Do you agree with this professor's philosophgy?

[UMDeeMan]

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Ok, so i'm taking physiology right now with this crazy a$$. he is a brilliant man and i do not doubt his intelligence. however, his teaching methods are that of a 10 year old child. he does not lecture us, he does not give us notes, he does not tell us what to study. he simply tell us to read chapters x-y and the test will be on z day. this is physiology here, a mildly complex course that really does require instruction, i don't find it as a "teach yourself" subject. anyways, his philosophy is this

"Those who can remember the most win."

he says doctors are only doctors because they remember the most. i can agree to this but isn't it his job as a university professor to teach the stuff we are to "remember" in order for us to "win"? i'm sorry for the rant everyone, but this guy is busting my chops, the sad thing is i have to have him again for exercise physiology (no way around it). if any of you have time, let me know what you think or if you have had professors like this. I mean it's one thing to get lectured for 3 weeks then have a test on the most minute detail, but to have no lecture and be held responsible for everything, come on now.

 

[hockeydentist]

Face reality my man,
most professors are there for one reason only, research and making money for the university by briniging in the grant money.

Priorities for a professor
1.Trying to get a tenured position
2. write grants
3. run a successful lab
4. write more grants
5. go on great out of this world meetings, hawaii, canada, russia, london
6. If I have to teach, then okay.

 

[edkNARF]

It is sad, but most professors don't care about teaching as much as they do their own research. I do agree with him that "Those who can remember the most win." In order to be successful in medical or dental school, you have to be able to perform at a higher level than other people. You will also have to learn a tremendous amount of material in professional school, so you might as well start learning how to "teach yourself" now. At Cornell, we have auto-tutorial science classes. I took physics and biochemistry as AT classes. We had no professor, just a list of objectives to learn and some practice problems. There were TAs, but none of them spoke english. It took a while to get the hang of it, but made me a much better student. Biochemistry was basically, "Okay, memorize all the names, structures, reactions, and details of the Krebs cycle, you will be quized on it at the end of the week."

 

[ecdoesit]

Sadly, some of what u mentioned is true.
How much we learned from college is actually helpful in real life?
Is ur psych class designed for premed?
I agree that ur professor's style is out of the ordinary.

I guess there are several things that I spotted:
1. In life, we have to expect things wont go the way we want it to be. If x(toothbrushes) and y(toothpastes) are all we need to have good teeth, and if we dont expect to have somehting out there, then there wont be any need for a dentist. Are x and y all we need to know/care about?

2. question: did we have a time that we think the professor is just lecturing from the text? and why do we need to go to class if everything is on the text? it depends on what ur prof substitutes for his lectureless lecture time. By our age, we could learn whatever we need by reading.

3. somewhat premed/med students are required to remember tons of info in a short period of time. the training targets such area. i m sure dental students will have to remember tons of facts in the similar manner as well.

sorry about my messy writing. let me know if u want further clarification.

 

[Col Sanders]

Just as there are a million different learning styles, there are also a million different teaching styles. Some learning styles are more prevalent and therefore in need of the more prevalent teaching styles. Occasionaly you run into teachers doing things a little different, I see these classes as a challenge more than a problem. It forces you to find new ways to learn which is not altogether a bad thing. It does no good to complain and make excuses anyway, just work hard and try to be positive, especially if you have this professor again.

 

[UMDeeMan]

It is sad, but most professors don't care about teaching as much as they do their own research. I do agree with him that "Those who can remember the most win." In order to be successful in medical or dental school, you have to be able to perform at a higher level than other people. You will also have to learn a tremendous amount of material in professional school, so you might as well start learning how to "teach yourself" now. At Cornell, we have auto-tutorial science classes. I took physics and biochemistry as AT classes. We had no professor, just a list of objectives to learn and some practice problems. There were TAs, but none of them spoke english. It took a while to get the hang of it, but made me a much better student. Biochemistry was basically, "Okay, memorize all the names, structures, reactions, and details of the Krebs cycle, you will be quized on it at the end of the week."

