Normal?: Professor Who Don't Teach You How...

College Life
1

<p>I just completed my first year of undergraduate and it’s been a bit of a challenging experience for me. I attend a pretty strong academic school, so this may factor into the equation, but one of the main difficulties I faced was having to take some classes where there was very little “how to” instruction. </p>

<p>What I mean by “how to” instruction is breaking things down conceptually, teaching individual steps for how to do something (particularly in math and science), and explaining the logic behind each step (so we understand WHY). …I’m well aware that there is an expected difference between college and high school academics, but I suppose I wasn’t as prepared or perhaps open to the type of “teaching” I experienced this past year. To be sure, there were a few professors who were amazing, knowledgeable, and even good at teaching from a “how to” perspective. But for the most part, I had classes where the pace of teaching was three to four times the high school pace (not too bad if there was “how to” instruction…but without the “how to” part this pace is tough) and there was an expectation that students could naturally understand all that was taking place. </p>

<p>I’m curious if this is simply the norm for most colleges. I’d be curious to know what others’ college experiences were like in this area and how different the teaching style and expectations were between your high school days (I took AP classes that didn’t seem this tough as my college experience) compared to your college days/experiences. What types of teaching did you encounter? How normal was it? How did you adjust? </p>

<p>To be as accurate as possible, the teaching I’ve had was not only fast, but just seemed to:</p>

<p>a.) Assume background knowledge
b.) Assume ability to understand complex steps (w/o breaking them down)
c.) Assume student ability to understand why we were doing something a particular way and why it was even important at all
d.) Assume an ability to read dense, long, technical and/or esorteric texts written in academic style language without breaking those readings down adequately…</p>

<p>The general feel I had all year from BOTH math/sci and even humanities and social science classes was that professors at my school expect almost for students to be on their academic level - almost as peers or colleagues - in terms of our abilities. There was very little introduction to the course material oftentimes. No contextualization of material…but often just jumping right into the material and even sometimes cutting edge scholarly debates in the field as if assuming we had even heard of these things or could understand them. </p>

<p>I felt overwhelmed at times and struggled to stay afloat. Thankfully, the grading at my uni is somewhat inflated a bit. I was able to walk away with a good number of B’s a C and an A- this past year. But the experience of learning itself felt completely different and overwhelming at times. I questioned my intelligence, my preparation, and even got depressed a little bit at times. Thankfully, I learned some new study skills along the way and realized some things I was weak at and could improve upon. But, overall, I still think that professors could do students an enormous favor in at least EASING us into the college experience for first-year classes. I’m smart and work hard, but I’m not a Ph.D. and cannot immediately just jump right into what felt like peer level discussions with professors. </p>

<p>Apologies for such a long rant. It’s been a long year and just wanted to get some perspective on how normal this type of university teaching is and how best to approach and learn from it (to come back stronger my second year - I defnitely want to do my best and improve and hopefully get back to getting the A’s I was used to in high school, lol). </p>

<p>One FINAL thing for perspective is that I have a few friends who attend either community college or a local “lower” ranked state school and honestly - without trying to make myself sound so great - their descriptions of their experiences do not seem to come close to my exeriences at my school (granted I’m at an elite university). I’ve had friends talk about doing 3 or 5 page papers and being annoyed, while we’ve had to read like 7 books for a single humanities class and write 20 page papers. I’ve had friends talk about teachers covering x, y, z topics in a few weeks worth of math class, while my intro Calc class ASSUMED knowledge of those things to a large degree even before starting the class. …I’m not saying I necessarily want to attend a “lower” ranked school, but I’ve just wondered about that and why sometimes I hear such easy requirements at some schools and why it’s so difficult here. So perhaps in some ways my school isn’t completely normal. But, nevertheless, the things I described above do reflect the teaching patterns I’ve had this past year and I do need to figure out some way to be better prepared next year and wanted feed back from people and perspective about college level worka nd teaching. </p>

<p>Thanks so much in advance guys for your help and opinions. I do greatly appreciate it and hope to hear back from people with more experience and wisdom than myself.</p>

2

<p>What you’re asking for when you’re wishing Professors teach more “how-tos” is what several teachers at my NYC urban magnet high school would disdainfully consider “spoon feeding” back when I attended in the early-mid '90s. </p>

<p>One of them even went so far as to say that if one constantly needed to be “spoon-fed” rather learning how to be more proactive in their own learning by figuring things out for themselves, he/she’s not fit to attend college. </p>

<p>While I felt those teachers were unduly harsh in their tone…they were ultimately correct in the sense that college Professors…especially old-school ones expect undergrads to be much more proactive/independent in their education…including figuring more things out/making more connections themselves rather than waiting for the Prof to do it for them.</p>

<p>BTW: This expectation held even at my LAC…though the Profs were very accessible and helpful if you asked questions in class or better yet…took advantage of their office hours.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, it’s a bit of a fine line I guess, cobrat. </p>

<p>I, too, am against a kind of passive “spoon-feeding” approach to learning. But, on the other hand, I’m also against an all out throw you in the water and “sink or swim” approach as well. I was actually reminded recently that even the world’s greatest professors/minds need tutoring too! I recall hearing about how world-class mathematicians and physicists needed to ask their colleagues to explain things to them sometimes, despite being brilliant themselves. Everyone in life will have someone smarter than they are most of the time. If we all understood everything, then there’d be no need for education, research, investigation, teaching, etc. …So, the key question to me is what is a reasonable expectation for educational teaching at the university level? </p>

