They're Bullying My Prof!

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I have a professor who, if he isn't an Aspie, has many of the same traits and might as well be. He's an extremely intelligent physics professor, and he spends all his vacations doing research on solid-state physics. He doesn't have a family and he's pretty eccentric; he once told us that he hadn't slept well the last night because the air mattress he had been sleeping on for seven years deflated, and that he was sleeping on an air mattress because it was less expensive than buying a new mattress. (I was the only one in the class who thought that a logical decision.) I think he's a pretty interesting person; though we have some difficulty communicating--he doesn't always understand our questions too well when we ask them, and has trouble re-phrasing things for us. I get the idea that he really does care about his students, though.

The problem is that the other students in the class (it's physics III), or at least the more NT of us--mostly female math majors wanting to teach math in high school after collete--are making fun of him right in front of his face; and he doesn't seem to know how to respond to it. Just yesterday they asked him to cancel class so that they could have free time, and he was completely flustered at the thought that some people mightn't enjoy physics, and it took him a bit of time to get the idea that the girls really weren't serious about asking him to cancel class. (He didn't give in, thankfully.) He seems to take it all in stride, but I'm not sure whether he mightn't be hurt by it secretly.

The classroom has been divided into two halves, now; on one side, there are the students who are just taking the class because they have to take it; and on the other side are the students who are taking the class because they want to take it, and are truly interested. I'm in that second group (though, as dense as I am sometimes, it took me most of the semester to figure out that was how the classroom was divided, and sit on the correct side).

Anyway... what are your thoughts on the matter?

My thoughts are as follows:

I don't see how any of that is bullying. If you're talking about what the girls said, it's called a joke.. I sometimes say fun but cheeky things to teachers all in good fun.

I think that the teacher, who may be unusual, has learned to take what the students say in situations like that as fun. First year professors may take something like that seriously but once they realize that not all students who take their class are in the class because they enjoy the subject, they realize that most things like that are jokes.

I know someone from Buffalo NY who is in his first year of teaching and one of his complaints is how the students seem to be disinterested in the subject matter (Geography) and are only interested in the grade and credits. I think that is how it goes in college. Besides, most professors who are real good are there more for the research opportunities and teaching is just a task that needs to be done so that they can do what they want.

I get the impression, from the context of the post, that the given example is a glimpse of an overall pattern of behavior that can be generalized as disrespect towards the professor. I have witnessed this, and it makes me a little bit sad.

Yes; it's general disrespect. Things like that happen pretty often.

Maybe that's just normal for college students...

I think I'd need to know more like context, who said it, how they said it before I knew whether they were just being smarta**es or if they were being a little too arrogant with it. In my tax II class shots are constantly being fired back and forth, a few of the girls give the teacher a lot of shots, but then again its because he rips on them a lot too. The only thing that's kind of weird in my tax class is I do have a girl who on a couple of times either walked right out of class and told the professor when asked that she was going out that night and needed to do her hair or she sat there with another classes textbook, did homework from that class, and had no problem letting the professor know it - what bugs me about her is she's not even being witty about it, it's like she thinks she's hot and therefor if she's firmy teflon about it and gives him enough of a "what are you gonna do about it?" vibe that he won't do anything. Its one thing to give a prof a hard time if they have a sense of humor but that much arrogance is just flat-out not cool.

That's the thing... I really don't know whether they're going too far. It seems like every class or so, they're telling him they're not interested in physics, or something like that. And then he keeps on calling on them in class, and asking them questions, and when they say they don't know the answer, he insists that they should, and asks them again... He calls on the rest of us, too; but we usually know the answer, or we can speculate on what it might be if we don't know.

Then sometimes, they ask him whether he had a date over the weekend; and of course he hasn't had one, because he was in the lab studying solid-state physics. They've asked him this three times that I remember.

Maybe it's more of a fight than bullying. I don't know.

I guess I'm just used to respecting people, especially authority figures. There's something about the sheer amount of information a professor knows that makes me want to respect them. And those girls really aren't being respectful.

Maybe I just don't know how to tell the difference between joking and meanness...

Teachers know what theyre signing up for when they teach a class. Heckling is a problem for every preformer. And if the teacher HONESTLY expects that the class will just fall into line for them when so many times they havent for other teachers just as nice, then that teacher is going to get very bitter very fast. You can't change the dynamics of the class yourself(well you could, but it would take a lot of skilled manipulation, and if you f**k up, you'll make things worse) but you can go to the teacher and say that you know what theyre doing is hurtful and that at least some of the people in his class appreciate him and are interested in the subject. (Even if you havent been reading him correctly, and he isnt that bothered by their behavior, he'll still appreciate this.)

It's interesting that you should mention this, Callista. This same thing is happening at the college I attend. The Math Prof. (only Pre-Algebra, mind you) is a man with a dead-pan stare, expressionless, really; a slightly stiff walk, very monotone voice and uses unusual words (although this may be because he's from India) such as: "You may state the solution as an improper fraction but if you want the most elegant solution, you will change fraction to a mixed fraction." (elegant ?)
He doesn't understand when students are joking around with him and takes everything seriously and literally. The students are starting to get downright rude and kinda mean. This is really begining to annoy me!
I don't think that there's alot I can do about it but be supportive and appreciative of the prof. because he is a thorough and patient teacher.

Elegant is a nice way to put it, but he might have better said "simpler" or "more obviously understandable" or appropriate.

Im serious...

The next time they do it...
tell them flat out in a clear loud(NOT SHOUTING) tone of voice so everyone in the class can hear you.
The point of this is to publicly embarass them...they will hate your guts but you will get your point
across.

"Your behavior towards the professor is rude and disrespectful to him and to the rest of us who
want to take this class. If you dont want to be here then leave..."

and if they say they are just joking

"I dont care if you are joking or not...stop it you are being mean"

Are you sure that's not too confrontational?

It probably is but you could just do the classic "I" statement.

I enjoy this class and feel the professor is very interesting and excellent at his job. Could you guys please chill so we can get down to business? I get easily diverted from the task at hand. Thanks.

or some similar statement.

This is an interesting thread. I can relate. There was this professor when I was going to college, like just two to three years ago, that I strongly considered to be an aspie. First and foremost, he never looked at the class. Most of the time, he looked at either the side walls or the bulletin board. He spoke fluently and very loudly, but only looked at the class on occasion, say if a student asked a question or something. If he wanted his point to get across, or if the students didn't seem to be paying attention, he had this odd knack of purposefully inflecting his voice to a high-pitched, almost yelling, tone.

He was definitely one of the more unusual professors I've seen, and he spoke quite fast. Unlike most professors, he managed to get through a lesson in like fifteen to twenty minutes. Very few students, however, ever bullied him. He let everyone out way early than any other professor on campus!

- Ray M -

Calista:

I agree with you 100% Most of the class members are snots. I'm sure the professor gets everything. I'm sure it doesn't make him too happy either. It is cruel. However, I'm not sure you want to get in the middle of it. The class might turn on you, which isn't serious if you're a hard as nails person, but you don't sound like one.

That's why I don't lik undergraduates. We are all human beings, and we all have feelings, and I don't think it was a joke to ask him to cancel the class so some of the girls could have some extra time.

I'm not a physicist or a chemist, but I've taught disinterested students, and it just sends you home with an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach. It's awful. But it's also life. Most people are totally insensitive. I don't know why, and I stopped wondering about it a long time ago. Only thing you can do is take the class, smile at the guy, pass the tests, and tell him at the end that it was a great class and you enjoyed it!

Beentheredonethat