Comments on: Hilarious exchange between a prof and a student

By: John Panico

John Panico — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:32:04 +0000

I am just as amazed with people who routinely run 25 minutes late to church and are insistent about doing the offeratory blessing because they like to create ad hoc prayers.

By: Patty McIntosh

Patty McIntosh — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:33:00 +0000

Hi Matt What do you think of the Marlboro model where students (and professors!) have an entire week on the front end dedicated exclusively to letting students sample classes though? Sure, there are a lot of things in life we don't get to test drive…just not many that *I* can think of that cost as much as a college education does, not only in $$$ but in time and energy invested.While I appreciate your insight that this could be a lesson in acceptance, I think I've gotten those lessons plenty of other places, and I didn't need to *pay* to get them. When I pay for something, I guess I'd like to be able to know that what I'm buying is of acceptable quality.

By: Matt J. Duffy

Matt J. Duffy — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:54:00 +0000

Good conversation. I'm not sure I agree with Patty — there's lots of things in life you don't get to test drive. I think college should prepare you for the real world — and in the real-world we must accept that some bosses/co-workers/situations may not be to our liking. I see it as a lesson toward acceptance. Even if I were to assume your argument that students should be able to "test drive" their profs, the proper way to do it would be to make the professor aware ahead of time and ask for permission to come in late. And, by the way, http://www.ratemyprofessors.com is a great tool toward this end.

By: Karl J. Welch

Karl J. Welch — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:38:00 +0000

LOL. I am not to familiar with the practice of “sampling classes” in my day you chose a path and took the classes necessary to reach your goal, making the most of variables such as schedule and the teaching style of the professor. Class was not about having a good time, an easy schedule or some similarly inane detail. So yes, I do see the Processors point, he is protecting the rest of his class from the unnecessary distraction of sightseers. Oh the other hand, while I feel his frustration, I also think that it was unnecessary and a pity that the Professor reduced himself to the students level with his sarcastic reply.

By: Patty McIntosh

Patty McIntosh — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:53:00 +0000

David — that's interesting! How do you know Prof. Galloway? As enjoyable as I know that response was for the professor to send, and for other professors to read, he did not exactly take the high road. As I said earlier, the kid has a legitimate point — he's thinking outside of the box and got smacked for being honest about it, and that's unfortunate. Rather than setting his ego aside and saying, "Is there anything I can learn from this person and this situation," the professor got bent out of shape and framed the student's arrival as an affront and an insult when, as the student tried to point out, it was intended to be no such thing.Maybe NYU — and much of the rest of entrenched Academia — could learn a thing or two from the way a small, independent liberal arts college like Marlboro does things. As someone who is now up to my eyeballs in grad. school debt, I think there's a lot to be said for knowing in advance that I'm going to get what I pay for. I was very, VERY lucky in that, for the most part, I had excellent professors and feel I got my money's worth in every class I took at Champlain.But let me put it another way that may make my point better…We get to test drive cars before we buy them don't we? No dealership on the planet says, "You want a GM car. Here. This is the GM car you will drive. Give me your $30K. If you don't like the car we gave you, it is not our problem. You may give it back to us, but we will not refund your money."You may get a shiny new Escalade with all the bells and whistles (that's a professor like our dear Matt here), or you may get the rusted out, beat up, muffler-dragging-on-the-ground 1971 Chevy Nova.Wouldn't everyone here, including Professor Galloway, like to have a ~little~ more say than that before registering for a class and committing that kind of money, time, and energy to it?

By: Patty McIntosh

Patty McIntosh — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:20:00 +0000

Gee, I dunno. I kinda think the kid has a point, though he's barking up the wrong tree. At Marlboro College, where my oldest is enrolled, the entire first week is devoted to allowing students to sample the various classes they'd like to take to see what would be a "best fit." After that first week, they choose and everyone's happy. The student doesn't get saddled with a professor (as I did) who stands up at the front of the room and drones on in a manner that would put a hyperactive Jack Russell Terrier in a coma, and the professor doesn't get saddled with a student who realizes too late that the class is (for whatever reason) not going to meet his or her needs as a learner.It's a policy that's full of WIN, with no downside (except possibly for those professors whose instructional skills are so lackluster that no student ever chooses to register for their classes — that has a certain Darwinian beauty all its own, IMO). I say these things as a professional educator who is, frankly, sick and tired of the endlessly perpetuated notion that subject matter expertise is sufficient — that there is no real skill to teaching and that anyone can do it. It's simply not true, and I think students are *right* to want to know who and what their mountain of student debt is buying them.

By: Scott Mize

Scott Mize — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:20:00 +0000

Smarm and vulgarity have their place.Professor Galloway, 1; the endlessly-rationalized, bottomlessly-narcissistic self-absorption of the modern twenty-something, 0.Bravo, Professor.

By: David Gregory

David Gregory — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:51:00 +0000

I actually read the exchange to some students, with the caveat: Galloway IS kind of a d*ck…

By: Susan Kroger Messick

Susan Kroger Messick — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:07:00 +0000

Rather sad that it had to be sent.

By: Lisa Moynihan

Lisa Moynihan — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Wow. Good come back! But was that "student" serious? I'm embarassed for that person.