Professor Insults

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Have any of you had any professors/TAs insult you? Mainly because they don't understand us,our learning skills,sensitivities and issues?
Today I was trying to drop a VERY hard Biology class which I'd somehow gotten into( my advisor told me to take it because there was a notetaker in it;it ended up being an advanced biology and society class where the students use remotes in class to answer questions being asked which gauges their progress.In short..DISASTER).
The instructor kept sending me annoying emails about assignments I had missed (I transferred to the class this week) and sarcastically asked if something was wrong with me,did I need more help,why was I forgoing an assignment for extra credit points,things like that.I was totally confused to begin with,but this really irritated me.
Finally I wrote a very stern email back that I am dropping the class,no I wasn't mad for no reason,thank you but I am dropping the class,I get things confused and misconstrued very easily.
Just because you have a PhD doesn't qualify you to be a Master of Meanness! UGH!

I've gotten written up because I insulted my professors. I don't take that stuff lying down...and that can be a problem.

It would be interesting to review the professor's account of events, as well as the OP's.

No.


That actually does not sound like an advanced course... some courses at my school use those remotes, but those are always introductory or at the absolute most intermediate level courses. And "biology and society" just doesn't sound like the title of an advanced course at all.


There's nothing in your account to suggest the prof was actually insulting you. More likely your interpretation of "sarcasm" was mistaken. It is completely plausible that the professor was genuinely concerned about you and whether you were having trouble in his class and wanted to help you out in any way he could.

Were the clicker questions used as part of continuous assessment grade or were they just an aid to see how the class progresses on new topics?

It can be difficult to detect tone over text and it's usually only the instructors who truly care about their students who bother to e-mail and ask why assignments haven't been turned in, and if the person needs more help. This is usually a genuine expression of wanting to help their students.

Why do you feel this person was attempting to insult you? Had they been condescending or short with you in person?

Would you guys consider it abusive behaviour if a teacher, who knew you had a diagnosed anxiety disorder which made it very difficult for you to communicate in group situations, told you (to your face) that you were hopeless and a waste of their time because you couldn’t communicate in a specific group situation?

I've never had this problem yet. Most of my proffessors were very nice and understanding.

I haven't had bad professors yet. I attribute this to the fact that most of them are English professors and therefore, much more awesome and chill to get along with.

But my roommates professor was a stalker and a douche. Because my roommate gave him a bad review, he ended up stalking him on Facebook and trying to press charges on something he wrote. It was ridiculous. The prof was young (in his late 20's) and most likely had a huge ego as a result of this academic entitlement. If I were in the situation, I would've been tempted to re-arrange a certain cocky face.

If these were the teacher's exact words, yes.

If the teacher said you would be unable to accomplish a particular task because you can't communicate in a specific group situation, no.

Also, remember university profs (and some teachers at other levels) have absolutely no training or understanding of teaching / cognitive development / disorders and disabilities. People who aren't able to fulfill certain requirements in a class often need to educate them.

J.

Yes, those were the exact words. It happened very suddenly, with no obvious signs beforehand (at least, none that I could detect). I think it ought not to have been matter of being unable to accommodate me, since I was not actually obligated to speak in that class unless I felt that I could.

The reason I ask is that I did consider it verbally abusive behaviour. However, the staff at the school (who did have appropriate training) made light of the incident (implied that my being upset was an overreaction) when they later found out, at which point my anxiety had become so overwhelming that I dropped out altogether.

Prior to the incident, attending classes was difficult for me due to the anxiety issues, but I had worked very hard to ensure that I rarely ever missed a class. Afterwards, all the therapy that I had undergone specifically because I wanted to learn to cope with my anxiety in order to study, basically went down the proverbial toilet.

Anyway, as this happened a number of years ago, I was curious to know what others thought based upon the information I have provided – and specifically, whether they agreed with the school’s assessment of the situation.

Nope, many of my profs (all of my more recent ones) know I have "a disability" (the disability office doesn't specify details), and they know what my required accommodations are. They can probably figure it out. All of them have been nothing but respectful to me. They would get in big trouble if they singled me out for having autism, and they treat me as they would any other student.



Even though the emails were annoying to you, how do you know he was being sarcastic? It can be hard to judge things like that even in person, let alone a voiceless email. Perhaps he was being sarcastic....or perhaps you misinterpreted? I mean, maybe he didn't mean "wow, there MUST be something wrong with you since you can't do the work." Maybe he was genuinely concerned that there was something wrong (ie. an issue that is going on in your life causing you to not pass in at least some assignments in what he thinks is an adequate time.) When he asked if you needed more help, perhaps it was a genuine concern and offer to help a new student in the class who would have missed some of the lectures the others had the benefit of going to, not something mean and nasty thinking that you couldn't do it on your own or were incompetant or something like that.

I honestly have no idea what he meant, but just trying to look at the "bright side" that perhaps he was not trying to insult you.

Also, just a hopefully helpful hint: regardless of what an advisor says, you should not register for a class JUST because there is a notetaker in it.

Yes. My Textiles teacher used to keep nagging me about everything. She picked on my lack of common sense mostly. I do badly with verbal instruction normally, and she would just blurt it out and expect us to know what to do with a stupid piece of cloth that we were making into a stupid handbag. After her "instructions", everyone else in my class seemed to be able to follow what she meant, and I was all "WTF."
I'll give you an example of my "lack of common sense." She was trying to explain something to me and held out a piece of cloth that she cut and asked:
"Is this straight?"
I answered:
"No." It was straight in the sense she had cut straight across it with scissors, but it wasn't straight because the fibres made it bumpy.
I was so embarrassed, she looked at me like I was insane.

I get along better with her now as I no longer do Textiles, but I try to avoid her if I can.

Yes I have 1 teacher in particular who is manipulative and tormenting... I have been called, a mindless child, and have had this image perpetuated by my peers throughout the entire college. I am so fed up with the extremely manipulative and corrupt social environment caused by these 2 particular teachers that I really want to just drop out and get a cert at community college or something... Surprisingly people at community college were a lot more mature and respectful.

The only reason I'm sticking it out with this teacher is for payback for all the BS she and her cronies have given me in the past 2 semesters.

I would consider it abusive behaviour if a prof told you that whether you had a diagnosed disorder or not.

Mind you, I've been a Chem prof before. If I overheard one of my colleagues saying that to a student, that colleague and I would be having a chat about finding other ways to deal with situation than hammering people into the ground needlessly. sheesh

I have not had any "hopeless" students. I have had students who needed extra coaching and I've had students who probably were in the wrong field and might benefit from some career counseling. But there is a positive way to deal with things like that.

(It happens all the time students take majors because a parent is in a field and not because they are good at or like that field themselves.)

On the other hand , I persistently write specific complaint letters to my targeted professors to achieve the academic competence they promise to fulfill without compromise.

Since Tenured posistions commonly justify thier unusually privileged right to hold the principle of academic freedom , with absolute freedom to advance controversal views that actually dimish academic freedom , forcing conformance and pressure in a power-orientated pluralistic , collectively narcsistic , rankist , high cultured , classist , plutarchic technocratic intellectually elite over following large well rounded seniority with fixed programs who don't value creativity nor independence and will deemingly harm your career per say if you don't follow the overinvesting - speculative and unproved conjectures but trendy fashion of "string theory".

If not you constitute a greater risk in hiring until those academic papers are published. Another argument I address is how tenured professors whom are underperforming in research or teaching can't be terminated but firing does exist with a proper causation not correlation , which is difficult to achieve.

By reading this , it's obvious I'll never make it above the academic ranking even from assistant professor though I may/may not have- administrative or service roles , likewise being called an instructer.