Biased Humanities Professor

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Mister Significant

Mister Significant

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Hello Fellow Undergraduates,

I'm in my last semester, and I'm taking "Racism and Inequality" online. My professor is super picky about what I put down in open-ended assignments that have nothing to do with the book. He has graded me harshly on the basis for things like "being too optimistic" or incorrectly saying that America today celebrates diversity. The guy is from Jamaica, and I have been a United States citizen (half Black/half white) for the last 24 years. I don't like how he letting his opinion get in the way of my own personal experiences.

So my question is, how can i address this issue with him without being disrespectful? If i did come off as disrespectful is there any consequences?
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Mister Significant said:
So my question is, how can i address this issue with him without being disrespectful? If i did come off as disrespectful is there any consequences?
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[ADVICE]You don't. Suck it up, play his silly little games, get your sheepskin and get the hell out of there with your GPA intact. There is no windmill to tilt at, there are no victories to be had here except the pyrrhic kind. [/ADVICE]
 
What are the learning objectives of the course? How does he assess that you have met those objectives? If these are not clear on the syllabus, ask what they are and how they are measured. Has he introduced evidence that American's do not celebrate diversity (e.g. survey results)? Are you reading the assigned papers and getting his point of view on these questions and then losing points for not parroting back what he has presented in the readings and lectures?
Any single course is a very small fraction of your GPA. Don't grade grub on such a piddling course. Take @trev5150 's advice on move on.
 
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Mister Significant said:
Hello Fellow Undergraduates,

I'm in my last semester, and I'm taking "Racism and Inequality" online. My professor is super picky about what I put down in open-ended assignments that have nothing to do with the book. He has graded me harshly on the basis for things like "being too optimistic" or incorrectly saying that America today celebrates diversity. The guy is from Jamaica, and I have been a United States citizen (half Black/half white) for the last 24 years. I don't like how he letting his opinion get in the way of my own personal experiences.
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OK, I'm just going to say it: did you honestly expect objectivity from a course entitled "Racism and Inequality"? For future reference, certain course listings should make you think, "My success in this course will depend entirely on subjective criteria." This is one of them.

Mister Significant said:
So my question is, how can i address this issue with him without being disrespectful?
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You can't. He's already shown that his personal beliefs are the grading criteria, so he'll perceive any approach you make as a personal, rather than professional, affront. Anything you do other than feeding his own beliefs back to him is going to blow up in your face.

Mister Significant said:
If i did come off as disrespectful is there any consequences?
Click to expand...
Of course. He'll find reasons to fail you. And make no mistake: he'll take anything you say on this issue as disrespectful.

Swallow your pride, write what he wants you to write, and live to fight another day. This hill isn't worth dying on.
 
I had to take a world masterpieces class to graduate. The professor was of a certain Middle Eastern religion. He openly criticized the religious texts of every other mainstream religion, but he would get very personally offended at any criticism focused at his religion’s text, even getting upset about implications. I learned after the first assignment that if I wanted an A, I would have to just tell him what he wanted to hear. My gpa was more important than taking a stand that wouldn’t have gotten me anything but a bad grade.
 
Mister Significant said:
Hello Fellow Undergraduates,

I'm in my last semester, and I'm taking "Racism and Inequality" online. My professor is super picky about what I put down in open-ended assignments that have nothing to do with the book. He has graded me harshly on the basis for things like "being too optimistic" or incorrectly saying that America today celebrates diversity. The guy is from Jamaica, and I have been a United States citizen (half Black/half white) for the last 24 years. I don't like how he letting his opinion get in the way of my own personal experiences.

So my question is, how can i address this issue with him without being disrespectful? If i did come off as disrespectful is there any consequences?
Click to expand...

Ahh, this brings back fond memories of my "Multiculturalism in America" course in undergrad.

In all of your essays, on your exams, and even in your electronic conversations with him, parrot his opinions. Don't dissent on anything. If he wants you to be pessimistic, be pessimistic. If he says that America hates diversity, then say that America hates diversity. If he says that he was abducted by martians the other night, zealously offer to go UFO hunting with him.

