• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

What is a "bad professor" to you?

I find that most college teachers and professors are not good at teaching anybody anything, they are good at telling.
The best teachers are high-school teachers, in general.

I assume that you are in a college law class? Nobody EVER talked during lectures (when teacher is talking) in ANY of my college/university classes.

Sadly - I'm attending a local college for the first 2 years - while it's an extension of a full college, the local branch is small and only covers associates degrees and the first 2 years of a all other degrees. Anything beyond that 2 and you transfer - which is my plan.

Apparently the attitude of many others is "It's just a 2 year degree, once I'm done then I'm done!" - thus - the individual desire to learn isn't actually there. Most people want to just hurry up and get through it and are more than satisfied with a C in a class - which really peeves me off. . . If they want to fail in life, that's fine - but when it starts to interrupt my attendance and focus - It's a nuisance.

I've found myself annoyed with the average student's attitude at my school and thus I don't associate with anyone 'young' on campus (it seems that only the older students like me share my focus). Most have low expectations in life, overall - and I'll admit that it's the nature of the students that's probably really causing an issue more likely than the teacher himself - he'd be better off in a full university where the average student is more engaged and interested. His class centers around critical thinking - and well - critical thinking is that last concern to most people, he's heard endless complaints over how *hard* the tests are. It's wearing him out rather quickly.

The average student's attitude towards his class: it's stupid, meaningless and unnecessary - and he hears it endlessly, so do I. Lots of "and why do we neeeed this?" (stuff I heard when I was a kid in the 5th grade). I really can't wait to get to my following school - but while my youngest is in Pre-school that's a bit too far away for me to travel comfortably (an hours drive).
 
Last edited:
Sadly - I'm attending a local college for the first 2 years - while it's an extension of a full college, the local branch is small and only covers associates degrees and the first 2 years of a all other degrees. Anything beyond that 2 and you transfer - which is my plan.

Apparently the attitude of many others is "It's just a 2 year degree, once I'm done then I'm done!" - thus - the individual desire to learn isn't actually there. Most people want to just hurry up and get through it and are more than satisfied with a C in a class - which really peeves me off. . . If they want to fail in life, that's fine - but when it starts to interrupt my attendance and focus - It's a nuisance.

I've found myself annoyed with the average student's attitude at my school and thus I don't associate with anyone 'young' on campus (it seems that only the older students like me share my focus). Most have low expectations in life, overall - and I'll admit that it's the nature of the students that's probably really causing an issue more likely than the teacher himself - he'd be better off in a full university where the average student is more engaged and interested.

The average student's attitude towards his class: it's stupid, meaningless and unnecessary - and he hears it endlessly, so do I. Lots of "and why do we neeeed this?" (stuff I heard when I was a kid in the 5th grade). I really can't wait to get to my following school - but while my youngest is in Pre-school that's a bit too far away for me to travel comfortably (an hours drive).

Actually, I got the opposite feeling when I went to school. At universities, it's so chaotic because students "study hard" but then they "play hard," getting drunk and having fun at night and on the weekends. I couldn't take that and I got kicked out, so I went back to school but at a community college. And it was so laid back and the teachers were actually helpful. I have a lot more respect for community colleges than for universities.
 
Actually, I got the opposite feeling when I went to school. At universities, it's so chaotic because students "study hard" but then they "play hard," getting drunk and having fun at night and on the weekends. I couldn't take that and I got kicked out, so I went back to school but at a community college. And it was so laid back and the teachers were actually helpful. I have a lot more respect for community colleges than for universities.

Hmm - maybe when I get to my university I'll think differently :)
Maybe that's just the overall attitude of the average student, these days - or, well, the traditional student when they've discovered freedom for the first time.

I'm old - I'm stuck in my ways :)

I don't look it though, which is good - I had someone nearly die in shock when they realized I didn't just have *a* kid - I had 4 and my oldest was 12. LOL She begged me for my skin secret. Nay! I tell you - my youth comes at the bloodshed of many virgins. I shall not tell!
 
