2002
  3. kbm

    kbm Member

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    Same here, we give them evaluations at the end of the year. And we'll roast him if they just out and out say that or are simply ego-manics, but they sure do have subtle ways of showing how dumb they think we are.
     
    #3 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  4. OldManBernie

    OldManBernie Old Fogey

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    Just curious... what class are you taking? I get those disappointment vibes usually from more technical classes (for me mainly, computer science classes).
     
    #4 OldManBernie, Aug 29, 2002
  5. kbm

    kbm Member

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    This semester it is in Modern Grammar, but there have been other courses. I took an upper division African-American lit. course and the same thing happened. The professor, however, was very smart, though. He intimidated most in the class. I learned a lot from him, but I still felt bad that we weren't a better class.
     
    #5 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  6. OldManBernie

    OldManBernie Old Fogey

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    Well I wouldn't feel bad at all as long as I get a good grade...
     
    #6 OldManBernie, Aug 29, 2002
  7. kbm

    kbm Member

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    I do try to put it in perspective, and we as students normally learn and pass course exams with flying colors. In fact, I have like a 3.9 in upper division courses. I had one A-. So I'm not dumb, nor are most of my classmates dumb. We just learn IN the class, study hard, pass. The only thing we seem to lack is intelligent class discussions. We are often to gunshy to speak.
     
    #7 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  8. lpbman

    lpbman Member

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    pretend you are the highschool senior that flunked twice and you are sitting in with the sophomores

    you own that place, speak your mind, you learn better when you interact
     
    #8 lpbman, Aug 29, 2002
  9. Manny Ramirez

    Manny Ramirez The Music Man

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    I'm taking 2 night classes at my alma mater (MTSU) working on a MBA and I have a guy like that.

    It is really bad with the presentation we have to give. It is only 10% of our grade, but his grading on this is akin to a Speech teacher. It is hard to describe it in words here; you just had to be there the night he went over it. He came across to me as pretty anal and obsessive compulsive about it.

    The reason why I mention this is that he acts like we should already be experts in information systems when for many people it's like only their 2nd class in it.
     
    #9 Manny Ramirez, Aug 29, 2002
  10. OldManBernie

    OldManBernie Old Fogey

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    At least you don't have a history TA that took of points for gramatical mistakes... For crying out loud, I'm an immigrant, this is not an English class, and English is not my 1st language. She even told me she understood the points I'm trying to make, but she wouldn't budge on the grade.
     
    #10 OldManBernie, Aug 29, 2002
  11. kbm

    kbm Member

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    OMB and lpbman, what school do you all attend? Also, is there any ivy leaguers here, have stories? It makes me feel better knowing I'm not alone.
     
    #11 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  12. OldManBernie

    OldManBernie Old Fogey

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    UT-Austin
     
    #12 OldManBernie, Aug 29, 2002
  13. lpbman

    lpbman Member

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    me? I flunked twice and sat in with the sophomores
     
    #13 lpbman, Aug 29, 2002
  14. rimbaud

    rimbaud Member
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    OMB,

    On what did you get grammar taken off? As a grader it is a fine line to walk in regards to grammar and non-native speakers. Taking off for grammar on a test is inexcusable...on a research paper, I culd understand it a little better.

    Regardless, you must become an able writer in order to succeed in college and the "professionsal" world. It is thus important to instill valuable lessons from the beginning in college.

    The problem is that many (ok, most) Amercian college students have such bad grammar that professors and TA's are trained to have certain reactions. Of course, you are a little different, but she probably wanted to stick to her guns.

    To answer the original question of this thread: as a student I never had a problem with expectations (certainly others in various classes over the years, but not me personally - and certainly now it is more of a colleague relationship than teacher/student)...as a teacher and grader, I have continually been disappointed but also sometimes pleasantly surprised.

    I have heard some not so nice things about the students at Memphis from someone who taught there for a bit.

    As far as the Ivy League...it is the same, although can even be worse. There are those that belong and those that don't but are just part of the "network" or their family money was needed. High end universities are whores for money...always looking to increase their endowment (which brings up their resources/prestigue).
     
    #14 rimbaud, Aug 29, 2002
  15. heypartner

    heypartner Member

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    "...anyone?....anyone?...."

    name that movie!
     
    #15 heypartner, Aug 29, 2002
  16. kbm

    kbm Member

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    Where do you teach at rimbaud? And yes, I suspect students at Memphis get a bad rap because we have so many non-committed students. That's why I feel bad for the professors that have to teach these students, us. I often wonder why teachers would even want to come to Memphis to teach. At any rate, rimbaud, do you find this a general trend with students, or is it just with certain universities like Memphis?
     
    #16 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  17. kbm

    kbm Member

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    Our professors are not that bored! Our students might be though HP.
     
    #17 kbm, Aug 29, 2002
  18. OldManBernie

    OldManBernie Old Fogey

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    Rimbauld,

    Thank you for your concern... I am well aware of the necessity of having good language skills in the "professional" world. I have worked quite hard to improve both my writing and speaking skills throughout the years. In fact, I'll be honest, I immigrated to America in 1989, so I have had ample time to improve. So I was using the immigration purely as an excuse for not completing my paper in a timely fashion resulting in sub-par work. Also, FYI, the points were deducted from a test, and as you agreed, it was inexcusable.
     
    #18 OldManBernie, Aug 29, 2002
  19. Manny Ramirez

    Manny Ramirez The Music Man

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    Ben Stein in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
     
    #19 Manny Ramirez, Aug 29, 2002
  20. drapg

    drapg Member

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    "He's sick...My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy that knows this girl who's going with a guy who saw Ferris pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious. "

    :D
     
    #20 drapg, Aug 29, 2002
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