# Mean College Professors?



## MojoCrunch (Mar 25, 2011)

Ever feel like your professors just effing HATE you and think you are an imbecile. And you try to ask them a simple question just to make sure and they seem kind of pissed off at you. GAWD! I hate approaching or even e-mailing ANY of my professors. They are all so mean! :cry


----------



## laura024 (Aug 11, 2006)

Yeah. There was one who always made me feel stupid in front of the class when I made a comment or asked a question, so I stopped. Apparently I didn't make any sense, and didn't speak up enough. It may not be as bad as you fear though. I'd still e-mail them if it's important. I noticed that if you're really nice to someone, they tend to lose their attitude.


----------



## velocicaur (Aug 8, 2009)

They're not all mean. My experience has been quite the opposite. Then again, I come from a family of professors and I have heard all kinds of stories.

Introduce yourself to them during the first week of class in office hours. I would recommend to always meet your professor in person during office hours instead of emailing. Especially if it's a class you're interested in or you know it's going to be difficult. It makes it much more personal and shows that you "care" more. 

When you ask them questions, don't ask them a "stupid" question, and by that; I mean come prepared, show what you are working on and what you are having troubles with. 

Also, don't get frustrated if they respond to your question with a question. They are likely trying to gauge how much you know, and what you are currently thinking, and are trying to LEAD you to the answer without giving it to you directly. It may seem like they are making you look or feel stupid, but that isn't what they are trying to accomplish. Remember, they really are trying to teach you how to critically think, learn, etc. :idea


----------



## MojoCrunch (Mar 25, 2011)

velocicaur said:


> They're not all mean. My experience has been quite the opposite. Then again, I come from a family of professors and I have heard all kinds of stories.
> 
> Introduce yourself to them during the first week of class in office hours. I would recommend to always meet your professor in person during office hours instead of emailing. Especially if it's a class you're interested in or you know it's going to be difficult. It makes it much more personal and shows that you "care" more.
> 
> ...


Well, I've actually known this professor for a while and i've tried all of that stuff you've said and a lot of my professors still hate me. Whatever, I'm probably just overreacting. Sorry. Screw it, this is my last class ever. I'll do whatever I have to to pass and finally graduate.


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

MojoCrunch said:


> Ever feel like your professors just effing HATE you and think you are an imbecile. And you try to ask them a simple question just to make sure and they seem kind of pissed off at you. GAWD! I hate approaching or even e-mailing ANY of my professors. They are all so mean! :cry


I would that it is on them, not you. It shows their impatience and thinking they are better than other people in their field.


----------



## zencollie (Apr 11, 2012)

*They lead stressful lives too*



MojoCrunch said:


> Ever feel like your professors just effing HATE you and think you are an imbecile. And you try to ask them a simple question just to make sure and they seem kind of pissed off at you. GAWD! I hate approaching or even e-mailing ANY of my professors. They are all so mean! :cry


There's a lot of reasons why they pick on students as some others have pointed out. Bad hair day or whatever. There's also politicking and some really like cherry-picking a few favorites to whip the class in shape (behavioral modification approach to classroom management maybe). Please don't feel you are alone though. No matter what, every college student runs into a prof who won't like them no matter what. You may feel like  has truly got it made with the prof because of an elite family background etc, but it's not really always the case. Okay, say it was. I've known instances where there was overt favoritism and the student didn't work for but received good grade, good job etc. Then there's the Peter Principle comes along and there he is in this ratty tat administrative job for life, and collecting all kinds of karma. Key words in there for the next life. Its not easy grading all those papers either, and no wonder some of them really get stressed out and develop health problems. So if really try to display your best manners (and they still over-react and pick on you), yeah, maybe the professor does have it in for you this semester, and if you are in the liberal arts, yeah, you may not be able to receive the grade you truly earned. Keep a low profile, get past the switchback, and move up to the viewpoint. PS. Don't email them anything more than 2 lines, since they probably won't answer or worse. Meet them at the end of class (have a classmate there with you for support).


----------



## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

The profs who have tenure are the scariest.


----------



## talkswithkeyboard (Dec 28, 2010)

This has been a topic of my daily discussions with myself (lol). I attended one college for a year but switched to another college because I wasn't enjoying the program that much. The difference in the style and quality of teaching is DRAMATICALLY different. The professors at the previous college were a lot more professional. At my current college, there's an attitude among the professors like they are better than you and you get a sense like they failed at working in the industry so they settled for teaching instead. There's just one exception and that would be my math professor. She is the kindest professor I have ever had, always has a smile on her face and will always try and help you if you don't understand something.

There is one professor that I have had for the past three semester because she was the only one teaching those courses. She is never prepared for class so her lectures are completely unorganized and it's very difficult to draw conclusions. She tries to be very thoughtful and analytical by starting with some long introduction into the topic, but those introductions end up going on for several lectures, wasting everyone's time. The worst thing that she forces people to participate. If we end up on a previous topic, she will point out people who made those mistakes on the last test.

I really cannot wait to get out of this college. I'm sick and tired of the attitudes of these professors. It makes me feel very depressed.

</rant>


----------



## kittenamos (Jun 23, 2011)

I e-mailed my Art History teacher after I got my first test grade back. I asked her if I could come in sometime and she could help me figure out why I got the grade I did and how I could do better on the next one. 

Her e-mail back to me said that all of the answers were in the textbook and basically said that I was an idiot if I couldn't find them myself. 

There have been a couple of times after this that I would have liked to have gotten in contact with her to get help with the class, but I haven't been able to after receiving that first e-mail.


----------