<p>That’s the question I’ve struggled with this past year. I’ve found myself sometimes on the wrong end of the issue in particular circumstances (when I should have probably been able to figure some stuff out on my own) and also what felt like the right end of it (when I’ve felt the professors were unreasonable). </p>

<p>I suppose there ought to be some happy middle ground. It’d be nice for a professor to break down a physics equation or calculation a little bit rather than write quickly and just mention it in passing and move on to the next concept and calculation without any pauses for explanation. I’m only average in math,s o maybe that was part of the problem. But even in humanities and social science classes I came across a few (not all) professors who taught as if we had already been acquainted with years of background knowledge it seemed. </p>

<p>One professor in a philosophy class just started talking with practically zero introduction tot he subject matter the first day of class and expected us to follow along. …I realized soon afterwards that this seemed the norm for many (not all classes) and taht I would need to do a lot of learning and background digging myself outside of class just to follow along sometimes. It was a lot of work and to have to do all that background work myself prior to even doing homework sometimes was draining. I finally understood a lot of things through grueling work, but it made me question the approach that felt like a sink or swim attitude. </p>

<p>I would have appreciated a little bit of help…not like babying or hand-holding…but just like pointers once in a while…maybe a very thorough explanation here and there or some tips for how to even study a particular subject …Again, even world-class mathematicians need help at times! So, it would seem only fair that students are given some help. </p>

<p>But I do get what you mean. I’m anti-spoon-feeding too. Some of the teaching methods in high school can really cripple students to getting used to analytical thinking and doing their own critical thinking. Much of high school was focused on either rote memorization and/or a type of drilling that was uncritical (e.g. just learning the steps to solving an equation without learning the deeper underlying reasoning behind it). …I don’t know…maybe I’m just griping a bit too much. But really…I think there were two things that were tough for me that I felt slightly unreasonable. 1.) was the teaching style that seemed overly sink-or-swim…with not enough reasonable help; and 2.) the pace of classes…it felt the workload was ridiculous… …the combination of 1 and 2 and very tough classes made college a struggle for me.</p>

<p>(p.s. what is LAC?)</p>

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<p><a href=“p.s.%20what%20is%20LAC?”>quote</a>

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<p>Liberal Arts College. </p>

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<p>If the Professor is moving too fast for you, then it is your responsibility to seek such clarification through asking questions in class, going to their/TA’s office hours, and/or seeking tutoring…especially in subjects you perceive as weaknesses. </p>

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<p>Sink-or-swim described my high school experiences thoroughly…including teachers going too fast, not providing enough explanations/pointers, fast pacing/extreme heavy workloads, and add to that the fact some of the teachers felt that if one can’t keep up with their pacing/workload/expectations/standards…he/she didn’t belong in their class/our high school and should consider transferring back to his/her local zoned high school(these no longer exist now). </p>

<p>However, one beneficial side-effect of all that was it tended to make the undergrad experience more manageable for the vast majority of us. I found this to be the case at my LAC…as a few friends who ended up at some fine schools…including yours if you are attending Brown as I’m presuming from your CC nickname.</p>

5

<p>I found this quite normal (though I don’t like it) for the two years I’ve been in engineering. </p>

<p>My friends and I have basically given up from learning in lectures due to the teaching style of the profs. The lightning speed of those power point slides make it impossible to learn anything. After all, these guys don’t have degrees in teaching and at my school, their ability to teach does not affect their career whatsoever, so I doubt they care very much for us undergrads. </p>

<p>The only reason any of us attends class is to listen for when the prof says “THIS IS IMPORTANT”, “THIS WILL BE ON THE EXAM” or “YOU WON’T NEED TO KNOW THIS”, which is when we pay attention and write down these things verbatim. Also, we usually do quite well in the end, so I think this method may be better for you.</p>

6

<p>It’s college. That is how most classes are going to be.</p>

<p>Things you can do:</p>

<p>Always have the readings done before class. Also, do a google search to see if there is a study guide available for the course, either to go along with your textbook, or one for the course generally.</p>

<p>If you don’t understand, go to office hours with the TA or the professor, or go to tutoring if that is available.</p>

<p>Form a study group that meets regularly to review the readings and the lectures.</p>

<p>One other thing…consider if you are taking a class that is above the level that you are capable of. You might do better to drop a class you realize is above your level and to instead take the class that is prerequisite to it so as to get a firmer foundation.</p>

7

<p>How many times did you use resources outside of class? Did you talk to the TA or professor? If your school has a tutoring center, did you seek help there? I find that most of my classes consist of a lecture, with very little time for questions or in-depth explanation. From there on, it’s the student’s responsibility to seek extra help if needed. In one course I took, I barely understood any of the material during the lecture. I just wrote down everything I could, tried to decipher it after class, and asked the TA for help with everything I couldn’t figure out on my own.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the suggestions guys. I’m going to strategize and use them to my advantage next year and improve my performance. </p>

<p>This was a learning experience for me and it’s good to get some perspective and tips for dealing/improving. Cool, cool.</p>

9

<p>You are expected to read the text and try some problems before lecture. Then you will be able to appreciate more of what the professor is saying and have a good idea of the topics that need extra focus.</p>