Posted on 09/16/2014 4:13:49 AM PDT by servo1969
When you email your professor for the first time, things can go very wrong if you think this is a text message to your BFF!
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Hey,
i am in your class this semester but have missed the first 4 days do to some unexpected problems with work and family. ;) I would like 2 make up the work if u can send me the syllabus and all the handouts thank you, and also if i missed any important info. Will we b needing the book this semester because I am on a budget. LOL!
thx!
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On the one hand this could be a joke. On the other hand I can see this being completely genuine.
I hold an adjunct faculty appointment at a local community college and have received similar e-mails on numerous occasions.
Probably a future Rat voter, but not all the way there yet, since there is a gesture toward making up the missed work. The next email should be that they should be given an A due to social justice requirements and the grade should be taken from an evil conservative if the professor can find any.
Still early enuff to drop the class, wats da big deal?
As a college student, I NEVER was THAT forward with any professor.
I interacted with them IN CLASS. If I had to talk to them, I went to their office.
I can remember doing THAT maybe three times and it was always about the work.
We observed the proper distance from them and I think that was respectful.
should have replied with the url of this video...
Me too. And also received a midnight email from a student threatening to kill himself.
> Me too. And also received a midnight email from a student threatening to kill himself.
Did you give him an F?....: )
Give me an A or I will cut myself...boohoo
Something has happened over the last few decades where a casual indifference to elders and those in authority has crept in. Personally, I can’t stand it.
Heck, I still call my boss Mr.
I think it started when professors wanted to be ‘buddies’ with students.
I am not so sure that works.
The proper distance is essential and when professors give that up, a lot esteem and deference goes with it.
I needed time off some for a few planned church retreats while I was in college. I made up for missed studies BEFORE they were do in class and took a test a week before the rest of the class. That goes over a lot better than a drunken email sent from a cell phone at 3 am.
On the other hand....the student is also a paying CUSTOMER. The professor’s salary is being paid by his students. This isn’t high school, I’m actually tired of the status-quo at universities where the professors behave as though their customers are beneath them and treat them as such...including their hostile attitude toward Christians.
If this were any other business the request, while not well written, is perfectly reasonable for a customer to ask for. Here on FR we all have issues with the culture at universities yet we still bow to the “authority” of professors. Seriously, how much respect should they receive? They indoctrinate our kids while taking their money.
I agree there’s a cultural decay of “respect for elders” but I’ve real issue with professors in their ivory towers looking down on everyone and treating their customers like dirt.
I’m an adjunct at a community college and a university.
I just received an e-mail from a student, who “forgot” to take the first two weekly quizzes because he was “looking for work”. He reminded me he had spoken to me about it at the “brake” during our last class.
He also yawns very loudly during class about every 3 minutes and he slept during a video I was showing last week because “I already saw something about this in my psych class.” (This is at the university, not the community college)
The best excuse I have ever gotten for a kid missing class: “Baby mamma had to do her community service so I had to watch the kid and couldn’t come to class.”
I agree with you.
However, the ones that I've known/dealt with/heard of, that act as if they were in ivory towers are the left wing assholes that get offended if a student does not come to them with an autographed copy of the writings of Saul Alinsky or "Dreams of my Father".
There is a real, real problem with liberal professors in our education system.
When I was pursuing a degree, even if a prof was a flaming lib (or a flaming anything else, for that matter), it was a personal matter and rarely entered into his/her podium work.
Now, and I know this from having several children pursuing degrees of one sort or another, the flaming lib (and flaming other things) are prevalent, open and confrontational if challenged on their beliefs and their beliefs are thrown out from the podium and you damned well better be prepared to throw it back, verbatim, almost.
And if you do not, the red ink will flow and there is no recourse for the student.
Something close to that: I am drunk and I really want an ‘A’ and I really need this ‘A’ and. . .
Agree.
The way I run my class is more along the lines of To Sir with Love, meaning I call them Mr or Mrs/Ms, and they call me professor or Mr.
This makes quite a difference in how they behave from what I’ve seen when observing other professors when they are casual in their relationships with their students.
THAT’S how it ought to be.
In my class, on day one, I make clear respect is given AND expected in return, that we are all adults, not children, not in high school.
I also advise them on day one we have a contract: They pay tuition (’hire me’) to provide a service. My obligation is to instruct, to teach, to mentor where I can and their obligation is to attend class and receive the service I provide.
I make clear if they violate the terms and conditions of the contract (act disrespectful, misbehave, shoddy work, don’t attend class, etc), they are violating the contract, and like in the ‘real’ world, there are penalties to be paid. . .like a reduced grade or some other sanction.
I like that. Do you see the same level of professionalism in your peers (on average)? It just seems as though there’s a constant stream of bad stories that come out. Maybe these types of instructors are the exception, which is why we hear about them.
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