Posted by Peter on February 2, 2008, 5:03 am, in reply to "SBCC instructors being unfair"
209.234.184.162
I've witnessed this on rare occasion, but by and large the professors at SBCC are pretty top-notch. For the most part, if you show enough respect you'll get respect in return (and this goes a ~long~ way toward a decent grade). This has been one of the big lessons I've learned over the many years I was there. Always, always show respect.
That said, I've had a few bad apples over the years. Sometimes you'll run into somebody who has absolutely no business teaching, who wastes your time and that of everyone else, or worse yet, has political agendas or even deep-seated emotional problems. These are the situations when you have to ask yourself what you're willing to put up with for the grade. You can drop the class and maybe take it again during the next semester (or even get a lateral transfer to another equivalent class during the same semester, if the new professor will allow it). Alternately, you could try complaining to the professor herself, or even go over her head to an administrator, but I personally don't like either of those options as you'll be sure to lose even more points with your already despicable teacher, and she ~will~ hold it against you.
It's always a good idea to research your professors before signing up for their classes through online rating systems like RateMyProfessor.com and MySpace. Keep in mind that these reviews are just opinions, and that they may be unfairly biased in either direction. Sometimes a teacher will get a bad rep for actually expecting his students to "learn" in the course of the semester. The question here is, does the teacher actually teach what's being tested? If not, they may be placing an unfair burden on their students. I don't accept the argument that "we as adults should be responsible for educating ourselves". What do we need professors for, then? To tell us to go and read books? This argument is a cop-out made by lazy teachers who can't be bothered to do their jobs. Of course, you may be called upon to do a reasonable amount of original research for specific projects, but to expect a student to learn an entire course's material with little or no help from the professor is outrageous (but unfortunately not unheard of!)
Conversely, there are some professors who teach and test on very little, giving large volumes of assignments as a means of determining students' grades. You may hear these professors referred to as "easy". I cannot disagree more. It is not at all easy for someone like me to persist when I feel that my time is being wasted. The trick, as always, is to convince yourself that there is something of value to be learned. Sometimes you can. Sometimes it's better to just walk away.
-- Peter
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