College professor told me to transfer to a Community College!!

wbksoft · 04-26-2008, 12:03 PM

Back in the day when I was a freshman I took an introductory English class, which was a core requirement of the university I went to (top40/rich kids). I didn't like my English class, so I did B work and earned B grades in that class. Everything was fine, until one day I went to see the professor to her office. During my visit to her office, she criticized my papers. She said that my papers were disorganized and missed the point, which is not something that I cared to contest, since I didn't care about her class and was barely trying to pass it. We continued talking, and I naively, almost foolishly, commented that I might have chosen the wrong school. Almost before I had a chance to finish that sentence, she quipped, very briskly "yeah... have you thought about transfering to a community college?" To which I replied "umm, no, I was actually thinking about transferring to an university where there is less emphasis on the liberal arts than computer science." There was a moment of silence, and she appeared somewhat confused and almost in disbelief. After a few moments of awkwardness, she tried to discourage me from pursing a career in computer science. She told me a story about how difficult, according to a third party close to her, programming could be. I replied that I wasn't concerned, because I had taken computer science courses and had done well. She insisted that just because I had done well in high school level courses it didn't mean I was going to do well in college. I told her that I disagreed with her, because I was currently taking an intro to computer science course and was almost effortlessly getting As. She then implied that college would eventually be too difficult for me, and that I was better off seeking less academically rigorous alternatives, but I, knowing myself a lot better than she does, insisted that I wasn't concerned about any of that happening because the previous semester I had ended up with a 3.5 GPA despite making minor effort and taking moderately challenging courses. At that point she seemed to grow somewhat frustrated, and, seeing that I insisted on contradicting all the false assumptions she had made about my academic potential, somewhat caustic (at least from my point of view). I interpreted her stubborness to mean that she was convinced that I was stubbornly trying to save face. It wasn't long till I was out of her office. Three and a half years later I graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in computer science and the same GPA I had the first semester of my freshman year. I know this experience seems like something to look back at and laugh at, but it actually caused me a lot of anguish throughout my college career. I still feel a knot in my chest whenever I think of that woman who seemed convinced that I was academically unintelligent and better suited for a community college, and I still fantasize about confronting her with all the teachers and professors and guidance counselors who have gotten to know me.

What do you think about this professor? Would you like to go a college where professors treat their students this way?

Fanatic517 · 04-26-2008, 12:12 PM

"She said that my papers were disorganized and missed the point, which is not something that I cared to contest, since I didn't care about her class and was barely trying to pass it."

I think it's that attitude, of very clearly not caring and not putting effort into it that says a great deal.

taffy · 04-26-2008, 12:55 PM

I can believe the disorganized part.... your post is one huge block of text.

fizix2 · 04-26-2008, 01:06 PM

You proved him wrong. Good for you.

I had a math teacher like that when I was little, he was convinced I "lacked the ability to think." If only he could see my Putnam scores now.

lollybo · 04-26-2008, 01:45 PM

Hahaha good post I'm sure a lot of people can relate to stuff like this.

8th grade physics teacher hated me, thought I was immature and ADD. Didn't recommend me for honors. 9th grade biology teacher thought I was too smart to be in regular biology class, and promoted me to honors (Principal said honors class was full and I couldn't transfer).

Now I'm at a top school with a 4.0 beeyotch.

arbiter213 · 04-26-2008, 02:03 PM

Did you expect her to love you for clearly putting no effort into her class?

ken285 · 04-26-2008, 02:16 PM

Even if you don't care about liberal arts... at least learn how to use paragraphs.

Bigredmed · 04-26-2008, 03:12 PM

One of the attending doctors at my medical school hands out applications for McDonald's to third year medical students who he thinks aren't quite up to par.

dtex50 · 04-26-2008, 03:27 PM

When I was in the 10th grade. my high school counselor told me I was not "college material" and that I should focus on shop classes and learn a trade. I took her advice. I learned medicine (B.S. (biochem), M.S., Ph.D, M.D.).

dilksy · 04-26-2008, 03:31 PM

"Did you expect her to love you for clearly putting no effort into her class?"

Good teachers recognize that when they're teaching required courses like this, that not everybody is going to be excited/care about the class. A good teacher would try and at least give a disinterested/unmotivated student something useful they can take with them from the class, not severely question the student's intelligence because they have different academic interests. It's basic teaching pedagogy every teacher should know, because you're almost always going to have people in your class who don't want to be there.

I've had a few classes I was taking for general requirements where I was capable of doing better, but instead chose to devote my time to more important things. I had one class that I was genuinely interested in, but I usually fell asleep in class (not intentionally, it was just relatively early the morning after problem sets were due, and he'd turn the lights off for powerpoint presentations), of the four books I only read the first and most of the second, and for my big final paper he told me "I wish you would've developed this a bit more". I wish I did, too, but doing well in Real Analysis, Algebraic Topology, Combinatorial Game Theory, Representation Theory reading course, and Statistical Mechanics was more important for math grad school applications.

dtex50 · 04-26-2008, 03:33 PM

OP: I didn't try to answer your question! Briefly, no. One pinhead doesn't define the school. You obviously persisted and did very well.

HisGraceFillsMe · 04-26-2008, 03:35 PM

^XD dtex50, that's awesome.

wbksoft · 04-26-2008, 04:03 PM

Quote:

You proved him wrong. Good for you.

I had a math teacher like that when I was little, he was convinced I "lacked the ability to think." If only he could see my Putnam scores now.

fizix2, I didn't show her anything. I just kept doing what I was doing back then and what I had always done. So when you say "You proved her wrong. Good for you," that sucks for me, because in a way it validates that woman's false assumptions about my intrinsic academic potential.

HisGraceFillsMe · 04-26-2008, 04:05 PM

No, it doesn't. Stop assuming that everyone is putting you down.

All fizix2 is saying is that you did better than she thought you could do (which has nothing to do with your ability, but rather her assumptions, which you have no control over), and thus proved her wrong.

dirthog · 04-26-2008, 06:28 PM

do you want us to pat u on the back? yay, good job, everyone mail a cookie, I don't understand the point of posting this, just because you went on to be moderatly succesful doesnt validate your general disregaurd for her class and lack of effort that you showed. By tha same token, she has no right to show you that kind of arrogance by asking if you had thought of transfering to community college.