I went to MIT for grad. The majority of the profs I dealt with were American, there was an Eastern European prof who I TA'd for and an Indian prof I did research for. They both had accents, but had no problems communicating. In fact both of them wrote the textbooks that MIT used for their respective classes so you can say that the students are learning from the source. As far as TAs go, our team of TAs did have a one or two that were thick with the accents. But this was a large class so you can goto other TAs if you wanted. Plus the material is built in such a way that it was easy to do your job as a TA.
If you can't read or remember your own posts then yes, you are stupid. If you're a culturally entitled enough prick that getting a good education in the richest country in the world isn't satisfactory unless you can only deal with people who look and sound exactly like you, then you're closed-minded. You will make a lot of brown and black co-workers very miserable a few years from now. Stupid + Closed-minded = Not qualified
Who is making the assumptions now? Try a therapist, I hear they can really help you out. Sounds like you've got alot of anger behind them posts; Clutchfans is not the place to let loose your inner fury
I agree 100%! I dropped my math class because of the professor. It's not that i don't understand the material. I just think it's a waste of time if i have to attend class pretending to listen (and understand) him and do the quiz. So instead i am taking an online class now, much easier to understand and it's a lot easier. The dude i had can't write or speak. God.
1. You can't just go get a native English speaking TA instead of a non-native spaker, especially in science and math. The US just isn't turning out enough people who can make it in graduate schools, so we're importing tons of talent from abroad. Maybe they can't teach or even speak english, but they're great in the lab (or whatever research pursuit they were brought here for.) 2. Schools do make a difference. Pick a school that doesn't have PhD programs, and you're more likely to have profs who are there because they're good teachers, or at least enjoy it. The "Research 1" schools aren't really paying anybody to teach. The profs are there because they're good at getting research grants. Of course, the non-PhD schools can be way too expensive.
Chill out, the more you type, the more "stupid + closed minded" you look. If you can't take the heat, go back to China or India, or whatever they all dirty. Last sentence is just to Tl2011 pouhe. /s Anyhow, I had a chinese TA with a bad accent but his passion in his teaching overcame that. I have a problem with the teachers who do have bad accents AND don't give a ****. Communication is what separates online universities from real class room lectures.
I understand that an accent is something you can't really change But my whole point to the Pouhe guy was that I am not going to want to pay thousands of dollars a semester to have a professor I can't understand. Maybe Pouhe has all the $$ to throw around, but I don't.
Not really... the dude has a point. If you graduate and you can only understand English in your own accent, you should give the diploma back. Seriously.
The question you should ask yourself is this one. Do I want a professor who can speak English well, or a teacher who's qualified to teach me? There would be more Americans teaching at Universities when they're paid on par or better than the private sector. Until then, foreigners with accents are what you get. You went to MIT, and you make conclusions based on only personal observations? That's kind of odd.
Sucks to be in your fields, I'm taking English classes with hyper-literate white gay male professors in their early 30s!
Yeah, but the people struggling through math/engineering/science courses taught by foreigners will probably be making more money after graduating than the students taking a lot English classes.
I don't think it is too much to ask for that your teacher be able to speak well in English. It is like anything, if you have difficulty understanding someone, it might hurt your ability to study or learn the source material. Maybe if the school made it part of their requirements? DD
moe stavern: Kindly revisit this post when your federally subsidized student loans require servicing. Suddenly, that English Lit degree will trigger a feeling of buyer's remorse that one cannot run and hideaway from. Not even Chapter 7 Bankruptcy will save you.
Nice attempt to classify my life as pathetic... sorry to disappoint but I don't have any debt whatsoever. Never taken out a single student loan. Apologies for offending you go-getters out there. I just prefer to remain as lazy as possible for the remainder of my life. I study what I love so that I will not be a slave to trying to achieve success in a materialistic, vain world that is slowly and surely unraveling. Someday you'll see the light too I'd wager.
Yes he has a point, but he is still looking like an ass. One of my nursing professors speaks with some kind of country/ghetto mix of an accent and she's the most difficult person to understand. I call it "mud mouth," though I really have no idea why....it just strikes me as the way someone would speak if they had a mouthful of mud. When she says (or rather attempts to say) "pleural effusion" it sounds like "plrrrrrrly fussin," and this is just one rather simple example of trying to translate what she's trying to say. Her students cannot understand her, patients cannot understand her, and other RNs and MDs cannot understand her. Imagine being a student learning complex medical terminology and their meanings and definitions from someone who cannot pronounce them. The students come across looking like idiots because we can't figure out how to pronounce them until we have the chance to ask someone who knows how the hell to talk. This prof has a masters degree in education along with her RN, and is a Certified Gerontological RN as well. I can only imagine a half-deaf elderly person trying to understand anything she's trying to say. I read a letter of recommendation she wrote for another student....it was laughable how poorly written it was and I'd be flat-out embarrassed to turn in such a thing to a prospective employer. She's also a natural-born American citizen. It's a shame, really.
