There is a professor here who I have had the unfortunate luck of having for 2 classes. He is without doubt the most reprehensible, irresponsible and unprofessional instructor I've had- too bad he's tenured. Here is why:

He is unfair. A lot of us work together on assignments, and he gives us different amonunts of points for statements that have EXACTLY THE SAME WORDING. Last semester, we had a take-home final. None of us could do this one part, because we hadn't gone over anything like it in class. One of the female students asked him about it, and he gave her help and let her redo that part for the exam. I tried to get help, and he didn't give me the same opportunity.

He doesn't teach. All he does in lecture is regurgitate the material straight out of the book. Examples come straight from the book and he does not shed any new light on anything.

His tests are laughable. On our first midterm, he gave us an example that we had not used in class or in the homework. It would have been fine if he had given us a formula, but he did not. We were apparently supposed to have the pdf of the lognormal distribution memorized, although we never used it. On the day he handed the tests back, he came in and threw them in the trash, saying "that's where they belong."

He is unwilling to help. Several times, I have gone into his office hours for help (which in theory he should be willing to do), only to be turned away. Once, I asked him when would be a good time to come in, but when I went to get help, he told me to "go to the library."

He isn't flexible at all. Today, I asked if I could take a midterm early. I got a blunt "no." How many times have I offered alternate times for exams to my own students? I have come in on SATURDAY to help them when other times would not work out. I have come in on other days off and HOLIDAYS to help them. No such luck from this guy.

He is boring. He speaks in such hushed tones that it is hard to hear him at all, and apparently is so monotone that his voice is only capable of one note.

He is disorganized. The lectures are incredibly slow because he takes a long time just to figure out what he wants to talk about next. The most frequent words to come from his mouth are "uhh" and "errr." It is clear that he only teaches because he has to, not because of any real passion for it.

Why do instructors like this get tenured? How can someone be so heartless and irresponsible as to not care at all about your students?

Thankfully, the vast majority of teachers I have had have been wonderfully professional, flexible, approachable and kind. I've tried very hard just to get a read on this guy, but he is the most inept person I've ever met.

I his name Mrs. Bamford?

PURPLEJACKSON9 said:

No! I think it's Mr.Cotter.

althom said:

Sweathogs!

Moonbeam said:

This person is reprehensible and against everything teaching is supposed to be..half the problem is that he is tenured..he now has carte blanch to act out his insecurities by basically being a dick to his students ..he is on some John Houseman Paper Chase boolshit...he is in the teaching game for the title and so called prestige. I can't stand professors like this ..they make everyone else suffer because of their issues. Good luck with him Moonbeam

Moonbeam said:

This fool is "out there", on some movie shit.

Dammit! Worst of all, he's getting in the way of your love for Annie. She would kill him if she knew about this.

Be sure to include all of this in your instructor evaluation. I would just copy/paste. Or give the URL to this thread to the dean or something.

Bastard. I hate lazy teachers.

CarrieMpls said:

Yes, and tell Annie on him. Seriously though, at least you haven't let it affect the way you teach. And you're the better man for it. I hope you don't have to take him after this term. He sounds like a cunt.

Besides being lazy, I had a few who had no clue about the subject they were teaching. I kid you not.

There were "teachers" being hired mainly for their "computer experience" who knew nothing of (for example) the computer language they were hired to teach.

Instructor's who would show Powerpoint slides...and merely read them to us.

I could go on and on... but I won't.

I'm getting more and more pissed about this. There's gotta be something we can do. Have you talked to his superiors about his shitty attitude? What do the other students say about him? Have you told him you think he's unfair? This is totally unacceptable.

Lazy Instructors are shocking...

Why do they even bother turning up for class when they have absolutely nothing to offer, except for a bitter attitude... I wonder if he was always like this... and if not... what changed him?..

The best instructors are those who have a passion for what they're teaching, and those who care about their students and are willing to help in a way that serves the best interests of their students... this guy needs a wake up call... (at the very least.)

I think he has forgotten what it is all about... maybe I'm giving him too much credit... perhaps he hasn't forgotten, perhaps he simply doesn't care anymore or never did...

Talk to the head of the department and give him the worst eval possible... of course, wait until the end of the quarter...

Good luck in the meantime Moonie... I'm sorry it sucks. It seems like there are a few of these in every school.