Teachers Who Don't Teach and Don't Really Care

This topic is a real serious peeve of mine. I have had mostly decent and fair teachers all throughout my educational experience - but there have been a few who were absolutely awful. There are some who care nothing about their students' success. There are those who justify their lack of appropriate instruction as just the way professionals do it. They care nothing about the consequences of their actions. Then there are the teachers that reward students who kiss their backsides and reward those who do favors for said teacher rather than grading based on the work the student does in class. I have had my share of all three types and because I was expecting to get graded on my abilities in class with the material covered - I ended up getting burned - I failed or was forced to withdrawal when it was possible for me to do so.

In my Junior year in high school I started out with good grades - with some room for improvement. Then around November of that term - I came down w pneumonia and was out sick for about two weeks. When I came back - most of my teachers were considerate and understanding and gave me the chance to make up the work I missed, gave me extra time to study for exams/quizzes, or gave me extra credit to keep my grades up. In essence they gave me a chance to succeed. Unfortunately, two of my teachers were not nearly as decent or understanding. They refused to give me a chance because they could not be bothered and did not give a damn about a student who was initially doing well in their classes. Both of these teachers expected me to take the exams coming up at the same time as the rest of the class - claiming that I had as much time as everyone else to study for them. And my chemistry teacher downright refused to let me make up the missed lab assignments. Before I got sick - my guidance counselor was so impressed with how well I was doing she encouraged me to look into some good colleges and universities for after I graduated. However, because of these two teachers refusing to give me a chance - my guidance counselor changed her tune - saying that I'd have to make up the missed work, etc., over the summer - and that I might want to consider going to community college. So, in essence, I was severely punished for getting pneumonia.

Then there was the college English teacher who gave the good passing grades out to the students who did a special favor for her - and started flunking everyone who did not do so. I just thought the woman had it in for me only - and I could not figure out why - until I talked to another student who was in the same boat as me. My essays for the class started out w passing grades. First a C, second paper got a B, and the third an A. At this point, it was just past midterm. Then she mentioned that she needed some folks to help her paint her house if anyone was available. Those available decided to help her out - since she seemed like a decent and good teacher, giving fair grades, etc. After this event took place, she started giving all those students who did not show up to paint her house F's on every paper for the rest of the term. I ended up getting an F, and another girl got a D, only because she had straight A's since the first paper. That's how I knew the teacher was a fake. As a matter of fact, when she looked at the rough draft of the paper she gave me the F on - she said it looked really good and well written and that I would likely get another A. The rough draft was almost identical to the final paper.

Then there's the physics professor who just did not believe in teaching the material we needed to know in order to take and pass the exams. He actually said as much to the entire class - after most everyone in class failed the first exam. He even insulted everyone for being losers and for not studying - except we all studied what he went over in class and read the text as instructed to do so. The point is - he did not test on the material he went over in class. This makes no sense. Why teach a class in the first place - unless you're going to teach it in the best way for students to learn the material - so that they have a chance to learn and pass the exams. Again, a teacher who did not believe in giving students a reasonable chance at success. Very inefficient and ineffective teaching style. The most disturbing about this professor's teaching tactics is twofold. First, the head of the physics department later told us that unfortunately most physics, math, and chemistry professors at major universities teach this way. Secondly and the most disturbing, most engineering students are taking these exact same classes and are not learning what they really need to be learning - like gravity, tension, pressure, and other major natural forces and processes in nature. These engineering students get severely curved grades so the professor doesn't lose tenure. This lets the students pass but without the knowledge they took the class to learn in the first place. Now we have engineering mistakes and disasters that are costing people their lives because of the failure at the educational level.

Hey, if you don't want to be a teacher - then don't be a teacher. But, if you want access to the goodies - the perks - that come with the teaching position - like labs available for your research and experiments - then you may have to teach - but at least do it the right way. Students and their families are going into severe debt to pay for and take these classes. The least a college or university professor can do in return is teach the material that the students need to know for the exams and for their careers. The best professors I ever had - did teach this way - the right way.