I finished my first semester of nursing this past spring & I had two foreign profs, one for pharmacology & one for intro to med surg - arguably the hardest classes of 1st semester. One prof was Indian and the other Chinese.
I earned a c in both classes...
But in pathophysiology, health assessment & clinicals, I earned As. I had American profs in all three courses.
This is a recurring issue for me throughout my college career. I excel when I have American professors but I struggle when I have foreign profs. In microbiology, my prof. was Japanese & had a thick accent. I passed his class with a low C. I had an American lab professor for the lab component & I earned an A.
I feel as though in the classes that I have foreign profs, they don't lecture as well. It has little to do with the accent & more to do with the way they lecture. They just read the slides...I can do that on my own! And I dont like being read to AT ALL. My American professors are more engaging & approach lecturing differently. Anyone else run into this issue?
For my physiology class I had an Indian prof who talked at mach 5 but he was really engaging and you could tell he was passionate about his field. However, you have to realize most university profs are there for the research and some of them are forced into teaching as a requirement.
I know exactly what you mean. I actually dropped a class once because I could not understand the professor. It was just simply an unusual accent that I could not grasp. Sure, I could have just read the book and studied on my own, but if I am paying my hard-earned money to hear a lecture, I expect to be able to understand it. If I have to teach myself, why pay for it?
Some people simply can't understand certain accents. It has nothing whatsoever to do with someone being "foreign." It has to do with being able to make out what is being said. I went to school at a huge teaching university, and we joked that English was a "second language" there. But there were some that I simply could not understand. I think some of the posters here have completely misunderstood what the OP was saying. As for myself, if I am paying big bucks for a class, I fully expect to be able to understand the instructor.
Similarly, my husband works in lab with scientists from all over the world: Haiti, Italy, France, Spain, New Zealand, Japan etc... Not only did they have to become extremely fluent in English, they had to learn perfect grammar writing scientific articles in a non-Native language. If they can do all that, then I tell myself that I can definitely manage a professor who sounds just like Sebastian from Disney's The Little Mermaid (true story).
long time out of school, only had one foreign prof, middle eastern, older, think he hadn't been here all that long. My hearing had already started going down the tubes (pun intended), so I was sitting there with my hand cupped to my ear, trying to hear and understand him, he picked up very quickly and basically lectured TO ME much of the time. Class act.
I believe it's the teaching style not the teacher...
Actually one of the best professors I ever had was from another country-he had an accent and was from Russia. But he was the BEST ( he taught A&P I and A &P II)-he explained everything and NEVER read from power point..yes at times it was difficult understanding him but he would always crack jokes that "Russia was getting in the way of teaching."
Nursing is mostly self taught anyway...the teachers cannot spoon feed information and I've had my share of crabby teachers...but don't lump every foreign teacher as "bad" teachers.
Let's face it--a prof could be the greatest prof in the world. Their teaching style could be excellent, their comprehension of the information unsurpassed--but if you can't understand them or you don't "get" their teaching style--REGARDLESS of their race--you will probably struggle in their class. In this case, it sounds like it's the accent that might be tripping up the OP, and they're not alone if that's what's happening.
We had an incredible professor who was Kenyan. She was highly intelligent and worked in research. But she was very difficult to understand and her communication skills in English were iffy. This made her tests extremely difficult because sure, you could know the book, but that didn't mean you'd pass her tests.
I have found the comments very interesting on this post. I am assisting with the development of an international nursing program that as its assets will have faculty and students from a variety of international settings. The faculty and the students will be foreign because this island has never had a BSN program before.
As a registered nurse from Kentucky and like many of you, I have been surrounded by a very homogenous group of nurses who do not see the opportunity that we have to learn from foreign nurses or culturally diverse individuals. In fact, I think it is imperative that we look at these opportunities in nursing school to interact with faculty different than ourselves so that we are prepared to interact with the client that most certainly will be different than us. In fact I challenge you to develop this sensitivity so that you will be a great nurse! Good luck!
As a registered nurse from Kentucky and like many of you, I have been surrounded by a very homogenous group of nurses who do not see the opportunity that we have to learn from foreign nurses or culturally diverse individuals. In fact, I think it is imperative that we look at these opportunities in nursing school to interact with faculty different than ourselves so that we are prepared to interact with the client that most certainly will be different than us. In fact I challenge you to develop this sensitivity so that you will be a great nurse! Good luck!
Dr. Suzette Scheuermann PHD RN
I have traveled a great deal and interacted with people of all backgrounds. It is difficult even for me to understand certain accents at times. I agree that this exposure is absolutely essential, not only for one's practice but for personal growth, but there are growing pains to be expected in the process, which is what the OP's post centers upon. It takes time for some folks to learn to "listen with an accent", and some people never do really develop the ability.
I can sympathize with what the OP is feeling-- my mom is full Korean and I was born, raised, and lived in Korea until I was 13 years old-- so you'd think I could understand anyone with an Asian accent. No. I can't. I ended up dropping a statistics course that was taught by a brilliant Chinese man and his lab professor was a really sweet lady from Russia. I couldn't even take notes in class because I wasn't sure exactly what was being said- I would try to go home and study but I was so lost- there was no hope.
However, I truly believe that whatever race the professor is (or how thick their accent is)- it's all based on teaching styles AND your personal learning style. I learn better by engaging in conversation (instead of writing down notes) and being very hands on.
I don't think the OP meant to bring it up in a racial way, but rather that she understood professors who were of her own ethnicity and therefore preformed better academically.
Let's not be quick to judge each other- I know nurses eat their young- but instead we should be offering sound advice from our own personal experiences or words of encouragement.... Nursing school is hard enough as it is and allnurses (at least for me) is a place to be able to be honest and get some other perspectives, you know?
No. I can't. I ended up dropping a statistics course that was taught by a brilliant Chinese man and his lab professor was a really sweet lady from Russia. I couldn't even take notes in class because I wasn't sure exactly what was being said- I would try to go home and study but I was so lost- there was no hope.
mak0076
13 Posts
You just can't blame any (american or foreign) professors for your low grades, it's students responsibility how to study to get high grades.