Most humanities and social theory courses are closely related to courses in the theater department. They are testing your acting ability. You have to prove that you're able to convincingly play the role of a delusional twit.

Good luck!
 
Lol this happened to me in a sociology class that was supposed to prepare me for the MCAT.

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Osminog said:
Ahh, this brings back fond memories of my "Multiculturalism in America" course in undergrad.

In all of your essays, on your exams, and even in your electronic conversations with him, parrot his opinions. Don't dissent on anything. If he wants you to be pessimistic, be pessimistic. If he says that America hates diversity, then say that America hates diversity. If he says that he was abducted by martians the other night, zealously offer to go UFO hunting with him.

Most humanities and social theory courses are closely related to courses in the theater department. They are testing your acting ability. You have to prove that you're able to convincingly play the role of a delusional twit.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I took an anthropology course once where we had to give a presentation on some topic of our choosing. One of the students gave this absurdly antisemitic rant of a presentation about Jews and Israel. Don’t get me wrong, there are legitimate criticisms to be made about the current Israeli government, but nothing he said could be classified as such. The professor was eating it up.

Oh, btw I was Orthodox at the time. I changed my presentation on the spot to effectively just a long rebuttal about why that guy was an idiot. He kept interrupting me with these ridiculous questions. Fortunately, the professor saw where that could be going and shut him down so I could finish. Got an A lol.
 
Humanities courses of that ilk aren't made to create open dialog and discuss issues.

They're designed to have their students masturbate over their glorious professor. That's it. It's not about thinking. It's about conditioning. And I say this as someone who is pretty liberal about social issues.

"The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." - English translation of a Japanese proverb
 
You should know by now that sociology related humanities classes are completely subjective.

Do Not: I repeat "Do Not" try and argue a point of view that differs from the professor's- even if you are a token minority.

I always enter sociology classes one way, become a different person during the course of the class, and leave the way I began.
 
bluemamba7 said:
Ended up getting an A cuz the professor couldn’t, or didn’t, find out my name 😉
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Or maybe he didn’t mind heated debates. I had a professor I used to really get into it with. He always graded fairly no matter how vehemently you disagreed with him as long as it was a logical argument, and you had sources.
 
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bluemamba7 said:
Maybe but he seemed pretty butt hurt about it the remainder of the semester. The point I’m making is that there are many professors that are illogical and are not open for debate or discussion. Some people stay quite for the sake of their grades and don’t step out of their safety bubble, and I totally get that, but I think that change starts with discussion. Maybe I feel this way because I can afford an B in a class with a 4.00 gpa, I’m not sure. It’s definitely not a smart idea for your grade, I get that, but its a good way to learn, grow up and mature in my opinion
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I mean I have a 4.0 too. I’m not going to get a B just to be a martyr in a class. The prof isn’t going to change his entire worldview because you argued with him in class. He’s probably more likely to dig in if he’s as butthurt as you say.
 
LizzyM said:
What are the learning objectives of the course? How does he assess that you have met those objectives? If these are not clear on the syllabus, ask what they are and how they are measured. Has he introduced evidence that American's do not celebrate diversity (e.g. survey results)? Are you reading the assigned papers and getting his point of view on these questions and then losing points for not parroting back what he has presented in the readings and lectures?
Any single course is a very small fraction of your GPA. Don't grade grub on such a piddling course. Take @trev5150 's advice on move on.
Click to expand...
Good point made on evaluating the objectives stated in the syllabus. I will definitely have to review this before turning in further assignments. His lectures for each week are only 10 minutes long. Most of the weekly course material comes from videos such as "Narratives from Former Slaves". He then asks questions on our opinions on the films. I only get his perspective on the subject from the mark-downs he gives me(no supporting evidence for his refutes). But all in all, not going to lose too much sleep over it. Just gotta get some A's in my other courses to equal out a possible B.
 
