!@#!@My first physics class... Academia Pub!@#$%$

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crunkatog wrote:

If they don't have Ratemyprof or some other sort of 360-degree faculty review program, it's hard to know which profs and sections/lecturers have the best track record.

Many profs are egotistical assholes and yet also highly effective instructors. That said, the same personality traits that make you self-absorbed and abrasive, go hand-in-hand with poor communication skills, rambling windbag delivery style, and almost impervious to constructive feedback from students and other staff.

A good teacher is usually also a good listener/communicator, well-organized, and "gets" that their students have paid money, sometimes a lot of it, to be there and expect it to pay off in quality and efficacy.

In academics there's definitely a type of researcher who is absolutely fantastic in their bench work, but we all tacitly agree they should never do any teaching or go into industry, because they simply don't have the capacity to advocate for themselves or their students, communicate effectively to laypersons, or work on a time schedule.

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crunkatog wrote:

Working parents rely on schools more and more to provide things that schools historically didn't have in their wheelhouse. Everything from meals and hygiene to basic health care and social outreach is offloaded onto school districts and placed in the lap of sometimes woefully underpaid teachers, social workers, school health officials, ancillary staff, while the administrators continually push back with "not our problem" policies.

To the extent that the professional life of a teacher is one of the most highly regulated and scrutinized balancing acts in civilization.

As a teacher, you're expected to quickly and confidentially identify students at risk for abuse, neglect, developmental and neuropsychiatric difficulties, systemic poverty, malnutrition, and other health and safety concerns...but your hands are tied and there's actually very little you can do about it because of professional liability concerns and parental/family confidentiality and rights over their children.

You're ethically and legally obligated to make yourself aware of all students' potential issues of concern, and then either report them to someone else who might do a LOT of harm to the trust placed in you by the child or family, or do nothing because it's not acute enough for police/social services, or because the administration doesn't want to set a precedent for schools becoming de-facto responsible for nutrition, hygiene, mental health, and safe spaces. And don't you go getting personally involved in buying the kid some shoes or taking them to the doctor or bringing them a ham sandwich because then you're "grooming" or "emotionally abusing" them.

You will see the worst, and be able to do bupkuss about much of it.