Losing Respect for Professors

Apparently you went to a college where professors actually do teach. That's great! I wonder if it is voluntary of mandatory for them. My attitude isn't about whether or not all professors are great. I agree with you, some are great, some are bums with a paycheck. It's like that in every profession so why not among professors. I just wonder why tax money should go to professors whose sole purpose in life is to get published.

So I guess Dave Barry is more qualified to be a professor than any actual teacher.

What's ironic about it? You have no idea what you're talking about. She's taking 8 classes right now while working on her Phd and DMA simultaneously. She's already had one research study published. The point I was making was that her teaching skills and experience were not going to be a factor when she applied to be a full time professor. Your pathetic attempt at an attack failed miserably. My wife and I work hard for what we have and don't depend on government handouts like Obama's minions.

Since you accused me of making excuses and being lazy...um excuses...excuses. Kind of ironic. Tell here to get published like the ret of us do..or maybe that is just a left wing thing.

If they are all about writing books, let them write books and live off the royalties instead of being some kind of royalty in their own minds. The purpose of the university is to teach students. If professors aren't there to teach students, they are a waste of taxpayer money. The janitor seems to be more productive than the professors. Here in the US professors make a lot of money. Of course, it does depend on what university and department, but the ones in prestigious positions make enough to be neighbors of senators.

Good point, and there is nothing wrong with a professional using their skills and experience to supplement their income. However, if the side projects keep them so busy that they no longer have time for the students then they have no business being paid by the university.

Earnings within the profession are not as good as people think, though they are certainly not bad. Most professors get further income from research grants, publications and external work. It is similar to a sports star - a good basic wage, but the vast wealth comes from endorsements. I supplement my income by translating for other institutions and grading exam papers.

Any professor or teacher who penalizes students because they disagree political should be fired! That is called "abusing their position" and is a sign of incompetence.

A professor should definitely not be so narrowminded. In certain subjects there is a right and a wrong, but in the majority opinions and discourse are what is expected from the student. Only through that, will a truly rounded individual come into being.

It is those kind of professors that help me maintain some respect for the profession. Of course, even if I totally lost respect for the profession itself, I would still have utmost respect for a good teacher... even if they were professors. :~D

Yes, we get our degrees with help from great teachers... we also get them inspite of piss poor ones.

also it depends a lot on the university that you go to. I went to the U of Ca at Irvine Ca and really had several wonderful teachers and one whom I dispised. He read a paper of mine in front of a class of one hundred students and made horrible fun of it, and I was in tears, all the student s around me were trying to tell me he w as a jerk. I did a paper very similar to that one for another prof who also read it aloud, and told us all that this was an excellent paper and he e ven congratulated me on it. so you never know. it is sad to have so spend so much for education and get some proffessors who are like the jerk.To make matters worse I was not in my twenties at the time, I was 56 which did not help anything But I did get my degree af ter all.I had one negro proffessor who was female and she was just wondeful, she made greek and roman history so much fun i could not believe it. I really liked her so much.

It is truly sad that all that knowledge and academic experience turns out NOT being used to educate students.

Quite often, it does seem that some private universities, particularly those that have a very strong focus on engineering, are actually research institutions, & the reason they adopt the name "institute," or if they large enough so that they can divide the various departments into "schools of ... " is so they can declare themselves tax exempt. Theur primary source of income is from research grants from companies & corporations, or even the government, to come up with solutions to various problems, or at least, a step closer to solving whatever problem needed a solution. Tuition paid by the students - whether out of their pockets or by financial aid - lumped together with donations from alumni, are usually more of a loss than a profit.

