Horrible Professor

Published

Hi all,

Sorry I just need to vent, and I hate actually venting in real life because it's such a negative exercise, so I'm turning to cyberspace for some solace and an open forum to express my seething frustrations. I don't even anticipate, or am banking on, any kind of comforting or conciliatory responses from you fine folks. No, I just can't stand this professor of mine and so I'm going to let loose.

I'm 25, a first year graduate student at a school of nursing in New York State. I'm getting my FNP within about 3 years and cannot wait to be a practicing NP and hopefully nursing professor as well. However, this semester is harder than I thought it would be, and not the good kind of hard. If a class is well-organized and efficiently administrated, no matter how hard it is, I love it. I love learning in all its forms. I feel that through my undergraduate development (2010 to 2014) I perfected my academic skills and became a lifetime student and adept scholastic thinker.

And here I find myself in graduate school, a dream come true, as I strongly prefer the academic setting to the clinical setting. Yet, the rampant disorganization has left me profoundly disillusioned. I fork over 25k a year (well a bit less thanks to a Teaching Assistant position I snagged)...and the immediate return for this behemoth investment is the most profoundly incompetent professor I have ever had. His name is XXXXXX, and though he seems nice enough on a personal level, his gross ineptitude and incredible lack of any semblance of organization or coherence just astounds me. It is an online class, and the online discussion boards on our school's website are littered with questions of the most elementary nature (e.g. why is a given quiz, scheduled to open today, unavailable!?) and his responses are always tepid, vague, and stupid. The school of nursing establishes a graduate standard passing threshold of 83, meaning 82 in a class and you have failed. And I have no problem with such a high bar; I think that's awesome. But when you scrape the bottom of the barrel and give me this sorry excuse for an instructor who does not reciprocate that high level of commitment, I am infuriated. I didn't jump through all the hoops of admission into this Doctorate-level program to be thwarted in my pursuits by some idiot who seems like he's trying to read his own syllabus upside down. I have compiled a working list of grievances a mile long on the shortcomings of this course.

I should throw in a legitimate caveat in favor of XXXXXX. I have nothing whatsoever against him as a person; it is only with his incoherent teaching methods and flippant manner of administration that I have any problem. Were I in the position, I'd recommend removing him from any sort of a teaching position immediately and replace him with a more proficient educator. He doesn't even teach an especially hard course. He teaches statistics classes meant to prepare graduate students for clinical research projects. That's fine. But I've taken multiple stats classes before, classes that covered far more ground at a much faster pace, and I aced them. That's not meant to be bragging either; stats aren't especially difficult and I'm fairly good with numbers. However, in this class, the most difficult element is not the actual content. No, not by a long shot. The most difficult component is easily XXXXXX haphazard methods, often self-contradictory and inconsistent, that has me on the cusp of failing (which puts me at about an 85, but still) a subject that I am actually gifted at. The man needs to be removed from teaching fast, as UB has lost much of my respect solely based on the pathetic performance of this one blundering prof. I am actively exploring ways to file a formal complaint regarding this class, as it is so convoluted and threatens to derail my otherwise impeccable academic record. If I fail a class and it's my own damn fault that is fine and I will have to deal with it. But if I fail a class and it's the fault of an absurdly unskilled educator who doesn't tell you his expectations, tests you on content you have not seen, and is not compromise when he's made an error, then mark my words I'll make sure your reputation as an instructor is as horrid as your teaching methods.

Phew. Felt good to get that off my chest.

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Glad you feel better about sharing that. Hope nobody from your school sees it ...

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

I would seriously consider editing your post to remove the professor's name. What is said on the internet is accessible to anyone- this post could come back to haunt you.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I have edited out the professor's name as the internet is a public entity.

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Mind deleting it for me? I just needed to let off some steam, and never wanted to hurt anyone. Thanks.

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What action are you going to take?

I am taking a class. The Instructor is tremendously knowledgeable, but he can't teach worth a darn.

We students are beginners in this topic and he has 35+ years of experience. However, he does not follow the textbook so we can learn the basics. We do not need to be hearing his anecdotes and all of the exceptions to the basics that he has encountered over the past 3.5 decades.

His syllabus has the wrong dates on it in several places.

His overheads are too small for us to really see.

He lets one student bring up advanced issues that leave the rest of us struggling to comprehend. This student never stops talking. She answers questions instead of letting the teacher answer, and he lets her do this.

When he does explain something, his explanations are incomplete. You have to complete his thoughts for him. It is hugely frustrating.

He has us get on the computer only about 2/3 of the way into the class session, which isn't long enough for us, as we are still learning the software. He has us role playing, which might be important later, but first we need to get the theory down and learn the software.

He gave absolutely no introduction whatsoever to the software. None. N O N E Yes, I am frustrated at the waste of time.

Yes, we have spoken to him and he is making some attempts to address our concerns. I hope your Professor will do the same.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I always appreciate a great rant.

Just a side note. If you are aiming for a career in academia, why in the world are you in the NP track? That curriculum will not provide you with the knowledge & skills needed for an academic practice. When you are looking for a faculty job, they're going to ask you to level up with additional coursework related to the discipline of education. Of course there's no escaping Stats (total of 18 hours for me) & I agree .. the instructor makes all the difference, even in doctoral classes. I opted for in-person over online because I valued the classroom interactions with everyone. The snacks provided at all the oral defense sessions were pretty great also.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Nice use of the thesaurus there. My advice: Head down, pass the class, move on.

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Specializes in GENERAL.


Nice use of the thesaurus there. My advice: Head down, pass the class, move on.

And remember: no person, no matter what their station in life, is immune to the untoward effects of substance abuse, mental illness or incompetence and how those shortcomings can be foisted upon the unwary and trusting.

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