Last edited:
One thing that really sticks out for me is a math prof that was using card games to explain finite math. When one of the foreign students raised his hand and politely stated he wasn't familiar with card games (hell I don't play cards either as my dad refused to teach me afraid it would lead to gambling), the profs response was, "That's not my problem." I found that inexcusable. I've had so many bad profs at the university level I don't know where to start. Part of the problem is teaching is only secondary as they need to publish research or they are out of a job.

BIN, my best college profs were at a community college in Michigan where the classes were small and personal vs. the meat grinder I experienced when I transferred to a public university in Indiana. I was paying more but getting less. Being taught by students, and profs that were so lazy the classes were verbatim out of the text -- so there was no need to even attend until the final exams, which I aced -- was a sham in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
One thing that really sticks out for me is a math prof that was using card games to explain finite math. When one of the foreign students raised his hand and politely stated he wasn't familiar with card games (hell I don't play cards either as my dad refused to teach me afraid it would lead to gambling), the profs response was, "That's not my problem." I found that inexcusable. I've had so many bad profs at the university level I don't know where to start. Part of the problem is teaching is only secondary as they need to publish research or they are out of a job.

BIN, my best college profs were at a community college in Michigan where the classes were small and personal vs. the meat grinder I experienced when I transferred to a public university in Indiana. I was paying more but getting less. Being taught by students, and profs that were so lazy the classes were verbatim out of the text -- so there was no need to even attend until the final exams, which I aced -- was a sham in my opinion.

This reminds me of a movie where at the beginning we see a professor teaching a classroom and throughout the movie fewer and fewer students attend only to be replaced by tape recorders and by the end of the film no students attend, their desks only have tape recorders, and they are recording a reel-to-reel the professor set up at the front of the class.
 
This reminds me of a movie where at the beginning we see a professor teaching a classroom and throughout the movie fewer and fewer students attend only to be replaced by tape recorders and by the end of the film no students attend, their desks only have tape recorders, and they are recording a reel-to-reel the professor set up at the front of the class.

Real Genius!
I know that movie :)

That's heaven to me - a class without students. . . I'd sit there and enjoy the uninterrupted study time for sure!
 
Last edited:
I'm really wanting this to focus on college or high school level education. Most of the debates on "bad teachers" discuss elementary and junior high - public education.

So - from your personal experiences (either yourself attending or something you know who attended and had problems) what *were* those problems
If that teacher failed a considerable number of students, seemed disconnected from the learning process or didn't make an effort to actually *teach* the class - what do you think should happen to him/her?

I had a math prof in calculus that was absolutely horrible. He would cover certain topics during the lecture and then give us a test over other topics that were completely outside what was covered in class. Average test scores were in the 20's and 30's and there was always at least a 50-point curve. People who "teach" like that should not be teachers. They suck at it.
 
One of my pet peeves was math and science profs that were from another country and their English was so bad you had a hard time understanding them.
 
One of my pet peeves was math and science profs that were from another country and their English was so bad you had a hard time understanding them.

korean chemistry lab teacher "prease to take out frask" what the **** is a frask?
 
Sadly - I'm attending a local college for the first 2 years - while it's an extension of a full college, the local branch is small and only covers associates degrees and the first 2 years of a all other degrees. Anything beyond that 2 and you transfer - which is my plan.

Apparently the attitude of many others is "It's just a 2 year degree, once I'm done then I'm done!" - thus - the individual desire to learn isn't actually there. Most people want to just hurry up and get through it and are more than satisfied with a C in a class - which really peeves me off. . . If they want to fail in life, that's fine - but when it starts to interrupt my attendance and focus - It's a nuisance.

