Comments on: How to Deal with Crummy Professors http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/ Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:28:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: 3.18.08 Featured blogs of the day « http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/#comment-1718 3.18.08 Featured blogs of the day « Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:30:49 +0000 http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/#comment-1718 [...] link: How to deal with crummy professors [...] [...] link: How to deal with crummy professors [...]

]]> By: bipolar2 http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/#comment-1715 bipolar2 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:13:40 +0000 http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/#comment-1715 Sad, very sad. In the US the person who teaches, also creates the exams, and assigns grades! Too much power, open to exploitation, favoritism, unbalanced approach to the materials. In addition, in a "high powered" research university, your main untenured prof gets no points for teaching. Only for publishing. No undergrad is worth bothering about. And, in large lectures, you're likely to be taught by some grad student (whose command of English may be poor) -- no points for teaching here either. What to do? Choose your college wisely. Do you really need to go to big research U? Play the angles. Is there some way to substitute the "required" course with some other course? Talk to the department chair person, after having checked with secretaries about how to bend the rules. Treat all secretaries with enormous respect -- bring them cookies -- they know everything. Really, it's a lousy trap when prof X is a bore, a jerk, a tenured self-righteous pontificating blowhard. Sad, very sad. In the US the person who teaches, also creates the exams, and assigns grades! Too much power, open to exploitation, favoritism, unbalanced approach to the materials. In addition, in a “high powered” research university, your main untenured prof gets no points for teaching. Only for publishing. No undergrad is worth bothering about. And, in large lectures, you’re likely to be taught by some grad student (whose command of English may be poor) — no points for teaching here either.

What to do? Choose your college wisely. Do you really need to go to big research U?

Play the angles. Is there some way to substitute the “required” course with some other course? Talk to the department chair person, after having checked with secretaries about how to bend the rules. Treat all secretaries with enormous respect — bring them cookies — they know everything.

Really, it’s a lousy trap when prof X is a bore, a jerk, a tenured self-righteous pontificating blowhard.

]]> By: Alex http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/#comment-1709 Alex Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:22:33 +0000 http://studenthacks.org/2008/03/18/lousy-professors/#comment-1709 I don't know about dealing with them once you have them, but to avoid them I'd vote against ratemyprofessor.com. A lot of the negative stuff on there is just some kid who didn't do the work and failed so they want to get back at the prof. What really means something is when someone who got a decent to good grade in the class has a negative view on them. Ask an upperclassman you trust, not an unreliable website. I don’t know about dealing with them once you have them, but to avoid them I’d vote against ratemyprofessor.com. A lot of the negative stuff on there is just some kid who didn’t do the work and failed so they want to get back at the prof. What really means something is when someone who got a decent to good grade in the class has a negative view on them. Ask an upperclassman you trust, not an unreliable website.

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