Teaching at the college level has been the most rewarding career that I have experienced. However, it does come with a few pitfalls. After discussing this topic with my fellow professors, I have come up with the top five questions professors do not want to be asked. Laugh or cry if you must, but this is how it is.
“Are we going to get out early today?”
Every time that I hear this one the hair on the back of my neck stands up. You will be let out when your professor is convinced that she has done all she can during that class period to prepare you for your future career. Some classes take longer than others.
“Is this going to be on the test?”
Dear students, everything that we teach you, we teach you because we feel it is beneficial for your academic growth. Just because there may not be a question on the test concerning certain material doesn't mean it isn't important. We teach it to you anyway so that you don’t fail at life.
“When am I ever going to use this?”
I’ll be honest with you. Not everything we teach you has a useful purpose other than to prepare you for more complex theories or procedures. Remember calculus? I haven’t used it since graduating college. However, it did teach me how to problem solve.
“Do we need to read the text book?”
The text book is there to supplement your learning process. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t make you buy the text book just to make money for the college book store. We know you are getting them from Amazon anyway. We make you read the book to better help you understand the material. There’s no conspiracy here.
“Do we really need to know this?”
For the love of all things holy! Yes. You need to know this. That’s why it’s required and listed as an outcome on your syllabus. If you didn’t need to know it, it wouldn’t be taught in the class or listed in your program requirements.
Getting along with your professor can be an easy process when you think before you speak. There is truly no such thing as a stupid question, but there are questions that can cause severe irritation and land you in some trouble. Think of it this way. If your question sounds like you are trying to get out of doing some work, you probably shouldn’t ask it.
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