Professors Who Suck

[theshadow]

The two worst that I can remember:

(1) A lady who commuted from LeMars 3 times a week. So if it snowed 180 miles away, no class.

(2) The guy who later spearheaded the September 29th Movement -- turned out he was a 50-something grad student -- taught one of the intro English classes (104? 105?). Most of the assignments/readings revolved around racism, protests, and/or involved groups (Black Panthers, IRA, etc.). Class time turned into debates about those topics. We all wondered what any of that had to do with English.

 

[Doc]

We had a soils final with Radhey Sharma that was scheduled for the 6-8pm slot on a Thursday, so it was pretty late in the week. I think I was one of the first out of there at 9:30pm after I mailed it in on a few questions. IIRC, the prof was trying to change things on the fly once he realized the two hours was up and people only had 2-3 questions done. He was a good enough professor, but wrote a pretty rough exam.

 

[Sparkplug]

My last semester I had class from like 8-3 on Tues and Thurs, and 1 class on W/F. After going to my first 8am on Friday I dropped that class since I was only taking because it sounded interesting, but Mug night was much more interesting.

Had to see who wrote this. Thought my son joined CF

 

[BCClone]

I get that, they didn't grade on a curve so my point is he had no issues giving all but maybe 5 people in the class an F for that exam. How many of you ever took an exam where the class average was below 50% on an exam let alone in a class where they did not grade on a curve either. Never had a class other than that one come close to having such a low average and when there were students who probably had the top grades in that class pissed about the exam too it says a lot about that instructor when he wouldn't budge on the grading or admit he maybe didn't write a fair exam or prep us in lecture enough. I just remember people pointing out certain questions during the review and asking where we were presented the relevant material on it and he struggled to come up with an answer that didn't reek of BS trying to cover his own butt that maybe he made some mistakes putting those questions on the exam.

I took Ag LaW from Neil Harl, I was the top student. If he wouldn’t have adjusted the points to make me 100%, there would have only been two of us that passed.

The class before him was a visiting Professor Melton who was competing with Harl for lowest scores. I don’t think anybody got 50% total in that class.

 

[CtownCyclone]

How many of you ever took an exam where the class average was below 50% on an exam let alone in a class where they did not grade on a curve either.

Leroy Sturges.
EM306.

"Just because there is a lot of mediocrity does not mean it's acceptable."

 

[NWICY]

Advisors at Isu aren’t the best. One big problem was that advisors only stayed a year until they moved on. I had 5 advisors in 5 years.

So when did the advisor thing change? They used to be professors in your major and you had the same one for your time at ISU unless they retired or left. Granted this was a long time ago the early 80's.

 

[Gonzo]

I had Stephen Bloom during my time at Iowa. This guy was the most pompous dooshcanoe I've ever encountered. Had him in a journalism class and all he talked about was himself and did nothing but made fun of students' work in the least constructive way. This is the asshat who got crucified for his article in The Atlantic that ripped apart the state of Iowa and its citizens which was riddled with factual errors and followed up by several corrections by The Atlantic. He was also disowned by his UofI colleagues and the photog who worked with him on their book project. Bloom was the classic example of an 'academic' who could never survive in the real world, but felt like Superman in his soft little academia bubble. Worst teacher I've ever had.

 

[mganzeveld]

The worst person I dealt with was my adviser. I had to report them to the chair of the department multiple times. I didn't know if I was graduating until dead week of my final semester because I guess it takes ~3 years to see if certain credits transfer over from a previous school. I had to track down a syllabus from a professor that didn't even teach full time at my prior school, over 3 years removed from the class because my adviser lost it.

I couldn't even take interviews or anything because I didn't want to back out after the fact if I still had to take more classes.

Same here. My advisor, whom I had for 3 years, notified me at my graduation audit that a racquetball class I took at Iowa Central would not transfer because I took it pass/fail and therefore would not graduate in the spring. He felt it was no problem and that I could just take a PE class in the summer. No biggie? I would not be graduating with my friends on time because of racquetball? Plus, I was student teaching that spring. Summer is when graduates are getting hired for teaching jobs in the fall. A summer class just was not going to work. Fortunately during those three years I got to know the chair of the college of education and he made a phone call to the registrars office. The pass/fail racquetball class was accepted for a graduation requirement. How on earth did it take 7 semesters to decide a PE class didn't count? Thanks a lot. : /

 

[tigershoops31]

I took "History of American Pop Culture" and we had to write a paper about something that we felt was a big event in our memory that had affected popular culture. I wrote about Magic Johnson's announcement that he had HIV. I got a D- on the paper because he said I missed the bigger impact from the event that "Magic Johnson was in the NBA as an African-American". I went in to argue my point with him and asked him if he had any idea what percentage of the NBA were African American and he had no response so bumped me up to a C-.

Man it ticks me off just thinking about that one. Guess I had it coming for taking History of American Pop Culture.