I've found myself annoyed with the average student's attitude at my school and thus I don't associate with anyone 'young' on campus (it seems that only the older students like me share my focus). Most have low expectations in life, overall - and I'll admit that it's the nature of the students that's probably really causing an issue more likely than the teacher himself - he'd be better off in a full university where the average student is more engaged and interested. His class centers around critical thinking - and well - critical thinking is that last concern to most people, he's heard endless complaints over how *hard* the tests are. It's wearing him out rather quickly.

The average student's attitude towards his class: it's stupid, meaningless and unnecessary - and he hears it endlessly, so do I. Lots of "and why do we neeeed this?" (stuff I heard when I was a kid in the 5th grade). I really can't wait to get to my following school - but while my youngest is in Pre-school that's a bit too far away for me to travel comfortably (an hours drive).

I share your experience, my 2 year school is so-so on quality.
The professors are decent but with the students, it's almost like high school part 2.

I'm in the process of enrolling in an online two year school (It's a state school).
Less bull crap and straight to the point if you ask me.
 
Last edited:
In my extremely limited experience with school, most teachers are well-intentioned.
Some are more boring than others, but they mean well.
This might be different at a college level; I just can't imagine why anyone would choose a career in education if they didn't have a calling. It doesn't pay very well, compared to other things an educated person could be doing.
those persons with degrees, which qualify them to teach, but who are not very bright, do tend to seek teaching positions, from what i have observed as a student, parent and spouse of a retired teacher
these are often the ones who need to be weeded out of the school system, because they are often weak teachers
unfortunately, the school systems - until the great recession - were so understaffed, they took anybody who had a degree. locally, they would waive the requirement for three years that the teacher meet the educational training requirements so that they could return to school to attain them
those educated but weak teachers could not find employment so lucrative given their actual skill sets
so, where were the administrators to weed out those inadequate teachers? part of it is incompetence/laziness. the administrators needed warm bodies in the classroom and allowed inadequate teachers to waste our kids' time
part of it was bureaucracy, often exaggerated by union work rules, which required extensive documentation of the teachers' weaknesses
so, i have to disagree. many of those weak teachers stayed in the education system because it paid better than they could find elsewhere, with their limited talents. not because they were good teachers, or well intended
 
I'm really wanting this to focus on college or high school level education. Most of the debates on "bad teachers" discuss elementary and junior high - public education.

So - from your personal experiences (either yourself attending or something you know who attended and had problems) what *were* those problems
If that teacher failed a considerable number of students, seemed disconnected from the learning process or didn't make an effort to actually *teach* the class - what do you think should happen to him/her?

Had a professor in college who got caught having actually made a mistake on the final average for three students in one of her sessions. When she was asked to correct it, she stated that's the grade you deserved anyway so it stands. This was a mistake in the calculation of the average... not something subjective. Anyway, she was forced to change the grades for the three students.

We still posted fliers all over the school to boycott her sessions. She lasted two more semesters and then "retired". Probably because one of her sessions only had 3 people on the roster and her others were only about 10% full.
 
A good professor is one who uses minimal set of instructions to guide students.
A bad professor is one who gives very lengthy instructions which cannot be followed by students!

Hope this helps!
 
For me it was the adoption of lectures that increased my desire to learn, and literature circles. I understand the need for others to love hands-on activities, but for myself, it was a turn-off. My favorite professors were the ones that almost seemed in their own world, almost like they were called to the pulpit and would weave a story to tell day after day. Some of them were characters in of themselves, and those of us who have had them would try to imitate their style, sometimes stressing out the vocal chords trying to get that right pitch so get the right reaction from others so we could laugh.

One professor would walk around with an 8 oz coffee mug, and would take a sip ceremoniously before finishing an amusing historical story (a short story that could be summed up in 5 minutes or less). Stories of vampire outbreaks, amusing deaths of royalty, torture scenes..and so on. Once he was like "you know, I think at the end of Braveheart, he wouldn't be screaming "freeedom!" it would sound something like this..."gaaarrrrgle ahhHH! gaarrgle"".

