Calling the Kettle Black

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I just received my first negative review on the internet from a student, and I’m pretty sure that I know exactly who wrote it. It’s also very scathing, but that doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that it’s neither factual nor objective and because it’s cowardly. Notwithstanding my suspicions, I will keep in mind that when this student first showed up, this student also believed most previous professors to be slack-jawed idiots, and so I won’t take it personally. The complaints basically come down to the notion that I don’t believe in the Gerber Theorem of Education and make it easy for the students, but then that’s not my job.

Facts are sometimes stubborn things, and this review is longer on emotion than on fact. The fact of the matter is that you will never make everyone happy. The other funny fact is that sometimes you are subject to judgment by people who will either never be interested or never be required to prove that they are better. I have always found it somewhat odd to evaluate instructors based on the opinions of students, especially when those people are young and inexperienced, and so I take their opinions as more of a guideline. If this student feels like they are being treated unfairly or that I suck, I invite you to consider how they feel about their instructor for next semester, because I don’t think they’ll like that person any better.

As I write this, I find it ironically timed. Just last Tuesday, I had a different experience. One of my former students sent me a letter thanking me for some of the things mentioned as deleterious in this complaint. It's often difficult to understand why organic chemistry matters to people, but because I have some actual experience with this from graduate school and in my personal extracurricular interests, I try to help them see where it matters to them. In this particular note, a student thanked me for the personal experiences and for "going above and beyond what I am required as a professor". The tone denoted by these two could not be more paradoxically timed or timed any better to illustrate that today's complaint is not necessarily based on truth or fact. Both of these messages cannot possibly be true because they are mutually exclusive.

When a member of the class first mentioned to me last Thursday night that this student was slandering me in public, I realized that it was because this student wants to be spoon fed. The criticisms amount to the fact that “I’m not helpful”, and yet this person talks incessantly during class, rarely asks questions, and frequently leaves half-way through the lecture to go get sushi.  Rather than accepting responsibility like an adult, it's easier for this student to cast aspersions and blame on me, because blaming is easier than changing.  How do you expect to know what to expect when you don’t come? How do you expect to be treated fairly when you show a blatant disregard for the teacher? Like Luke Skywalker, it’s difficult to teach someone whose mind is never where they are and on what they are doing and who believes that they already know all this stuff and hate having to repeat a class. This person has taken it personally that I don’t like them or teach to their expectations. Get used to it.

Some of their complaints are emotionally contrived to provide half of the facts without the other half to corroborate the truth. Do I tell stories from my personal life? Yes, because they illustrate concepts. Do I have students I favor? Yes if by favoring you mean that I talk to some more than others, because they are actively engaged in learning, participating, and facilitating class discussion. Do I refuse to answer questions? Not that I remember, but if you have some examples, I would like to hear them rather than accept your premise that I won’t explain things. Are my review sessions vague? Yes, and they should be grateful I even do them because I am not required to do it at all. Do I change from the review so that “none of it is on there”? No, because I usually have the test in front of me while I list the topics, and it’s not my fault you misinterpreted what I said in the review. Do I talk over the level of the students? Maybe, and what do you really expect since I am not at your level. This is childish and whiney, but it’s about time it happened. No teacher is too good to be true. What interests me is that this particular review saw absolutely nothing good in me, which is how I know that I can dismiss it as an irrational outlier. It rated me as low as humanly possible, and that’s unlikely and not useful.

My final observation about complaints is that too frequently they are vague. They contain absolutes like “always” and “never” or “none” and “just” as if nothing good happens in the class at all. When I consider that several of the members of the class are disappointed that I won’t be teaching them the second half of the course, it can’t possibly be the case. You can’t suck completely and have some people like you as a teacher, unless by “suck” you mean that the teacher is too easy and everyone gets an “A” or because the teacher is so bad that everyone fails. People who are upset with something often paint with a broad brush. I try to be careful with absolutes because they are difficult standards to maintain.

I will confess that I have many faults. If they find a better person and decide to replace me, even if I am disappointed, it won’t really hurt my ego. If they can find someone better, they should, because that will contribute to better education for the students and better opportunities for the institution. Rather than complaining sideways behind my back, which doesn’t make anything better, or anonymously roasting me on the internet, if this person feels that way about it, perhaps they should man up and tell me to my face. I detest passive-aggressive problem solving, because it is all too frequently counterproductive and adversarial and all too infrequently creates positive change. Don’t pussy foot around it and slander me to students or libel me on the internet. Tell me to my face. This kind of behavior is very unprofessional. It’s exceptionally cowardly for a person to criticize me for an inability to perfectly do something they cannot or will not prove they can do better than I do. Back it up, or back it off.