If a Professor is Anti-Greek....

[carnation]

It is certainly worth it. Students want to spend their hard-earned money in education, not being insulted. Should he next be allowed to make fun of the ag majors? Or the current-day version of the hippies? No, he should keep his mouth shut re: personal comments and educate his students.

Zeta Phi, if you want to wait until the course is over, that works--although you shouldn't have to put up with any more of it--and if his supervisor is reluctant to act, go to the next person up the chain and so on and so on. Of course, recording him and going to the supervisor in numbers should be the most effective if you can do that.

Good luck! I have no idea why it's supposedly okay to insult paying customers who are a captive audience.

[sigmadiva]

/hijack - tangent/

Originally Posted by carnation

Good luck! I have no idea why it's supposedly okay to insult paying customers who are a captive audience.

I have to disagree with this term. I know that this idea has crept into higher ed, but it is an erroneous way for students to think.

The idea that students are 'paying customers' implies that you can pay for what you want. That is to say, since students are paying, and they all want A's, then that is what they should be given - an A because they paid.

Students are paying for the opportunity to receive an education. The grade they get is the grade they earn through their efforts in the class. Not because they are 'paying customers'.

/end hijack - tangent/

[carnation]

I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that no one should pay to be educated and have to sit there and be insulted.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by carnation

I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that no one should pay to be educated and have to sit there and be insulted.

Oh, okay. That is true.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

I have to disagree with this term. I know that this idea has crept into higher ed, but it is an erroneous way for students to think.

It depends on what they mean by it.

If they mean that they have a reasonable expectation that their professors will behave in a professional manner and maintain decorum in the classroom, in that sense, they are paying customers. I had a client, for example, who went to Southern in Baton Rouge. She had a professor there who would only show up to class when she felt like it and tell students that by having her job, she already "got hers."

It is not a privilege to be in a class with an unprofessional professor. It's a violation of the student's reasonable expectation that they'll get something worthwhile in exchange for their tuition money.

[ASTalumna06]

What class is this anyway, where the professor feels the need to constantly discuss Greek life?

I'm just curious as to what could spur these rants about the "cult-like" nature of GLOs..

[ZetaPhi708]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

What class is this anyway, where the professor feels the need to constantly discuss Greek life?

I'm just curious as to what could spur these rants about the "cult-like" nature of GLOs..

I mean no disrespect, ma'am, but I do not wish to reveal the class, as some intrepid sleuth may discover secret identities.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by Kevin

It depends on what they mean by it.

From the student's perspective of "I paid for the class, therefore I should get the grade I want."

I'm referring to the student who feels entitled to have everything handed to him/her just because they want it, i.e., the Millennials and GYPSY kids. The one's who got a blue ribbon and trophy just for showing up - they didn't do anything to earn the award. They take that same attitude with them to the college classroom.

I mean the kids who played little league soccer where they didn't keep score because it would hurt the loosing team's feelings.

If they mean that they have a reasonable expectation that their professors will behave in a professional manner and maintain decorum in the classroom, in that sense, they are paying customers. I had a client, for example, who went to Southern in Baton Rouge. She had a professor there who would only show up to class when she felt like it and tell students that by having her job, she already "got hers."

It is not a privilege to be in a class with an unprofessional professor. It's a violation of the student's reasonable expectation that they'll get something worthwhile in exchange for their tuition money.

True.

[ZetaPhi708]

Thank you everyone. I will now go through and respond to any posts. This might take a while. LOL.

[Alpha O]

Originally Posted by KDCat

I would also encourage other members of GLOs in the class to complain on course evaluations about the behavior. I would make the complaint two pronged: 1) it's a stupid insult and 2) it's a waste of time. Encourage the students after you to make the same complaints in the course evaluations. It might take a few go-rounds for him to change his behavior.

Additionally, I would recommend that if the university does a senior survey about the college experience as graduation approaches, to encourage seniors to note this again in the appropriate spot within that evaluation.

I don't know how other universities work with regards to this, but I know that at my alma mater, filling out the senior survey was required and they had a spot for us to evaluate a certain number of professors. I used that space mostly for positive evaluations, but also for a negative one for a professor I encountered who was really unprofessional. I had previously noted this in the professor's course evaluation, but I figured it couldn't hurt to put it there as well, especially since one of the purposes of this type survey is to improve the college experience for future generations.

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

/hijack - tangent/

I have to disagree with this term. I know that this idea has crept into higher ed, but it is an erroneous way for students to think.

The idea that students are 'paying customers' implies that you can pay for what you want. That is to say, since students are paying, and they all want A's, then that is what they should be given - an A because they paid.

Students are paying for the opportunity to receive an education. The grade they get is the grade they earn through their efforts in the class. Not because they are 'paying customers'.

/end hijack - tangent/

I know this is a tangent, but I have to disagree with you here to a certain extent. I don't think that students are paying customers in terms of grades, but they are paying customers in terms of the type of education received.

Some students avoid professors who are thought to be weaker at teaching the material than others. Some students who seek out "easier" professors because they believe they will not have to work as hard to get a good grade. Some students pick a professor based on how that professor structures the class. Some students just don't care about these things. I do believe that in this way students certainly are paying customers.

I will also say that few of the best classes I took at college were small, graduate-level seminar classes in which the the professor took this idea further in the sense that students had some input on the topics to be discussed and possibly even other aspects of the syllabus. Obviously this idea is not practical for classes with a large student size, but I think it can work amazingly well if utilized properly.