The Meanest Professor EVER

I work very hard to be considered a mean professor. Why, do you ask? Wouldn't I want my students to like me? During my first post, I mentioned not liking many of my students. Needless to say, if I don't like them, I'm not all that keen on them liking me. Looking back at that blog, I think I was being too vague. Again, it's not the students themselves that I don't like, but their bad student behaviors and attitudes I don't like. What bad behaviors and attitudes, do you ask? hehe. Let me give you a short list.

Tardiness
Attendance problems
Sleeping in class
Not doing work
On cell phone (calling, texting, playing games) during class
On computer (for anything not involved with note-taking) during class
Not following directions correctly
Not reading all of the directions
Blaming the instructor for bad grades
Blaming problems at home, work, school, insert other person here, for bad grades
WHINING
Asking stupid questions (and in college, there are stupid questions)
Talking to other students during lectures
Asking for a copy of the instructor's notes so they don't have to take notes
Begging for extra credit

And this is the short list! Add in the specialized complaints for public speaking or online courses, and there's not enough room on the internet to list them all.

I realized last year that, if I was tough up front in my syllabus and have no give during the first few weeks, many of the worst of the offenders weeded themselves out of the class. Then I could concentrate on the students who wanted to be there and learn.

My classes are fun. I use a lot of funny stories, most at my husband's expense, and refer to a lot of pop culture references to help make the dry theory more interesting. I am a work horse. Although there are lots of assignments, all of my tests are online (i.e. open book), and the small weekly assignments shouldn't take more than 30 minutes each. They are just meant to get you thinking about communication on a regular basis. On paper, though, it can look quite over-whleming.

Now, all of my expectations are clearly posted up front. I NEVER accept late work for any reason, I don't have excused or unexcused absences, after four absences, it's an automatic F (although I let the student who went into labor a few hours before class started have a freebie!), and if you engage in an disrespectful behavior, many of which are listed above, you will be asked to leave and will receive an absence for the day. A few small verbal corrections when the class starts to get disruptive, and it seems to be enough.

I've heard, form the students who do like me, that they had heard from students who failed or dropped my class that I was a bitch and should be avoided. These students who liked me, though, said that they saw, so long as they followed basic, and what should be obvious, class rules, I'm actually, dare I say it, easy! Four weeks into the semester, and my full to capicity classes are down 25% each, but those who have stayed are almost all getting As and Bs. It pays to be a bitch, even if it doesn't always feel natural.

Or, to paraphrase a famous frog, it's not easy being mean.