One professor had something about "ism's" that was interesting....he is an old man who loves early morning lectures. He would start off quiet, albeit, high pitched....and then slowly get louder and louder...and then would rapidly quiet himself in a whisper. Then other times he would stutter...telling himself out loud to "stop it".

Another professor (coincidentally, one of the few experts on the American Colonization Society) was like Robin Williams meets some sort of history scholar. The man would move his arms up and down rapidly..and would not be afraid to use that fist like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden or something.

Another couldn't begin to describe any ancient civilization without somehow referring to sports analogies...and the 76ers. He described himself like a cat...just here one second..and then off thinking about something else without a care for what he was thinking of before.

Then another professor was sitting on a desk with the rest of us, and he was like a coffee chatting historian. Just sitting there talking about historiography over coffee with the 12 of us. Pleasant and relaxing.

Then another who studied 20th century American foreign relations and US military history would walk around the classroom with his head down....stroking his beard trying to think of what to say next before being able to talk about stuff in minute detail...what this one guy had for breakfast the day he changed the world...stuff like that.
 
Last edited:
For me, the worst professors are the ones who wanted rote memorization of the subject in question vs learning a new skill, gaining a new perspective, or any other type of new understanding. With rote memorization, one will forget the material after the test, making the education useless.
 
For me, the worst professors are the ones who wanted rote memorization of the subject in question vs learning a new skill, gaining a new perspective, or any other type of new understanding. With rote memorization, one will forget the material after the test, making the education useless.

rote memorization can be a very necessary skill in some professions
maybe the information expected to be memorized for the class would not yield a long term benefit, but the ability to memorize important information could very well be a critical attribute
and for some learners, memorizing the operations, without initially understanding them or their purposes, can frequently lead to later mastery of the subject ... when those memorized pieces of information come together to finally solve the puzzle. if you are without sufficient pieces then the puzzle cannot be revealed. for me, that was especially true in higher mathmatics

however, i agree with you, especially when it comes to history. knowing dates and principals and incidents is of little benefit if one does not understand the underlying context of the history being studied
 
rote memorization can be a very necessary skill in some professions
maybe the information expected to be memorized for the class would not yield a long term benefit, but the ability to memorize important information could very well be a critical attribute
and for some learners, memorizing the operations, without initially understanding them or their purposes, can frequently lead to later mastery of the subject ... when those memorized pieces of information come together to finally solve the puzzle. if you are without sufficient pieces then the puzzle cannot be revealed. for me, that was especially true in higher mathmatics

however, i agree with you, especially when it comes to history. knowing dates and principals and incidents is of little benefit if one does not understand the underlying context of the history being studied

I tend to be the opposite. I have a hard time retaining information until I can contextualize it and link it with other things and place it into the big picture.
 
I'm really wanting this to focus on college or high school level education. Most of the debates on "bad teachers" discuss elementary and junior high - public education.

So - from your personal experiences (either yourself attending or something you know who attended and had problems) what *were* those problems
If that teacher failed a considerable number of students, seemed disconnected from the learning process or didn't make an effort to actually *teach* the class - what do you think should happen to him/her?
Bad professors usually fall into one of several categories (This can include pre-college teachers as well)

The Paycheck- This professor is there for his paycheck and no mistake. He often hands out A's like candy, spends seconds grading a four page paper, doesnt keep attendance, and comes across as terminally bored while lecturing. You as a student are an intrusion into his internet time and need to not bother him during class while you're doing your busy work. Count on him being late to class and probably early to leave, especially on Fridays.

The Control Freak- There's one in every school. This professor runs her class with an iron fist and woe betide the student who questions the divine right bestowed upon her. She often gives assignments with lists of instructions longer and more detailed than the project itself, takes a ruler to the margins of a paper (and fails it if the margins exceed her specifications by more than a few microns, hey, mistakes happen), and makes a gruesome display of any student foolish enough to question her.

