Looking up at his grizzly gray beard, yellow oval rimmed glasses and shiny bald scalp, I and roughly thirty other students eagerly await the first lecture of a new semester. His eyes round, lips forming a welcoming smile, he greets the class. As he begins sorting through his papers though, I am suddenly dumbfounded at the ghastly appearance of his materials.
At the sight of those supposed materials, my mind began to build up agonizing walls of fear. Do old professors mean old as in, reused? Excuse the generalization, but I am no stranger to the ever-more-abundant pool of melancholy adjunct professors who carry no enthusiasm about the courses they teach. Not to mention the tenured professors that have no board directors to impress, which sometimes leaves their lesson plans and syllabuses drab, dry and over-exhausted.
His papers were torn, coffee stained and jumbled into one large manila filing folder, which was also heavily weathered. Was this a preview of our semester in a rather cluttered nutshell? Regardless of the course’s content, some consideration of notes, added details and an attempt at stimulating teaching tactics is owed to all students, especially those at the college level. How old is this information? The probability of this information even being from this decade is slim-to-none. He clearly must have cared little for his research and studies if he treated his material with such disdain.
In hopes of one day being a professor myself, I would greatly value my collection of hard work and treat it as such. I would work to keep it in good condition and consistently renew the information before my students had time to siphon it up.
Does his mess do justice to the course material? And what does this say for the hundreds of students he teaches year after year? Are we all drones inhaling the same information and taking in less than we deserve back out into the real world or onto continuing studies? Are other kids noticing and feeling cheated out of the education they are working on achieving, not to mention paying for?
In regards to my archaic course ahead, I pray his lectures have some fresh ideas. I continue to question his drive: does he still beam with passion, as he had in his earlier years of teaching, or has this become a redundant repetition of information for him? I can only sympathize for the students alongside me, those who are pursuing a career specifically focused on his subject, or even those hoping to teach courses like this one.
I couldn’t imagine the disappointment I would feel had this been a course in my area of interest. I would drudge through the uninteresting lectures, the emotionless assignments and the hours would be painstakingly useless to my creative intellect, just a credit I would need to complete, a grade I would need to earn, however dreadful.
How a class is structured invariably affects each student’s ability register information and thus how it travels with them out into the “real” world. Likewise a professor’s passion can propel students to reach beyond their fears and find knowledge and strength within themselves, or can cause a student to do the bare minimum to get by and shuffle onto the next course completely unmoved, leaving just the way they came.
I want to be a professor who inspires and motivates students. And I have been blessed with professors who alter my way of life and my thinking mechanisms. As a student, I would hope we all share the same love for intellect and that we all want the most out of our courses. Not only do we have grade point averages to uphold, but an overall joy and a feeling of satisfaction in each of our courses should be a given.
This is about more than just a course, this is about change, about growing and finding out who we are. How we are mentored and pruned will ultimately shift our journey in life forever.
Amber N. Koski can be reached at akoski@spartans.ut.edu
Phew! I’d hate to think I’m that boring!
I’d love to have you in another class! I’ll be looking for you!
Professor Cragun you must be kidding. I loved your class and I ALWAYS speak very highly of you. I recently spoke to a friend who took Intro SOC and hated it and I told her she would have loved it with you. I have had wonderful experiences at UT and almost all of them have been phenomenal. Now my previous college is another story. I miss your lectures and the videos. I hope to be seeing you again soon in another course.
I hope you weren’t describing me… 🙁