10 Warning Signs of a Bad Professor

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You haven't seen anything yet, brother. These new guys they hire are even worse than the old ones. All the new professors want to talk about is ME ME ME. They talk about how things used to be when they were students and how bad we are in comparison. I want to just smack myself solly when I get stuck with one of those guys.

Rick Sanchez of KY 9:36AM January 08, 2010

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sceapleigh of AR 6:37AM January 08, 2010

My daughter attends a university here in the Columbus [OH] area (name undisclosed, to protect the innocent) where her professor dresses up like a harlot and talks all day about the numerous men she's dated in the past few months. Using the sagging economy as an excuse, many schools are hiring "C" quality grade professors in order to cut costs. There is a crisis in our country right now: Our children are graduating poorer and lacking the basic quantitative skills to compete in the job market while schools are raking in millions of dollars each year from the ridiculous tuition and fees they charge. We haven't seen anything yet. The once priced American college degree is slowly losing respect and value.

Mason of OH 4:47PM January 07, 2010

to realize you are spending your savings (or racking up debt) to buy useless hassles in the name of education. Increasingly, that is the case at many colleges and universities.
They are corporations (yes, even the many "non-profits") primarily concerned with their own continued existence----and you, the hapless student customer, are the cow to be milked.
One of these days, some STUDENTS are going to find a way to break this monopoly----as surely as Taylor Swift found ways in her teens to write lyrical circles around far more "trained" adults.

Muser of NM 12:27PM January 07, 2010

But there are required classes, and sometimes it's impossible to get out of them. If it's a college-wide requirement, you can probably find a good professor, but if it's upper-division and major-specific, there's no other options. Fortunately, however, most of the time the professors teaching the upper-division classes are well-versed in the subject matter.
Oh, and @Turner: I actually LOVE it when we're "overtaught" if it helps me understand the subject material better. Although, I can definitely see where rudimentary nuclear physics is necessary in an introductory astronomy class, because what is the professor going to do, let the students assume that stars are just burning like they're on fire?

Emily of NM 10:19PM January 06, 2010

My Micro Economics professor started the first day of class with the simple statement, "There are no absolutes?" and asked if this statement can be true. Then dismissed us.
I've had to take classes where a professor has broken if not one, or more of these rules.
An Intro To Astronomy professor, taught us rudimentary nuclear physics accidentally, yet no one failed the class or realized they had been "over-taught" until the next sequenced class.
I once had a history of early western art prof ramble on about Bob Dylan and Woody Allen, whose final exam required us to some up everything we learned in the course using the evolution of the Christian church through the Gothic period comparing major houses of worship to their contemporary counterparts.
Here's the key to college - enjoy the challenges of learning, and experience what you can.
So called 'poor' professors prepare you for the personalities you will be competing with and living among for the rest of your life.

Turner of SC 8:09PM January 06, 2010

To be fair, the reason we sometimes use #6 is because there are always students trying to take advantage of us. "But your syllabus didn't say I couldn't skip the exam if my grandmother's niece's pet ferret died! YOU HAVE TO LET ME TAKE IT!!!" Then, the professor doesn't let the student take it, the student complains to the dean's office, the dean doesn't want the hassle, so the professor is written up, and the student gets the grade they want. But no one really wins. The protection from that is to write a detailed syllabus. Certainly, some professors go overboard, but proper behavior and treatment in the classroom is a two-way street. When you treat classes like a commodity you can trade, evaluate, buy and sell until you get exactly what you want (as this article suggests), that just encourages us to do the same to you. Why do you think some professors give that "50% of this class will fail" speech on the first day? They want you to drop, because you're not going to be worth the effort. Bathroom rules would be a bit much, but I've never actually seen a professor with that kind of rule, at least in the syllabus.
And as for #8, even if the professor doesn't know the material specifically, they likely have an extensive expertise on similar topics, and will pick it up at a lightning speed compared to the students. There are profs who have been assigned classes on which they had no expertise, learned the entire class's material over the course of two weeks, and then taught without any student knowing otherwise. Unless you're a grad student, that's not really a cause for concern - unless the professor is unmotivated to try to learn it themselves. Then you need to worry.

Davison of VA 5:03PM January 06, 2010

I am a returning adult college student about to start my fourth semester. I have so far had both full-time profs (one was a Chair) and adjuncts. I would have to say that I have seen both sides of this issue. Recently my college had a full-time professor fired one week before the end of the semester. The official reason was "he never uses the text"; from inside sources we (students) found out that he was 1 month from qualifying for tenure. One of my all-time favorite teachers (including high school) was an adjunct and the other NEVER used the text. As a matter of fact he told us all to leave class early, return to the bookstore and sell them back. I think the biggest problem with adjuncts is a lack of connectivity. They know they won't be around to see how the students progress, they will never teach them another course, and they feel more like baby-sitters than involved educators.

Sonia of NC 1:56PM January 06, 2010

Was this article written by Captain Obvious?
Obviously if you have a strawman professor doing these things, the course isn't taught well and probably is going to suck.
Do some research on the professor beforehand (talk to people, search ratemyprofessors.com or whatever), see if there are better options.
Remember teaching is a tough job, and unfortunately many college professors are trained in research, not teaching:
http://edtechdev.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/50-examples-of-the-need-to-improve-college-teaching/
And also remember that graduate students and adjunct college professors (who teach most courses now) are paid peanuts (some even qualify for food stamps):
http://www.briancroxall.net/2009/12/28/the-absent-presence-todays-faculty/

Doug Holton of UT 1:06PM January 06, 2010