The Preacher- The Preacher has an agenda and boy does he want you to know it. Be it religion, politics, grammar, or coffee, this professor has a preference and deity-given mission to spread the virtues of that preference to you. He may spend much of your paid-for class time going on at length about his chosen cause, reciting anything and everything he knows on the subject. This professor may grade students harder (or fail them entirely) who disagree openly with him and students who walk the sycophantic tightrope may find simply sneezing on a piece of paper constitutes A work. Antagonizing the Preacher is not recommended, he defends his cause with admirable gusto and he may discharge F's at those foolish enough to poke sticks into his cage

The Theorist- Her ideas are brilliant....on paper. The Theorist is harder to deal with than most because she truly means well and isnt trying to be malicious. She often prescribes odd and hitherto unknown methods of solving problems or composing work, insisting that she's found an amazingly simple new way of solving a problem. There is no room in the pedagogy for different learning styles, the Theorist is convinced her ways can overcome ANY obstacle. This may range from a mildly annoying quirk of an otherwise good professor to a textbook-rendingly frustrating mission.

The Uberfesser- You shouldn't argue with this professor, he wrote the book on the subject. No, really, he did, and you're using it in class. The Uberfesser knows more than you and he's happy to rub that fact in until you're ready to slit your wrists with a scantron out of frustration. With a degree comes an earth-shatteringly large portion of arrogance, mere students are there to bask in the Uberfesser's glory and wisdom, not ask questions. To him, ALL questions are stupid and there is no escaping just how WRONG you are.

The Hardass- She doesn't tolerate talking, chewing gum, eating, drinking, staring, sneezing, scratching, folding, writing, reading, twirling, or handling of any kind whatsoever. And dont even THINK about any sort of messing, tweaking, twiddling, blinking, breathing, or putting because you'll find yourself kicked out of class in no time FLAT, mister! The Hardass has issues and she wont stop until she makes them YOUR issues. Maybe she falls into the "those who cant do, teach" category, maybe she feels trapped, maybe she just went through a bitter divorce, maybe it's Wednesday, no one knows for sure. But walking into class is spinning the wheel as to what will send her into a tirade today. Oh and dont think so loud, you're distracting her.

The Dude- The Dude is, like, too cool for all this. He wants to be your friend, your pal, your buddy! Unfortunately, he doesn't want to teach, that's for squares. His classes are insanely easy and usually consist of chatting about some aspect of pop culture or whatever the kids are into these days. The Dude sheds the traditional trappings of boring school and likes to rock with catchy educational tunes and quotes from famous celebrities. Those looking for a bird course will be happy, but those of you wanting to learn something better start crackin' the textbook.

The Monopolizer- Other classes? You have no other classes. This professor assigns double digit hours of homework a night, after all how are you going to pass her class unless you review all material sixteen times? She may start class early ("to get enough time in") and run class VERY late ("to make sure we've covered everything") and be aghast at the suggestion she may need to scale back her workload. There are microwaves in the student lounge, a machine that dispenses burritos, a couch, and a bathroom all in the library. Why do you need to go home? She feels that school (in the form of her class and her class alone, of course) is the single most important priority in a student's life, I mean, getting hit by a bus is NO excuse not to finish your 20 page summary the night it was assigned.



The following professors are annoying, but these usually manifest as irritating behaviors in otherwise passable professors.

The Timebug- This professor runs on a clock, but no one has figured out whose. He may be three hours early or an hour and 45 minutes late, but he'll get there...eventually

The Writer- The Writer is well versed in his subject. So much so that he actually wrote the textbook for your class, you can pick it up in the student store...along with the supplemental test prep book, the homework study guide, the supplemental reading log, and the signed copy of his autobiography. Oh, all of those are mandatory for class.