 

[BCClone]

I had Stephen Bloom during my time at Iowa. This guy was the most pompous dooshcanoe I've ever encountered. Had him in a journalism class and all he talked about was himself and did nothing but made fun of students' work in the least constructive way. This is the asshat who got crucified for his article in The Atlantic that ripped apart the state of Iowa and its citizens which was riddled with factual errors and followed up by several corrections by The Atlantic. He was also disowned by his UofI colleagues and the photog who worked with him on their book project. Bloom was the classic example of an 'academic' who could never survive in the real world, but felt like Superman in his soft little academia bubble. Worst teacher I've ever had.

He did ok on everybody loves Raymond.

 

[CYdTracked]

My MIS advisor sucked. I never had him as an instructor for any of my classes as he taught mostly grad classes and seemed like he was nearly impossible to meet with as his only hours (which were practically none) always seemed to be when I had a class so we pretty much had an email only relationship. As my senior year was approaching I realized if I didn't find a way to get a prereq waived for 1 class I'd have to stay an extra semester just to take it. Tried to see what I could do to avoid this and he was no help at all so I went into the main advisor office that you did when you were pre-business and explained I needed to talk to someone about my situation. The head of the advisors office, think her name was Ann Farni took me in her office and within 15 minutes had it figured out by having me change catalogs which replaced that class with another class I already had completed. Ironically she was the advisor I sat down with during freshman orientation too. She then told me to just bypass my major advisor and go directly through her if I needed anything else. Guessing she must have had some similar problems with the professor I had as an advisor to take up my problem without hesitation and offer that too. Very thankful, was not happy with the possibility of having enough credits to graduate but have to stay an extra semester just to complete 1 class requirement as it took me 4.5 years to graduate due to another semester where I got shut out of nearly every prereq class I was hoping to take because they filled up before my registration period started.

Hopefully that has changed since I graduated as most professors didn't seem to like having to be advisors from other students I talked with as between teaching and research it seemed to be an inconvenience to them. Always wondered why we couldn't just use the same advisor we did prior to declaring a business major as that is all those people did and were much more friendly and knowledgeable. Loved my time at ISU but looking back I wish I had taken more of my gen ed classes at DMACC where you didn't have 400-500 in a lecture and had an instructor that gave a damn about actually teaching the subject in a manner more conducive to learning it. Not all profs were that way but was more common until you started getting into the 300 and 400 level major classes. Probably my 2 favorite profs were ones I had my last semester at ISU and both you could tell card about teaching the subject and making sure their students were enjoying the class and getting something useful from it.

 

[RING4CY]

U.S. History 1900 - 1945, Spring 2011.

A class that is basically supposed to be semester-long devotion to the United States involvement in the two World Wars. There was one lecture the entire semester on World War I, and it was on the pesticides used in the war. That was it.

Then there was a group project we had to do regarding how food was rationed at the time of World War II. The only meat we could use was bacon. Which the instructor provided. Raw bacon that had been sitting in her bag all day long.

I think she went on to get her PhD on the history of garbage or something.

 

[RunninMan]

I get that, they didn't grade on a curve so my point is he had no issues giving all but maybe 5 people in the class an F for that exam. How many of you ever took an exam where the class average was below 50% on an exam let alone in a class where they did not grade on a curve either. Never had a class other than that one come close to having such a low average and when there were students who probably had the top grades in that class pissed about the exam too it says a lot about that instructor when he wouldn't budge on the grading or admit he maybe didn't write a fair exam or prep us in lecture enough. I just remember people pointing out certain questions during the review and asking where we were presented the relevant material on it and he struggled to come up with an answer that didn't reek of BS trying to cover his own butt that maybe he made some mistakes putting those questions on the exam.

I got a 50.5% on my first Calc II exam last semester and I was really disappointed until I found out the class average was 49%. The class average for the final overall grade was 54% so my 62% curved to a C+ and almost a B-. I really liked the professor; I just think the system is flawed if the majority of the class would have failed without the curve.

 

[dualthreat]

Anyone have any stories?

As I was moving out of my apartment last week, I found a college project where the professor destroyed me. Multiple comments such as "This is awful," "Clearly unprepared," "How unorganized can you be." It's been 5 years and it reminded me of how nightmarish this professor was. I'm not going to name him, but every time "ISU Foundation" pops up on my phone, he's the first thing that enters my mind and I hit ignore. So let me walk you through why this guy was a complete ass.

In late September of 2013, I had two kidney stones and was on oxycodone but still went to class, but did not talk in class because I didn't want to do anything inappropriate in a drug-induced state. After class, he called me out and reemed me for not participating during that class.

After this, every time I participated in discussion, he disapproved of whatever I said and I noticed my grade started dipping.

Then this project happened, in which I got destroyed.

After this project, I had gone out to lunch with 4 people in the same class. All of them felt my project was fine and were shocked he responded the way he did. Three of these students were close with the professor. The fourth told me the professor, who he felt hated him before, now liked him because he went in during office hours just to shoot the **** with the professor. Now, the part that blows my mind...