i totally agree with everything you say. but i highlighted and underlined a key factor. that is what is missing from my class and why I deem it rather cruel. i'm ok with teaching myself ochem, physics, or whatever as long as I know what the goals are and what is expected from me. the problem is in this class, there are no such guidelines, so unless you can memorize the entire 800 page book in 4 weeks, you are SOL. 😡

i dont want to come across as a whiner, but i'm just saying a professor should tell you what is expected or what you will be responsible for whether or not they are supposed to be doing research.

how do you think you all would do if a prof showed up on the first day, said buy this book, read it, and be ready to be responsible on an exam for anything written on there? and i'm talking the wicked minute details.

i agree with the idea of learining to adapt and become successful with various teaching styles too. the world isn't a cookie-cutter cut world, there's plenty of gray area so one must be able to adapt.

 

[Calculus1]

i totally agree with everything you say. but i highlighted and underlined a key factor. that is what is missing from my class and why I deem it rather cruel. i'm ok with teaching myself ochem, physics, or whatever as long as I know what the goals are and what is expected from me. the problem is in this class, there are no such guidelines, so unless you can memorize the entire 800 page book in 4 weeks, you are SOL. 😡

i dont want to come across as a whiner, but i'm just saying a professor should tell you what is expected or what you will be responsible for whether or not they are supposed to be doing research.

how do you think you all would do if a prof showed up on the first day, said buy this book, read it, and be ready to be responsible on an exam for anything written on there? and i'm talking the wicked minute details.

i agree with the idea of learining to adapt and become successful with various teaching styles too. the world isn't a cookie-cutter cut world, there's plenty of gray area so one must be able to adapt.

I've had a couple profs like that, they're what I and my grandmother call, dicks.

 

[Col Sanders]

i totally agree with everything you say. but i highlighted and underlined a key factor. that is what is missing from my class and why I deem it rather cruel. i'm ok with teaching myself ochem, physics, or whatever as long as I know what the goals are and what is expected from me. the problem is in this class, there are no such guidelines, so unless you can memorize the entire 800 page book in 4 weeks, you are SOL.

Well then this is my advice, you dont have to know the entire 800 page book just find out what everyone else is studying and match them. I would choose a couple of students who usually get the grades you want to get and ask them what they are focusing on. Talk to as many other students, especially past students as possible and then make an appointment or use office hours (if he lets you) with the professor and apeal to his ego, find out what he thinks is important. Remember its not you against the 800 page book, its you against your class when grades are figured. Whatever you do, dont try to memorize the book and dont blindly study without knowing what everyone else is doing.

 

[marshall]

My advice would be to probe the professor directly. I've never encountered a professor that isn't at least somewhat open about what he writes exams to cover. Ask questions that mask your intentions to pare down what you need to learn. If you're lucky you could do it in email but I think an office hour is appropriate for this because you can do it faster and he will hopefully see you as an interested student.

 

[UMDeeMan]

Remember its not you against the 800 page book, its you against your class when grades are figured. Whatever you do, dont try to memorize the book and dont blindly study without knowing what everyone else is doing.

well not to be arrogant, but there's 8 people total in the class (it's a summer class) and my academic capabilities are above there's no doubt. if it was based on class competition (ie student vs student) I wouldn't be intimidated at all. most of them are elementary education majors (i.e. phy ed). i'm the only pre-professional in there. why am i the only pre-professional? all my friends took it in the spring, i couldn't due to an already overloaded schedule (chem, physics, bio,psych, elective, 22cr) which i dominated (all A's, and a B). i wouldn't be worried but it's the professor himself. he has no problems giving out all f's and 1 c. i want the damn A. i recently found out he is on probabtion for this trend of the 30-40% of the class failing every semester. 4 of the eight kids in my class already failed it once. there is no curve in this class and as far as going to others for study tips, that wouldn't be wise. i figure i just have 4 weeks of hell in front of me, oh well. whoever said state schools weren't tough is crazy.