bluemamba7 said:
Perhaps, some souls are too lost to be saved. But I’m sure it had an influence on those silent students around me and gave them a different view on a biased material. I was very passionate about the material discussed, and felt that it was being very one-sided and unfair. Would I be “martyred” to get that point across? Any day of the week.
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Or they just wanted you to cut it out and move on. Probably more likely.
 
mydogmolly said:
Yea ya boy had a 3.5, so I was a full-blown communist for 3 hours a week.
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I would be too regardless of my gpa unless I didn’t give a **** about my gpa. If some sort of professional or graduate school hadn’t been the goal, I probably would have let ‘er rip.
 
Osminog said:
Ahh, this brings back fond memories of my "Multiculturalism in America" course in undergrad.

In all of your essays, on your exams, and even in your electronic conversations with him, parrot his opinions. Don't dissent on anything. If he wants you to be pessimistic, be pessimistic. If he says that America hates diversity, then say that America hates diversity. If he says that he was abducted by martians the other night, zealously offer to go UFO hunting with him.

Most humanities and social theory courses are closely related to courses in the theater department. They are testing your acting ability. You have to prove that you're able to convincingly play the role of a delusional twit.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Agreed.
Biggest lesson I have learned thus far from undergraduate is that social science and even biological science are not 100% fact. They are our best attempts to make sense and connections of the world around us. Having a PH/D in front of your name doesn't make you master of the universe.
 
Suck it up, do what you need to get the grade, then blast him on course reviews if your school has them (they should). If it's truly that bad, wait until the class ends and write an e-mail or meet with the dean. Some of my friends did that in UG and a professor ended up getting fired for overtly sexist grading policies. In humanities/soft science courses though, you should expect opinions and views of your profs to be factored into grading in some way or another.
 
Sadly if you are taking a course called "Racism and Inequality" in 2018 you are going to encounter a lot of virtue signaling and be expected to follow suit. In today's climate if you disagree you are often summarily judged as wrong and/or inherently bad.

I think this phenomenon is probably stunting the intellectual development and critical thinking skills of today's young people...but for now there's not really much you can do about it except fall in line if you're trying to prepare an application for med school.
 
WingedOx said:
of course there JUST MIGHT possibly be more to the story than what the OP is putting on, just maybe...
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Could be. But I actually wouldn't be surprised. As I said, I have personal experience with professors who are so biased that any slight to their views is met with harsh grading. But I obviously have no way of knowing if that's actually the case here. If it is, you just gotta play the game. That's part of adulting.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Could be. But I actually wouldn't be surprised. As I said, I have personal experience with professors who are so biased that any slight to their views is met with harsh grading. But I obviously have no way of knowing if that's actually the case here. If it is, you just gotta play the game. That's part of adulting.
Click to expand...

Of course if I had to choose which is more likely between "vindictive biased professor" and "undergrad who simply isn't aware of how poor his writing and sourcing are", I think the choice is pretty easy.

Besides, if nothing else, "learn the play the game" is a skill you gotta learn sometime if you're going the premed route.
 
WingedOx said:
Of course if I had to choose which is more likely between "vindictive biased professor" and "undergrad who simply isn't aware of how poor his writing and sourcing are", I think the choice is pretty easy.

Besides, if nothing else, "learn the play the game" is a skill you gotta learn sometime if you're going the premed route.
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Totally agree. I just like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
 
I've had classes like that. Find out what the professors want and just write what they want to hear. I've had a history class where the TA was like really far left politically and I just included all sorts of liberal catch-phrases and I ended up doing well.
 
Just to be different than everyone else, fight it. Stand for what you believe in. This is more than your grade. This is about doing what’s right and standing up to the oppressive system.
 
Damn y'all have some crappy professors. I wrote a whole 10 page essay on something I knew was against their views and they commented on it that they learned a lot from the research. Although I have had highschool teachers like the professors you're mentioning. Use Ratemyprofessor more often and it'll save you a lot of grief.
 
freedoctor17 said:
Damn y'all have some crappy professors. I wrote a whole 10 page essay on something I knew was against their views and they commented on it that they learned a lot from the research. Although I have had highschool teachers like the professors you're mentioning. Use Ratemyprofessor more often and it'll save you a lot of grief.
Click to expand...

