Everyone knows that teachers can be a wide variety of things. Some can be so horrible that you skip as many classes as humanly possible, or are so bad you drop the class altogether. On the other hand, others can help you so much that they stick with you and are still there years down the road.

Teachers have a big role to fill, as they are helping mold the minds of the future workers of the world, so their job is no easy task. That said, why do some become teachers when they have no interest in the students? When you are working with students as much as teachers are, many would assume they need to have some interest in seeing their student successfully complete the class. Sadly though this is not the case.

College professor's jobs are literally to help less educated students become more proficient in whatever topic they teach. Whether it be a subject the student is majoring in or one needed for an extracurricular, they need the class in order to progress and need adequate knowledge on what they learned.

Some professors love this challenge and excel with their students. They take the time to help each individual student, even if it goes over their office hours. They genuinely want their students to be successful in the classroom and learn what is needed to be learned.

I have had teachers that give their phone number to the class, so they can text them and send pictures of problems they need help with. I’ve had others that have to spend hours on a single concept with me until I was confident on the topic. These teachers are wonderful and make the class that much better; they don’t spoon feed you, but they care about your well being and will help as much as they can without hindering you.

On the other hand, experience with bad teachers is also something many students go through. I’m not even talking about the teachers that are tough graders or have an iron fist on when assignments are due. I’m talking about the teachers who subtly degrade you and your esteem just plummets taking their class.

The ones that say they are there to help, yet when you ask, give you a quick answer and expects you to get it. The one who acts like your brain is empty when you don’t get a concept that they deem “easy” or “simple”. The one who tells you to just “read the text again”, or “you must be studying wrong” when you express your frustration when not understanding part of the topic. The one who tells you to pick another profession, since “I wouldn’t trust you as a [blank] since you take so long to learn [blank]”.

These teachers do the bare minimum for their students, yet expect us all to be masters in the subject by day one. I’m not saying teachers don’t have the right to be strict, or tough, as in my opinion they absolutely have that right. Instead, I expressing confusion as to why these teachers picked this job if they have no interest in helping.

When your job description includes “to teach others”, why would you take the job if you can’t and don’t want to teach people that don’t have your brain. Everyone learns differently and may struggle with something that you may have thought was easy. Belittling doesn’t help, it just hinders students into thinking they must just be that dumb. If you possess those qualities, then don’t be a teacher, it will save everyone a lot of stress and headache. Try something else, that doesn’t include you teaching future minds of the world.

I hope not everyone has had an experience with such a professor, as I know from experience that it can take a toll on your mental, emotional, and even physical well being. Teachers are meant to teach and help, not tear us down before we even show our full potential.