As a freshman, I've only recently been exposed to the professors of the college world. Even so, it did not take me very long to categorize the different types of professors I would be bound to encounter for the rest of my college experience. Naturally, it was significantly easier to distinguish which types of professors I disliked the most:
1. The one that hates everyone and everything
We get it, even professors have their bad days. Maybe even a bad week. But if you're rude to your students every day of the entire school year, then we have a problem here. Don't be a teacher if you're not a people person. You might think that I really did not have to explain that, but you'd be surprised.
2. The one that forces you to participate
To give students participation grades, or to even just randomly select kids to participate in class, is one of the most ignorant acts a teacher could perform. There are so many students who get nauseous just at the idea of having to speak up in front of the class. To catch them off guard or to penalize them for not sharing their thoughts is cruel and, again, ignorant. It is so difficult for some students to be the center of attention, that participating in class should be a decision made solely by each individual student, and determined by his or her own comfort zone. For a professor who dedicated their education to understanding how to teach a variety of students, it amazes me that there are still some who fail to recognize this.
3. The one that's not even a professor
Can someone explain to me why roughly half of my "professors" so far aren't even professors? Most of my educators have been "teacher's assistants" which is just a fancy term for a graduate student. This isn't so bad most of the time, but you'd think that for all the money we're paying for a quality education that we'd be getting taught by an actual professor.
4. The one you literally can't even understand
It can be pretty frustrating trying to learn new and challenging material in general, right? But when the teacher can't even properly pronounce important terms, it will make any student want to slam their head into their desk. Even when the professor just has a super thick accent, about 90 percent of my mental energy goes into trying to determine exactly which words he or she was trying to pronounce.
5. The one that doesn't know how to teach
An individual could be an absolute genius in a subject, and still not be qualified enough to be a professor. I cannot stress this enough. Just because someone understands a concept, does not mean that they are fit to be able to teach it in a comprehensible way.
6. The one that's unorganized
It's one thing to be a student who never knows what's going on in class. It's another thing to be the professor of a class and also have no idea what's going on. I say this with all due respect, please get your shit together.
Don't get me wrong, there are an abundance of professors who have made me love coming to class. There are professors that make me look forward to learning. However, there's always going to be a handful of professors that make you want to bury your head into your desk and regret your decision of getting out of bed that morning.