Ratemyprof didn't exist when I first went to college.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Ratemyprof didn't exist when I first went to college.
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It probably existed in the Stone age form of speaking to older students lol but good point. I forget how recent some stuff is considering it's been around ever since I've needed it. You should write you diversity essays on this 😛
 
freedoctor17 said:
It probably existed in the Stone age form of speaking to older students lol but good point. I forget how recent some stuff is considering it's been around ever since I've needed it. You should write you diversity essays on this 😛
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the prof I described above was the only one who taught that class.
 
HomeSkool said:
OK, I'm just going to say it: did you honestly expect objectivity from a course entitled "Racism and Inequality"? For future reference, certain course listings should make you think, "My success in this course will depend entirely on subjective criteria." This is one of them.


You can't. He's already shown that his personal beliefs are the grading criteria, so he'll perceive any approach you make as a personal, rather than professional, affront. Anything you do other than feeding his own beliefs back to him is going to blow up in your face.


Of course. He'll find reasons to fail you. And make no mistake: he'll take anything you say on this issue as disrespectful.

Swallow your pride, write what he wants you to write, and live to fight another day. This hill isn't worth dying
Click to expand...

Perfectly said. Drop the course or play along and serve him everything he wants to hear. I learned this lesson the hard way in my first year
 
freedoctor17 said:
Damn y'all have some crappy professors. I wrote a whole 10 page essay on something I knew was against their views and they commented on it that they learned a lot from the research. Although I have had highschool teachers like the professors you're mentioning. Use Ratemyprofessor more often and it'll save you a lot of grief.
Click to expand...
Some of my classes have this thing where you are assigned to TAs and you don't know who you will get. So in that case, you have to take a risk.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Could be. But I actually wouldn't be surprised. As I said, I have personal experience with professors who are so biased that any slight to their views is met with harsh grading. But I obviously have no way of knowing if that's actually the case here. If it is, you just gotta play the game. That's part of adulting.
Click to expand...
WingedOx said:
Of course if I had to choose which is more likely between "vindictive biased professor" and "undergrad who simply isn't aware of how poor his writing and sourcing are", I think the choice is pretty easy.

Besides, if nothing else, "learn the play the game" is a skill you gotta learn sometime if you're going the premed route.
Click to expand...
It's an online course where he gives 10 minute lectures per week regurgitating the key definitions of the book, then has film to watch. I wish I knew his opinion before he graded my assignments. I use as much course material as I can anytime I do an assignment. I've gotten 100's on every quiz so that should help me out. You should see how conversational this guy writes his comments.
 
Mister Significant said:
It's an online course where he gives 10 minute lectures per week regurgitating the key definitions of the book, then has film to watch. I wish I knew his opinion before he graded my assignments. I use as much course material as I can anytime I do an assignment. I've gotten 100's on every quiz so that should help me out. You should see how conversational this guy writes his comments.
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Sucks man. I hated having to take courses like that.
 
@Mister Significant Give him a piece of your mind. It's your last semester and your last time to tell the institution what you really think about "racism and inequality" before you end up registering next semester to take more post-bac credits to raise that sGPA.
 
Bruh. Any class called "Racism and Inequality" just sounds like a bad time. Thank you for reminding me why I majored in finance. Quant micro-econ is just so much cleaner and less opinion driven. Sorry for your loss. Cheers.

PS - Also reminds me that I wouldn't do well in college today. Not that I'm disgruntled now or anything. Just gruntled.
 
freedoctor17 said:
Damn y'all have some crappy professors. I wrote a whole 10 page essay on something I knew was against their views and they commented on it that they learned a lot from the research. Although I have had highschool teachers like the professors you're mentioning. Use Ratemyprofessor more often and it'll save you a lot of grief.
Click to expand...

