Double standards are always an interesting topic of conversation and can exist almost anywhere. There are some that are blatantly obvious, and others that are not so much. In college, double standards become more profound in more ways than just sexism. A big double standard in college that is often overlooked exists between students and professors.
As you probably know, college students love organization and structure. When this is denied to us, by means of ourselves or someone else, our grades usually suffer. Typically though, one would think that a lack of organization is the student’s own fault. However, this isn’t always the case. We’ve all had a professor or teacher out there that is so disorganized that we all suffer. Our lives become more stressful, and we may get a bad grade as a result. But what happens to the professor whose disorganization is hurting students? Nothing.
That’s right. They just go on their merry way, with only the possibility being a poor review from the students. For some reason, professors don’t have to be organized for our sakes. Instead, they get rewarded financially from the money we pay to take his or her class.
As a student, professors have exceptions for us to uphold. We must show up to class, turn in our work on time, participate, etc. But what’s wrong with holding our professors to similar standards? If we only get two weeks to write a paper, those very papers should be returned in the same amount of time—not two months later. Just like you set deadlines for us, we set deadlines for you.
Additionally, professors with inconsistent syllabus or no syllabus at all also apply an unnecessary burden to students, but also the professor as well. It’s not that difficult to simply compile all assignments onto an excel spreadsheet for us. But what is a nuisance is having to send out assignments via email or posted online before every single class. Not only is this an added responsibility for the professor that he or she could have taken care of at the beginning of the semester, but it also makes planning difficult for students.
Education is a very personalized process that not only requires effort on the student's behalf. The lack of organization and preparation that some professors do just sets students up for failure. If you expect students to put 100% into your class, then you, too, should be putting 100% in. It can be hard and a lot of work, but simple things like basic organization and consistency is what separates the mediocre professors from the great ones.
