10 Reasons Parents Should Never Contact College Professors

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It depends on the college! if your student goes to a college with a good student support system and you ask the dean in a friendly way you can sometimes do your student a great deal of good. The right adult to adult communications can do the job the student can't if you pick the right level and its the dean not the professor.
However many schools don't have good student support systems and in those cases its impossible to ask the the right question at the right level!
when the student needs the parent support its beyond the teacher and generally the department head.

Steve of CT 4:47PM August 17, 2010

As a prof at a community college in a small community, I've been contacted a few times. My standard response is to profess a willingness to help, but reveal that my hands are tied. I point out that under FEDERAL law, I am unable to discuss a student with a third party, regardless or that party's relationship to the student. I then refer them to my Dean of Student Services.

ProseHack of FL 5:53PM July 18, 2010

отлично написано, у автора прям талант

kikus of AL 7:12PM June 12, 2010

My daughter had professor who gave her an INC because of a serious car accident she was in at the end of her freshmen year. She completed the assignment three weeks later and sent it to him. The following fall she called me in a panic that the professor never changed the grade and the registrar informed her the grade was to go to an F.
Have to admit my first inclination was to call the President! However, I calmly walked her through the steps (contact professor - no response: contact the Chair - no response; make an appointment with the dean, bring the e-mails/ dates of calls etc). Finally at the Dean level it was addressed, changed and the Dean actually apologized to her for the stress.
She learned valuable skills and lessons this way and she handled all her school issues herself the rest of the her college career.

Meg's Mom of MA 10:38AM May 24, 2010

We'd advise you to encourage your daughter to go to an office hour and discuss the problems with the professor. Even someone who doesn't have great people skills in a class might do better in the one-on-one atmosphere of an office hour. And most professionals feel more comfortable in their own offices. Also, in the business world your daughter will have to deal with all sorts of people-- even those with less than stellar personal skills. College can get her started on the right track.
Of course, the discussion should focus on your daughter's performance in the class, not on all the flaws of the professor. No teacher will want to hear that.

Jeremy of AR 10:14AM May 18, 2010

So what are you supposed to do when your child has an incompetent instructor? My daughter is afraid to approach the instructor due his lack of people skills.
I have paid good money for my child to get a College education by competent instructors yet my child is constantly frustrated by one of her instructors "lack of instructing ability" (giving the students busy work when he doesn't feel like instructing) just to name one flaw.

alan m of CA 2:15AM May 18, 2010

For God's same, parents, do NOT call the professor!! My mother found out I was getting a "D" in Calculus and after a 20 minute phone call with her that went "I want to call the instructor"-"No, mom, do NOT call the instructor" she called the instructor.
I had been going in to see the instructor after almost every class to try to figure out what I was missing. He was VERY good with working wiht me but let's face it, there are some things that some people just can't learn. We had a very good rapport as he knew I was busting my heinie in his class and he complimented me for my drive to try to learn the material instead of being given a greade. What respect that teacher had for me went out the window after mommy dearest called and told him he was a lousy instructor, didn't know what her son was capable of doing, didn't know how to do his job, etc. It ended with her calling the department head and reading him the riot act.
So, all that work my instructor and I put in was thrown out the window in an instant. I went from being the hard working, motivated student tryong to learn to being a "snivelling momma's boy who had to call mommy in to protect him."
I was too embarassed to see the instructor anymore and just hid in the back of the class after that. I squeaked by with a "C-" and to this day mommy takes pride in how she set my instructor straight.
So, no, parents, do NOT call the instructor!!!!!!

Scott of VA 1:48PM May 17, 2010

Yeah, it happened at my university. A student who had a 4.0 GPA discovered s(he) would not receive a department award but it would go to another student who had a slightly lower GPA but had distinguished him/herself in other ways with research papers and involvement in the department club and honor society. Apparently, when his/her parents caught wind of this one of them called and talked to two different professors and the department chair. The student in question actually "de-friended" two professors s(he) felt were responsible on Facebook. Needless to say, this spread all over the place and s(he) lost what little respect s(he) had from the other students. This individual is going on to grad school elsewhere and we're glad to see the drama go with him/her. The student had no shame, nor sense of how his/her actions impacted others or their impressions of him/her. Very self-centered, very immature individual. His/her goal is to be a college professor in his/her given field of study. I would not want my child to be in this person's classroom ever.

Anon of TN 5:23PM May 16, 2010

I agree with the authors of the article - there are too many stories about parents contacting professors or trying to "correct" the professor's comments and grading, and we laugh about them. There's something else, too: when a parent complains to a professor, it suggests to the professor that the parent thinks he or she knows more about the course requirements and topic than the instructor - and that's a bad thing.
Even the world's most incompetent college instructors got to that position because they demonstrated that they had more knowledge about a certain topic than 95% of the students that they would be teaching. There certainly are incompetent instructors out there, and that sucks. For the most part, though, college professors are people who have spent at least a decade learning about some specialized area of knowledge and developing the skills necessary to impart that knowledge to students and evaluate them on based on their abilities to retain the knowledge and use the methodologies particular to the field of study.
When a parent enters the picture, it's kind of like he or she is saying, "I know more about this subject than you do!" In most cases, that's simply not true - a parent might be a fantastic doctor or lawyer, but this doesn't mean that he or she is also an expert in astrophysics, English literature, seventeenth century world history, or whatever the case may be. Then we'll start to wonder why the parents sent the student to college in the first place, if they already know so much...and the answer seems to be that college is viewed as a remarkable investment meant to secure the economic prosperity and social status of a student, rather than an adventure into knowledge. That's just depressing.
(It's worth noting, too, that if the student is over the age of 18, and has not signed a release of information form, it's actually illegal for the professor to discuss grades with a parent.)

Punk Prof of CO 5:04PM May 15, 2010

Where my son went to college: Once a year the engineering area had a general recognition awards luncheon on Saturday. It was kind of a "here's what they are doing, handout awards and scholarships, meet the professors and other parents". You also got to tour the engineering areas to see the neat projects they were doing. It was great and it was not a complain to to professor thing.

Michael of OH 5:17PM May 12, 2010