I would say this heavily depends on the school. I go to a school where pretty much anyone or thing with a pulse with four limbs and opposable thumbs can get in. The students complain about everything even when the class is really easy. Many times I’ve gone on RateMyProfessor to see what my classes were going to be like, see like a 2.0 rating and think the class is going to be rough, and find out the class is ridiculously easy.
 
doctorcocter said:
Just to be different than everyone else, fight it. Stand for what you believe in. This is more than your grade. This is about doing what’s right and standing up to the oppressive system.
Click to expand...

IMO, you have to pick your battles wisely. Some, like ****ty echo chamber classes, are not worth the fight. You won't change minds, you'll piss people off, and you'll get a worse grade out of it.

If you find reasonable people to debate with who are willing to listen as much as they're willing to explain their viewpoints, then yes, totally worth the discussion.
 
CherryRedDracul said:
IMO, you have to pick your battles wisely. Some, like ****ty echo chamber classes, are not worth the fight. You won't change minds, you'll piss people off, and you'll get a worse grade out of it.

If you find reasonable people to debate with who are willing to listen as much as they're willing to explain their viewpoints, then yes, totally worth the discussion.
Click to expand...

I was joking. I was gonna say just tell him what he want to hear but there were already 10 posts like that.
 
Select All That Apply said:
@Mister Significant Give him a piece of your mind. It's your last semester and your last time to tell the institution what you really think about "racism and inequality" before you end up registering next semester to take more post-bac credits to raise that sGPA.
Click to expand...
Haha yeah when I graduate i'll be taking a few courses nearby my hometown. Definitely will have some criticism for them. Library closes 8 on fridays, then 6 on saturday, and then midnight on every other day. 22k students go here and we even have graduate students for medical, physical therapy, physician assistant you name it.
 
TypeADissection said:
Bruh. Any class called "Racism and Inequality" just sounds like a bad time. Thank you for reminding me why I majored in finance. Quant micro-econ is just so much cleaner and less opinion driven. Sorry for your loss. Cheers.

PS - Also reminds me that I wouldn't do well in college today. Not that I'm disgruntled now or anything. Just gruntled.
Click to expand...
You'd probably do better today to be honest. Professors give out B's to everyone. Do the homework and with even a D average on exams you'll scrape by with a C in most classes.
 
CherryRedDracul said:
IMO, you have to pick your battles wisely. Some, like ****ty echo chamber classes, are not worth the fight. You won't change minds, you'll piss people off, and you'll get a worse grade out of it.

If you find reasonable people to debate with who are willing to listen as much as they're willing to explain their viewpoints, then yes, totally worth the discussion.
Click to expand...
I go on youtube to debate mostly.
 
This reminds me of a religious studies class I took. The professor was an orthodox Jewish individual. She gave us an essay prompt to discuss the difference between humans and machines. I wrote that machines perfectly execute tasks but have a limited capability whereas humans have higher intelligence but are more prone to mistakes. She marked me off 10% because I used the word “perfectly” in that description. She claims that machines aren’t perfect because they don’t have the capability to think or love. I wanted to fight her on the fact that the word “perfect” can have different meanings in different contexts but she wouldn’t budge. Her real problem was the fact that she was bitter because she thought that technology was making people less religious so she got upset at me saying machines are perfect. What she really wanted was an essay on how humans and the religious spirit are oh so delightful and amazing and computers/technology are devil incarnate

Oh, and did I mention that I got a B in the class despite writing several paragraphs of responses for every assignment and the Jewish kid next to me who wrote half a page for every assignment (double ****ing spaced) got an A+?
 
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LoveBeingHuman:) said:
Her real problem was the fact that she was bitter because she thought that technology was making people less religious so she got upset at me saying machines are perfect. What she really wanted was an essay on how humans and the religious spirit are oh so delightful and amazing and computers/technology are devil incarnate
Click to expand...

She said that in class? I ask because it’s not really Orthodox Jewish philosophy to consider something “the devil.”
 
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