I completely understand and agree that it takes more than expertise in a subject to be able to teach it. It took me about two years to develop my technique for teaching guitar. So much of it is forcing yourself to go back to when things weren't just second nature. So much of what we do is done without thinking about it anymore, but if you can't bring yourself back to where the students are, then you can't teach. I would expect all professors to have TAs and other student assistants to grade papers and other mundane things. It is a waste of time and money for someone with a PhD to spend hours doing such work. From where I sit, if the class is more than about 40 people then it might as well be done online or distance ed. Once the class gets that big, there is really no interaction between the students and teacher anyway. Yeah, a few students might be able to get a question or two out, if the teacher makes time for it, but that is not usually the reality. But Jr. and Sr. level classes usually aren't that big, and there is no reason for a TA to be teaching people who are maybe a semester behind them in the first place. It is a travesty that professors aren't required to have classes in teaching. They are educators after all.

I agree that that should be one of the differences between the professor and the teacher, but if the professor has no actual contact with students, how are they "guides" for anyone? I'm not even against the importance of being published, but let's face it, there are many works out there that are published, but aren't worth the paper they are printed on. How many textbooks, sublimentals, and theses would ever be purchased by anyone if course instructors didn't make them required reading? How many books are students forced to buy, but are then rarely (if ever) even refered to by the teacher, professor or TA? Publishing new and/or vital information is one thing. Publications that are only bought by force is pretty much a scam.

I do understand your scepticism about publications, and youu are right that many of these publications are not only unnecessary, but far too often, factually false. The problem, though, is not really of the professors making; there are many external factors which are playing a part. One of the greatest blights in this field is television. Nowadays, there are whole channels devoted to history, nature, politics, and, other such subjects. Each of these channels wants shows, even new shows covering topics already extensively covered before. These television production companies pay universities large sums of money to put a viewer friendly professorial face into their programmes, but want a new angle for an old story, and often follow a fad. Within my own sphere of speciality (European History and Literature, especially Semiotics in writing and art), the worst thing to happen since the holocaust was the publication of Dan Browns 'Da Vinci Code'. I have been approached on more than a dozen occassions by representatives of my university, the written press and television production companies, with them all wanting me to distort Templar history to make connections between Dan Browns writing and history. The truth of the matter is, simply, that, whilst being a fun, pulp fiction who-dunnit, the Da Vinci Code makes leaps of faith, distorts historic fact and is absolutely fraudulent. Not one person asked me to rubbish the novel and tell the truth. No-one wanted the reality and genuine explainations of the history and symbolism that Dan Brown refers to. Accordingly, I have refused all offers and pressure. I have students, who have read the book, who need 'de-Dan Browning' before they can start studying properly. Fortunately, I already hold tenure at the university, but I know that other professors who have not yet attained that level of security have had to produce papers and research to suit the needs of the tv community. Additionally, the universities themselves apply pressure on professors to publish a minimum amount of research and papers every year, so that they can parade you in front of wealthy people. These wealthy people believe that shaking my hand somehow makes them profoundly more intelligent, and they then reward the university with funding. The end result of this is that I spend roughly 9 hours a week in the lecture theatre and a further 16 hours each week in 1 to 1 discussion with students. I believe that this is not a proper use of my time, and wish that I could spend more time in the theatre, trying to supply the guidance to which I referred. Alas, my hands are tied, and the university feels that my time can be 'more profitably' spent, though that profit is financial, rather than student directed. I do understand your frustration, but it is the system that is broken, not the professors, although there are some professors who do not share my view, and would rather pander to television and personal ego (Simon Schama, are you reading this?).

There are a lot of Hospital/Paramedic style programmes, and my own Grandfather was an ambulance driver himself. Whenever I see a trailer for ER, with some doctor sat on the patient giving heart massage, I can't help but think of my old grandad. I don't think he would have done much of that kind of thing - rather more dramatic than practical. Hopefully, they would have given CPR etc at the scene and/or onboard the ambulance. I know tv should be slightly escapist, but please, can we stay on this planet? Thanks for your considerate comments, and I hope that any of your friends and family attending university get the best quality professors.

Interesing. If UK professors can be involved in other projects and still teach, then US professors should be able to. I know there is a time difference between the prime meridian and US time zones, but that doesn't mean there are more hours in a day there. :~D