The first day of class for a college student is like drawing cards in a poker
game. Just as the cards that one receives determines their outcome in poker, the
types of professors a student gets on the first day will determine the success
of their year. The difference between a helpful and a harmful professor can
easily result in a much lower grade. College professors have a wide range of
personalities and backgrounds. However, professors fall into one of 3
categories: helpful, malicious, or uncaring. One type of professor in the
college system is the helpful professor. This professor can be recognized right
away by their smile and joyfulness in the classroom. These professors give
upbeat and interesting lectures, and are always looking for the classes input to
make sure they comprehend. These professors are always willing to chat with a
student. Be it after class or in office hours, the helpful professor will always
take time out to talk to the student about the given subject, college matters,
or even problems of life that do not even have bearing on the subject. Tests in
the helpful professor’s class are never difficult if one know the subject
matter. The professor understands how stressful testing can be and is only
interested in seeing whether or not the student grasped the facts presented to
them. Good students receive good grades in the helpful professor’s class.
Those professors appreciate hard work and duly reward it. The best kind of
teacher to get that first day is the helpful professor. The second type of
professor one can get is the malicious professor. This professor has a sour
attitude toward life in general; therefore they want the students to be
miserable as well. Their lectures are never to the point and usually stray off
to make some negative point about life. They encourage students to ask
questions, but only so that they can make the person with the question feel
incompetent for asking it. They are willing to talk with a student after class,
but unlike the helpful professor, the malicious professor is only there to
criticize. They will emphasize the student’s faults but never point out their
strengths, thus lowering the self-esteem of the student. The tests given by the
malicious professor are vague, full of trickery, and composed of the most
difficult material. These tests are not designed to survey the student’s
knowledge of the subject, but rather to trip them up and make them fail. If one
works really hard it is possible to earn a good grade in this type of
professor’s class, but in general the grades will be as low as the malicious
professor can make them. The third type of professor is the uncaring professor.
This type of instructor has lost interest in teaching; therefore, they do not
put any effort into it. This professor can be recognized by their monotonous
tone of voice and lack of interest of the subject. Their lectures only cover the
basics of the material. They make no effort to appeal to the students’
interests; consequently, most students can hardly pay attention. This type of
instructor is reluctant to give out office hours and can hardly ever be found
there. They want to avoid all student contact because they are not interested in
how the student is doing. Uncaring professors are unpredictable. They usually
give the same tests year after year so that they do not have to make up a new
one. Since the professor does not always cover the same material, the content of
the test is unpredictable. The type of grade one will get in this class is also
unpredictable. The teacher does not care enough to personally evaluate each
student; so many students do not get the grade that they actually deserve. The
personality of the professor of a course makes up as much of its content as does
the subject matter. The right kind of professor can make a difficult subject
easier and more enjoyable while other professors can ruin an enjoyable one.
Students agree that many times it is the professor, not the subject, which makes
a course easy or difficult. Therefore it is important when choosing a course to
find out what type of teacher is instructing the class: helpful, malicious, or
uncaring.