“I have run my own business for 20 years.”
“I understand what it means to be in a leadership role.”
“I am a successful businessman.”
After hearing professors boast about self-success, it puts a strain on my engagement for the class.
I struggle to focus during class when my professor continuously boasts about their own success. The professor’s success in their field doesn’t mean anything to students if they can’t effectively teach the subject and relay important information.
As a student in the college of business, all my professors are credible when it comes to their position in the workforce. Most professors I’ve had are current or past business owners or have marketed for businesses.
However, as some classes went on, my professors chose to focus on their success and how they were at the top of the leaderboard in their workplace rather than teaching us about the subject.
I enjoy learning how my professors understand the subject because they have experience, but are they teaching effectively? I pay tuition to learn about how to become a successful leader myself and increase my knowledge about various aspects and opportunities in my field.
There is a difference between being a successful business leader and a successful business professor. Especially with upper-division classes, the difficulty level can become more challenging and there is a lot of material to discuss.
Professors love to explain why they chose a particular path and what made them want to enter a particular field, but they never explain how they got to where they are or why they wanted to begin teaching in the first place.
College Cliffs says, “A great college professor is one who is not only academically qualified but also has what it takes to, ultimately, create a learning environment that is conducive to learning, motivates students, and encourages participation.”
Professors who only focus on their success can decrease students’ motivation and discourage them from participating in class.
I respect my professors for taking their time to plan out lessons and stick to the plan, but it’s hard to concentrate during class if we get off-topic from the material and onto the professors’ experiences.
I don’t pay tuition and do all the prep work before class to listen to the professor boast about their job position for the whole period instead of lecturing us.
If professors want to demonstrate why they are credible to teach the subject, then they should explain what qualifies them to be a teacher and how they plan to help their students get to where we want to be.
Student learning is important because as students, we want to create a successful path for our future, and it starts with the professors who are teaching us.
Photo courtesy of northeastern.edu