All four of them told me he had a "list" of students he wants to "weed out" of his class and he had shown two of them. Yours truly was on the list. His reasoning was because the profession doesn't have enough job openings to suit every one in his class so he wanted to ensure the ones he felt were most qualified would have a job.

So I went in during office hours to talk to him. He told me he felt I didn't care about the class ever since the day I came in with the kidney stones. He mentioned another classmate made it to class and behaved just fine after getting in a car accident that same day. Little did he know this was a good friend of mine, who was in a minor fender bender and used this as an excuse to relax during class.

He then offered to bump my grade up a letter grade if I could answer three history-related questions which I had no idea the answer. He let me hear how unprofessional it was I didn't know these answers for a history major. I left, tail between my legs because I couldn't answer the question, only to ask those four students I had lunch with also didn't know the answers to these questions and were in disbelief he would even ask those questions.

After the meeting with him, I began half-assing all my work because I felt there was no use in trying to get through to this guy. Weirdly enough, my grade started going up. Since then, I've gotten to know a few younger people that have had him. It's amazing, because people either love him or loath him.

Anyone in history probably knows who I'm talking about, I just ask we don't post names in here because I don't want to drag this guys name in the mud.

This is straight up harassment and bullying

 

[CloneGuy8]

I had Stephen Bloom during my time at Iowa. This guy was the most pompous dooshcanoe I've ever encountered. Had him in a journalism class and all he talked about was himself and did nothing but made fun of students' work in the least constructive way. This is the asshat who got crucified for his article in The Atlantic that ripped apart the state of Iowa and its citizens which was riddled with factual errors and followed up by several corrections by The Atlantic. He was also disowned by his UofI colleagues and the photog who worked with him on their book project. Bloom was the classic example of an 'academic' who could never survive in the real world, but felt like Superman in his soft little academia bubble. Worst teacher I've ever had.

I remember when he wrote that garbage article. Does he still teach at Iowa?

 

[RunninMan]

I went to a small private school in Iowa for my Freshman year and my first class on my first day was called "Critical Thinking in the Liberal Arts and Sciences". The first thing our professor said to us was "I never give higher than 95% for a grade on assignments or exams. I think that 95% means you did everything that was asked of you correctly, and in order to get 100% you need to go above and beyond the call of duty." That was quite a shock for my first college class ever. The cutoff for an A was 92% too so you only had a 3% margin of error to get an A in the class. Also, I didn't enjoy the content of the class. It was meant to be teaching students how to form their own opinions on current events and to think for themselves, which I think is important; but it was taught with such negativity that it was almost depressing. It was more, 'critically think about how terrible society (and therefore you) is and how many awful things are happening in the world.' Our final project was to make a poster in the style of graffiti (the professor was a huge Banksy fan) and we were supposed to base it on what we thought was an important problem our society faces today. Out of spite I made mine an equal number of filled in red X's and green outlined plus signs to say that we tend to focus on the negative things when in reality there are just as many positive things happening around us; we just need to look for them. I don't think the professor cracked a smile the whole time I was presenting.

 

[JP4CY]

So many responses and no mention of Chacko? Textbook prof that can EABOD.

 

[Gonzo]

I remember when he wrote that garbage article. Does he still teach at Iowa?

Apparently.

There was one time when I had to pick something up from the comm building so I pulled my car into the drive and left it to run in. Not a very considerate move since it was blocking the drive that led to the parking lot behind the building. I came out to find Bloom's car behind mine, he'd gotten out and was standing at his car with his arm through the open driver's side window laying on the horn. I gave him a quick "sorry" as I got into my car. He responded, "no you're not." I responded, "whatever you say chief" before getting in driving through. It was a nice moment. ******* doosh.

 

[Cyder91]

I was in my final year with only a 5 credit class MWF of each week each semester the last year in architecture. I had all my other credits out of the way. My wife and I got married that summer as planned since she was going onto graduate school at another institution and I commuted. Part way into the semester the professor for this class (both semesters)had the balls to suggest that may be I shouldn't haven't gotten married and dedicated myself to finishing the last year. He further went on to suggest that may be I should be living in Ames and not with my wife the first year of marriage!........hmmm probably a reason that his marriages had failed. Needless to say I didn't take his advice.

Some of these professors live in a parallel universe!

 

[NWICY]

Apparently.

There was one time when I had to pick something up from the comm building so I pulled my car into the drive and left it to run in. Not a very considerate move since it was blocking the drive that led to the parking lot behind the building. I came out to find Bloom's car behind mine, he'd gotten out and was standing at his car with his arm through the open driver's side window laying on the horn. I gave him a quick "sorry" as I got into my car. He responded, "no you're not." I responded, "whatever you say chief" before getting in driving through. It was a nice moment. ******* doosh.

That's a pretty good story Gonzo. I remember the Atlantic uproar, but I would never recognize the guy.