Profs need prep, too

Success is all about preparation: preparation for the future, preparation for the worst,… Success is all about preparation: preparation for the future, preparation for the worst, preparation for the unknown. As students, we learn that we are expected to be prepared for both our individual classes and college life as a whole. When we begin our courses, most of our professors hand us a syllabus with the class description, structure of the course and their expectations. While each teacher has a different agenda with different approaches, preparation is expected from all students in all courses.

We buy hundreds of dollars worth of books, flip through countless pages of course literature and spend hours on assignments, all to stay on track. We come to class with hardbound books, notebooks, writing utensils and folders all shoved in our backpacks. We spend hours in a classroom with our own expectation of learning.

Why is it, then, that many of us find ourselves disappointed with the course material, the class structure or simply the professor responsible for both?

Unfortunately, many teachers lack the very preparation that they expect of their students. Students may waste an hour of class time while a teacher strays from one subject to another. Often, the tangents that teachers go on have little or no relevance to the material at hand.

In other cases, professors come to class with every intention of lecturing course material, but do so in a manner that is disorganized and unintelligible. Quite simply, it seems many professors don’t believe that preparation is important for both sides of the education system.

Now, this is not to say that all professors need lessons plans to accurately teach their students. In some cases, a professor has taught the same material for years and has been able to hone the lesson plan. Because the professor has taught this material for so many years, the need for a hard copy has vanished; the professor simply has it memorized. However, this scenario is rare.

Many professors are not as gifted. Many young, new professors are still unfamiliar with the classroom setting simply because they have not become comfortable in the new environment. It is in these circumstances that a strong, structural outline or lesson plan would be most beneficial. At the very least, the professor should practice or look over the material prior to class to keep the students on track.

One semester, I had a young professor who seemed not to understand that he was now the leader of the classroom, and had problems distinguishing lectures from one-sided discussions. Most of the class was spent in an I-talk-you-listen format. In most cases, he spoke in detached statements and improper grammar, stuffing the lecture with innumerable “ums,” “likes,” and “rights.” As students, we were forced to try to translate his train of thought into a lesson plan we could benefit from.

But the ill-prepared professors are not solely comprised of the younger generation. One semester, I had a professor that was a very brilliant man: he had written the textbook we used for his class. He had done an immense amount of research and was certainly a great scholar in his area. However, somewhere along the line, Pitt administrators confused a brilliant researcher with a great professor, and as a result a lecture hall of 125 students were confused and frustrated.

The professor was unable to present all of his material in a way that students could comprehend and learn from. A little more thought and preparation would have allowed this professor to organize his information in a way that would work for his students.

If teachers don’t come prepared to teach their classes, then why should students come at all? Most students would be better off reading the course material and teaching themselves or each other than listening to a teacher ramble off-topic. It would be a lot cheaper for students to just buy books and teach themselves most of the material, since textbooks cost less than the salaries of professors who use their class to waste students’ time.

I understand that it is the student’s responsibility to understand the information presented. We are no longer in high school and we are accountable for the education we chose to receive. But we are not the only ones in charge of our education.

If those who are supposed to help us prepare for life outside of college cannot even organize a simple lesson plan and follow it, what option are we left with? My plea is not unreasonable; all I ask is that the professors follow the same guidelines they expect students to.

E-mail Katie at kar37@pitt.edu.