The Librarian- Keeping chiropractors in business for decades, this professor cant be satisfied with one book so they say "**** it! Get 'em all!" This can be particularly grating when most of the "required" course materials are inevitably NOT used for anything.



The absolute worst professor I ever had was a welding professor. He was a top-notch welder, I'd have hired him to put metal together in a heartbeat but my gods the man couldn't teach a goldfish to eat it's own ****. If you picked the stuff up intuitively, you were golden. If you needed help however, then you were just being stubborn and not listening. He made no bones about the "I dont have to teach, I've got tons of money. I teach because I WANT to!" bit and never ceased reminding us of this.

He was sexist as hell and didnt really try to hide it. Our class had a single woman in it who pulled her weight like everyone else, did her work as good as (in some cases better than) anyone else in the class and the ONLY person who had a problem with a pair of C cups holding a stinger was the professor. The guy also stood up there in front of class and gave a 20 minute lecture as to why we should vote yes on Prop 8, a lecture I stood up in the middle of and walked out.

The most fun came when he nearly ****ing KILLED me, twice. The first time, he had a stinger (the bit that holds the welding rod) in his hand and he moved it past me. The tip of the rod came within about an inch of my nice hot, sweaty neck. For those of you playing along at home, I was wearing a leather welding coat with metal fasteners on it that were touching the work surface. If that rod had touched my neck, I'd have had 70 amps go through my heart, several orders of magnitude beyond what it would have taken to kill me.

The second time, he grabbed a LIT oxyacetylene torch out of my hand. He did this AFTER walking up behind me while I was wearing cutting goggles that eliminate any peripheral vision. I jumped a little bit and almost dropped the torch. Luckily it didn't cut any of the fuel lines (which would have ignited and killed everyone in the shop had the flame gone back to the fuel tanks).

The man was a grade A moron.
 
Last edited:
So painfully true and funny! . . and I guess I really don't have that bad of a deal -other peoples' situations seem so much worse.

There's a gallery in my Art-hall, they've been remodeling it - hanging new pieces. It finally opened and our Visual Arts Teacher gave us a questionnaire sheet and class time to go in and look around after our test the other day. . . everything in the gallery was his personal artwork.
 
The worst proffessors I have had have been in the math department. I had a russian teacher for my ODE class, and nothing against russian people, but I have a hard time understanding them if they have a thick accent. His teaching style was also terrible. He would do no explaining of the work, only show the proofs in the book and work example problems on the board. I could never find him during his office hours for help either. His homework assignments were unbearibly long and contained pointlessly long problems like reducing 4x4 matrixes to REF and finding the det, facoring a degree 4 polynomial, etc. He never knew what the test material was going to cover either since the dept. head would right the tests instead of him (it was a big class w/ several sections).

I have to say, the guy was most likely a genuis though. He would show up to class with only a book, look at the subject of the chapter he was supposed to be doing, and he would work the problems and write proofs on the board. I would get lost in the algebra just trying to follow his work. He could literally look at like a cubic function and split it into roots in one step mentally.
 
Last edited:
I used to have an instructor at Uni who had exams that had nothing to do with his lectures (and I'm not even exagerrating). When confronted he said all his test questions are from the textbook but he wasn't liable to cover them in class.
 
The best professor I had was a bloke called Martin Griffiths, who taught a few different International Relations topics, including the compulsory second year one. He had an amazing ability to infuriate the students, and they'll be talking about the points that he was making while leaving the lecture theatre. A great way to make people think.

Oh yeah Hoplite- you fotgot to include 'the powerpoint obsessive' in your list. I *hate* lectures which is someone reading slides.
 
I used to have an instructor at Uni who had exams that had nothing to do with his lectures (and I'm not even exagerrating). When confronted he said all his test questions are from the textbook but he wasn't liable to cover them in class.

i don't see what the problem is with that
why should a professor be bound to teach only what is in the text if he is able and willing to expand the course material outside of what is found within the text?
 
Back
Top Bottom