Student voices concern over some teachers’ lack of focus, ability to go off on tangents
Teachers and tangents; one of these does not belong in the classroom.
Can you guess which?
We’ve all had teachers that go off onto subject
s that are not even in the same realm as the subject they teach.
Students go into history class to learn about the Civil War and walk out having heard all about what your professor’s kid was for Halloween.
Honestly I could care less.
I’m here to learn, not waste money hearing about someone’s life story.
Dr. Phil has a show for a reason.
I’m not saying all teachers are like this.
There are many great teachers at San Joaquin Delta College that do teach what they are supposed to and students get a lot out of their class.
However, from my own experience at least 75-percent of the teachers I have had here at Delta have taught me nothing more than their life story.
This isn’t to say that’s the only thing I pay attention to. It’s just the only thing they talk about.
These teachers start off class strong on what they should be teaching then someone in the back asks a totally unrelated question and they answer it.
This then leads to another question and another and finally there’s a story.
By the time the questions are answered and story is over, so is class.
All that was learned was the teacher has a cat named Lemon and how they changed their major three times before realizing their dream job.
It’s clear that these “tangents” are not always initiated by the teacher.
Many students ask silly questions that are barely or sometimes not at all related, just to waste time.
We’re college kids.
It’s what we do on occasion.
We don’t always want to learn about physics equations when we could get away with hearing a cool or even boring (depending on how bad we want to avoid the subject being taught) story.
Teachers need to realize though that it is their job to get their students under control and get back on topic so we can actually pass the ridiculous tests they give out.
It is clear that there is a blatant lack of authority in the classroom that needs to be addressed. Most of the students here at Delta run the teachers — and they let us.
Teachers are the equivalent of a glorified babysitter, but they shouldn’t have to be.
The teachers need to take back their classrooms and get the students back on track with the subject we are really supposed to be learning.
And we as students need to have more respect for our teachers and not interrupt the lesson so we don’t have to learn.
If students don’t want to learn then they shouldn’t come to class and make it difficult for the rest of us to get anything out of the lesson.
It’s a lose-lose situation.
The next time you’re in the classroom think about how bad you want to pass your next test.
I doubt you’ll be asking very many ignorant questions after that, and your teacher will have an easier time managing the class so we can learn and get out of here.
