posted 11-14-2001 03:04            

Others however, have not had such a positive effect on my outlook. One teacher in particular always comes to the forefront when I think of "bad" teachers:

He was a Math teacher, teaching mostly second level Algebra to college students. He knew his stuff, but frequently it would show that he thought this job was below him.

This class was fairly small for a college course (about 30 students). He had just finished a lecture and assigned several problems to work on in class. During this time he would offer to answer students questions... which normally meant he would boredly spout out something that may or may not help and then move on.

He was in rare form on one particular day: Instead of just boredly responding, he was ranting on and on about how we didnt' know what we were "supposed" to have been taught in the previous course. No excuses were accepted.

The final straw for me came when I asked him about an equation I couldn't remember, and couldnt' find in the book.

He looked at me and replied "You dont know that? You should have that memorized. I cannot believe you made it into this class without knowing that equation"

I looked at him, and told him exactly what the equation did, what it was used for, and when it was taught to me. I then reiterated that I just didn't remember what the hell the exact equation was.

He actually refused to tell me. He said that if I didn't know, then he sure wasn't going to cover my lack of knowledge.

I was seething. I was ready to pack my bags and walk out.

Then he moved on to another students question... ironically it was a student I had studied with in the previous semesters algebra course. The student was asking a question about something we had never covered in the previous semester (that was also assumed knowledge in this textbook).

He went crazy... he ranted for 5 minutes about how we all came to this class unprepared, about how he had no idea how we could have made it this far.

Finally I spoke up. I told him that we had skipped that section the previous year due to time restraints. I pointed out that the textbook was rather sad (for $140) and it assumed we knew things that it shouldn't assume. I pointed out that if EVERYONE in the damn class didn't know something that it probably meant that he should get together with others in his department and coordinate their damn schedules.

I was thrown out. I didn't have to walk out. I dropped that class. I registered a complaint.

Nothing happened.

posted 11-14-2001 09:43         

This instructor had a very thick Middle Eastern accent (he was from Iran) that left him almost completely indecipherable--not good when you're teaching advanced concepts. Though it was amusing to hear his constant pronunciation of "three" as "tree".

After every test, he would post the marks of every student on the board (just the numerical score, of course), and would claim that those with marks under 80 (more than three-quarters of the class) had no business being in the class and should drop out.

Of course, he also never let you forget that he had three Ph.D.s in calculus from several state universities, and was therefore unbelievably smarter than you who couldn't understand him.

I actually tried to attend one of this teacher's office hours because I didn't understand some of the homework due to his inability to express himself properly. Before he would agree to answer my question, he asked to see my homework to prove that I was comprehending the material. I told him I didn't have it done because I didn't understand it. He then refused to help me because I wasn't studying enough.

I wound up with a D in the class (I needed at least a C to get credit), so I was forced to retake it next year. I actually signed up with another teacher, but unfortunately that second one retired, and I had to retake it with the first instructor.

Fortunately, the universe has a way of balancing itself out. I got an A the second time around. Why?

Because my arrogant bastard of an instructor never changed his tests from year to year. The equations and therefore the answers were exactly the same...I aced every exam.

posted 11-14-2001 22:29           

As part of my general requirements, I had to take a health course this year. Of course, I got stuck with what was possibly the worst teacher for it. Butch, lesbian-looking woman of about forty. Nose stud, five earrings in one ear, short black hair, the works. She comes into class the first day and tells us that she will NOT, under any circumstances, "help a student who refuses to help himself." Okay, I can deal with that.
Now, I have Crohn's Disease. It's a chronic inflammation of the intestines. When it's in remission, I'm fine. Every now and then, it'll flare up, and I'll be no good for anything, including eating, drinking, or studying. It flared up about a month ago, and I couldn't make it to the class for a few weeks. The book was for shit, so I fire off a quick email to her asking for help. Nice, sincere, polite, simply "I'm behind due to health reasons and I can't catch up on my own--should I drop, or can I make up some of the work?" A week goes by--no response. I catch up to her in her office, and she tells me, point blank, that she won't deal with someone like me. I ask why, and she tells me, and I quote:
"My niece knew someone with Crohn's Disease, and SHE never had a problem getting to class."

posted 11-15-2001 10:40         

We had two such faculty members during my high school time. We despised them so much, since they reveled in the attention. My friend Jay and I still speculate that one in particular *had* to have done something, because he was always so fucking happy and cool around the sports girls (he was the coach for some-such team. Can anyone say locker room fun? :P)

posted 11-15-2001 23:35            

The upshot is I called the professor and told him about it, and had him grade my final paper. So nothing all that bad happened. Was this the right story? I also had a differential equations prof who spoke almost no english at all, and had to communicate through mathematics alone. He got run over by a bike, which was pretty funny.

posted 11-16-2001 06:09            

I think the moral of the story is that if you want some lovin', you should go to grad school or get a teaching certificate and teach high school or college english or history. Although, I tend to prefer science and art and music teachers more than history. I think Teaching Assistants tend to get the quality (and legal!) college girls so grad school may be the better option.

I have so many bad teacher stories I don't even know where to begin. My most recent was a guy who knew less about some of the topics he was teaching than I did. Not a big deal except when I would ask questions or argue (since he also wrote TERRIBLE exam questions and graded like a nazi), he would get really pissed off. Eventually his response to our gripes while going over tests was that he had built "extra points" into the score to allow for some of the questions which would be tossed out.

I was actually somewhat relieved when he fell out of a tree and broke a leg and both arms.

posted 11-19-2001 08:55            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bex:
I AM a delicate flower! I have soft skin and fluttering eyelashes and I need to ask a manly man to reach things on the top shelf for me.

---

I thought you were into the hot lesbian mother-sex.

posted 11-19-2001 17:01            

Anyway, he finally had enough one day, and called for an immediate test, equal to the midterm in terms of our final grade. eep. But he apparently couldn't decide whether to tell us to take out a "piece" or "sheet" of paper, so he said "take out a piece of sheet."