Whiny students

Lord knows I'm not perfect. And, although I could be deluding myself, I think I'm pretty well aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a professor. And, I really don't mind constructive criticism, especially when it's specific, fair, and reasoned. What I do mind are whiny people, and while my course evaluations are generally positive, I do get some "zingers" from time to time.

This past academic term has been such a case. I had one student who believed that I was dissing his informative speech because of his skin color, when in reality I was dissing it because it didn't meet some standard tests for coherence. (Nonetheless, he sent a video of that speech to two other instructors in my department, both of whom told him the same things that I did, with scores to match.) I had another student who went on record as saying that it's "impossible" to pass one of my courses, even though 80 percent of the students received either an "A" or a "B" in the class. (And let's not forget that she missed 3 of the 8 class meetings, a minor detail.) Then there are those who suggest that "if you don't agree with him, you won't have a chance" to succeed, because the course is just an exercise in being brainwashed by his opinions. (We all know what an intimidating, authoritarian personality I have.) What's even more maddening is that these comments appear in rather public and permanent places--they are in electronic form, and as such, they will never really go away. If I make negative comments about a student, they are largely confined to their exam or their paper--but their rants can be accessed by tenure and promotion committees, and in the case of ratemyprofessors.com, by anyone on the planet with an iPhone or a laptop.

It can be a cold, cruel world out there--and sometimes I just need to persevere despite such feedback. But, it's certainly not all bad news. What keeps me going are comments like those from a student on his blog that mentioned me as one of his "favorite professors" to date, "passionate" about his subject. (Josh, I thank you for that--it keeps me in the ballgame.) And on some rare occasions, I know that I've played an absolutely critical, life-changing role with respect to someone's career choice and/or their future success; that's a huge payoff.

Nonetheless, those of you who labor away in cubicles: be a little thankful that your every move is not being seen and evaluated by 25 other people. It's a challenge!