In its October 7 issue, The Current published the opinions article “Teach, for crying out loud!” Below is another perspective on the subject.
My experience at NSU has taught me that most professors truly care about their students, and that even the ones who seem to not care, do. Usually these professors have just become calloused from years of dealing with students who really don’t care about what they have to say. I don’t blame them. If I had a class full of students who were only taking my class because they had to, I’d probably feel the same way. What you’ll most likely find with these professors is that if you actually show interest in the course material, they will brighten up and be happy to help. They just need to know that somebody cares.
Some of the most kind, passionate and caring people that I’ve ever met have been my professors. I’ve had the great opportunity to learn so much more from them than any textbook could ever teach me. I’ve had professors give me career guidance, write letters of recommendation for me or even just give general life advice. This is not something that they have to do, nor do they get paid to do it. They do it because they care.
Online classes are in a class of their own (excuse the pun). The purpose of an online class is to serve those students who either don’t have time for an in-person class, or don’t care enough about the subject to put the work into an in-person class. I’ll acknowledge that it is much easier for a professor to be more hands-off or distant in an online class. However, I have found that some professors really have a knack for managing an online classroom. I guess that, with regards to online classes, some professors have that knack and some don’t.
I’ve taken plenty of online classes, and my experience with them has been varied. I’ve had some mediocre online classes that I took almost no information away from, but I’ve found that these are almost always a fluke. For the most part, my online classes have provided me with valuable experience and knowledge, just as much, if not more so, than I would in an in-person class. The key is keeping the class actively involved in discussion and collaboration on projects or papers.
I’ve heard it said that when someone is passionate about something, you can see it in how they speak. This passion is so much more than just being knowledgeable or having extensive experience in a field. I’ve had professors who were passionate about accounting. Accounting! Who’s passionate about that? This passion for their subject drives students to work harder and makes them want to be passionate about it, too. Granted, I’m far from passionate about accounting, but I took a lot more from that class than I would have taken from it otherwise.
One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Fortunately, professors are not apples. In other words, a few sub-par professors are not representative of an entire teaching faculty, and they certainly don’t spoil a whole university. Although there are some professors who don’t put as much into their classes as they should, they do not represent the whole of NSU’s teaching faculty. For the most part, professors at NSU truly want to see their students learn and succeed. They don’t do what they do for the paycheck; many of them have actually left much higher-paying jobs to come and teach. They do it because they care.
