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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Things I'd Love To Say To Professors*

- Why is it so difficult for people to become teachers between the grades of K and 12, but there are no strict qualifications for people to become professors? How does field experience alone qualify you to be a "good" educator?

- I understand that we may doodle on notebooks, check our facebook pages, and daydream in the middle of class, but we are legal adults. So, please treat us accordingly.

- In a short period of time, we will become your professional peers. So, please treat us accordingly.

- "Mental health days" are real, and graduate students do take advantage of them. If you don't believe in these days, we will subsequently be ill, have a death in the family, or have devastating car troubles... whichever reason you'll deem excusable.

- While you may chuckle in delight with your cunningness and creativity, assigning literature abstract reviews has indeed been done before. In every single class. The same goes for power point presentations.

- Soap boxes never do what you intend them to do. Like a teenager rebelling from strict parents, graduate students just end up loathing the subject of the rant, rather than becoming increasingly passionate about the said subject.

- Please keep in mind that we are paying our hard-earned (or hard-borrowed) money, so if we choose to skip class, it's on our dime.

- Please also keep in mind that because we are paying a pretty penny to gain your worldly knowledge, please avoid outlining the textbook for your lectures. We are capable of reading and comprehending.... amazing, I know.

- THE BIGGEST PET-PEEVE OF ALL GRADUATE STUDENTS is when you read word-for-word off of your power point slides. As stated above, we are capable of reading and comprehending. A three hour story time with the professor and the power point is nothing less than torture.

* Disclaimer: this blog entry comes only from my point-of-view and personal experiences with professors in graduate school.

2 comments:

Mandi said...

I support your sentiments, as they seem to reflect my own thoughts.

waitingforcider said...

Ahh! Welcome to the business world! Self-absorbed 'know it all' bosses, endless seas of powerpoint blather... heck, just add the words "synergy" and "webinar" about two dozen times... and sounds like you've got the training down pat!