You know what they say about college academics, right? Succeeding consists of 5% hard work, and 95% getting on the good side of your instructors. That’s a saying, right? If not, it should be. You know, when it comes to structuring a class, college professors have a lot less nonsense to deal with than high school teachers who must teach what the state tells them and how the state tells them to teach it. However, that additional freedom at the college level comes at a cost that students almost always end up paying: your professor can pretty much do whatever he wants and it’s still up to you to pass.
Anyone who’s been in college for more than one day knows that some instructors are definitely easier to get along with than others. Eventually, we all come face to face with some truly terrible teachers, though. Those are the professors who do all these things while you have to sit there behind a desk, fantasizing about punching that teacher in the face.
20. Keep talking when they know class time is over.
There’s a clock in the room. We all know that time is up, yet the professor pretends to be totally oblivious to it. So now the students have to sit there awkwardly because they don’t want to be the first person to get up and walk out, even though their next class is all the way across campus and starts in less than ten minutes.
19. Assign online discussion questions.
You know, the professors who require you to post at least four responses a week to the discussion questions he’s posted on the class website. Your responses must be at least six paragraphs long and you have to cite your commentary from this week’s reading. Gag me.
18. Assign an insane amount of reading.
“You mean we have to read Ulysses in its entirety before we meet again for class on Monday? Cool. No problem.” (Student starts sobbing and tearing out hair…)
17. Act as if they’re the wisest being on the face of the Earth.
Lots of professors have a major God complex. No, wait. Lots of professors have an I’m-smarter-than-God complex.
16. Not offer extra credit…ever.
They say that they don’t want to reward slackers with easy points to make up their grade. While that’s a valid point, it really can’t hurt to offer some extra credit, right? Sometimes you just need a few extra points to bump you up to the next grade!
