Listening to My Professor Right Now

Nutrition
21

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
mrw173 wrote:
CC wrote:
I agree that the better thing to do is just get out of the class with as little conflict and as high a grade as possible. Most professors don’t like to be challenged.

Getting a high grade and avoiding conflict at the expense of experiencing what learning should truly be about is pretty stupid, if you ask me.

Good heavens!! How silly of us.

You show me a college professor who will stand publicly corrected by one of his students in his alleged area of expertise and I’ll show you a leprechaun riding a unicorn down the yellow brick road.[/quote]

I guess you’d be shocked that I see it on a semi-regular basis. Now, I don’t think that’s the norm, because I work in a field that is largely divided and something like a consensus on a topic rarely occurs, but it’s not as rare as you’re making it out to be.

Besides, you’re equating the discussion of a topic with challenging a professor. There’s a huge difference.

22

[quote]k1t0r5 wrote:
and apparently creatine is bad for you and will cause diarrhea. It is also like steroids and you will lose any and all gains as soon as you stop taking it. He also adds that NO Xplode is a good supplement that should be taken by everyone.

I LOL’d and thought I would share that with you. Keep in mind that this is at a major university and I’m paying over $100 per credit hour to listen to this shit.[/quote]

The man should not have his job. Ace the class like another poster said and then bring it up with whoever runs the school.

When you do this, bring as much evidence as you can that his teachings are wrong as well as what he actually taught you. Telling people to drink NO-EXPLODE, lol, with the ingredients in that shit he may as well be telling people to drink jet fuel. I also do believe that NO-EXPLODE contains creatine…

23

Please note the sarcasm about the whole jet fuel thing. But seriously, WTF is that shit?

24

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
mrw173 wrote:
CC wrote:
I agree that the better thing to do is just get out of the class with as little conflict and as high a grade as possible. Most professors don’t like to be challenged.

Getting a high grade and avoiding conflict at the expense of experiencing what learning should truly be about is pretty stupid, if you ask me.

Good heavens!! How silly of us.

You show me a college professor who will stand publicly corrected by one of his students in his alleged area of expertise and I’ll show you a leprechaun riding a unicorn down the yellow brick road.[/quote]

I’m undergoing schooling to enter the medical profession and there have been times when I have had proof the teacher was wrong. I have simply brought it up outside of class, 1 on 1, and she was very receptive to the idea.

I also informed other students I about the issue and provided them with the proper reading material.

Starting a confrontation in class is definitely NOT the way to go. It is just going to cause a whole bunch of defense mechanisms to be used and wasted time is the only end result.

I would contact them by email myself, its the least confrontational form of communication and you can take the time to type of a very precise letter with good references.

25

In my health & wellness workout class, Coach held up a red bull can and said “This gives you everything your body doesnt need” and “When it hits your kidneys, they say…Oh boy lets get ready for some craziness !!” He’s great.

26

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
mrw173 wrote:
CC wrote:
I agree that the better thing to do is just get out of the class with as little conflict and as high a grade as possible. Most professors don’t like to be challenged.

Getting a high grade and avoiding conflict at the expense of experiencing what learning should truly be about is pretty stupid, if you ask me.

Good heavens!! How silly of us.

You show me a college professor who will stand publicly corrected by one of his students in his alleged area of expertise and I’ll show you a leprechaun riding a unicorn down the yellow brick road.

I’m undergoing schooling to enter the medical profession and there have been times when I have had proof the teacher was wrong. I have simply brought it up outside of class, 1 on 1, and she was very receptive to the idea.

I also informed other students I about the issue and provided them with the proper reading material.

Starting a confrontation in class is definitely NOT the way to go. It is just going to cause a whole bunch of defense mechanisms to be used and wasted time is the only end result.

I would contact them by email myself, its the least confrontational form of communication and you can take the time to type of a very precise letter with good references.[/quote]

I agree - if I brought it up at all it would be in private and done respectfully.

27

[quote]mrw173 wrote:
Lonnie123 wrote:
Tiribulus wrote:
mrw173 wrote:
CC wrote:
I agree that the better thing to do is just get out of the class with as little conflict and as high a grade as possible. Most professors don’t like to be challenged.

Getting a high grade and avoiding conflict at the expense of experiencing what learning should truly be about is pretty stupid, if you ask me.

Good heavens!! How silly of us.

You show me a college professor who will stand publicly corrected by one of his students in his alleged area of expertise and I’ll show you a leprechaun riding a unicorn down the yellow brick road.

I’m undergoing schooling to enter the medical profession and there have been times when I have had proof the teacher was wrong. I have simply brought it up outside of class, 1 on 1, and she was very receptive to the idea.

I also informed other students I about the issue and provided them with the proper reading material.

Starting a confrontation in class is definitely NOT the way to go. It is just going to cause a whole bunch of defense mechanisms to be used and wasted time is the only end result.

I would contact them by email myself, its the least confrontational form of communication and you can take the time to type of a very precise letter with good references.

I agree - if I brought it up at all it would be in private and done respectfully.[/quote]

Anything is going to go over better than a confrontation in class.

28

I’ve got a friend who keeps eating ‘low-fat’ and complains he can’t loose any weight and won’t listen to me when I tell him to up his fat but lower his sugar/carb intake.

I’ve got a vegetarian roommate who has been disagnosed with iron deficiency but swears it is healthier not to eat meat.

I know a lot of stupid fucking dumb fucks who are completing, utterly and totally fucking WRONG!

I know I’m right.

They think they’re right.

I know they’re wrong.

29

[quote]Spry wrote:
I’ve got a friend who keeps eating ‘low-fat’ and complains he can’t loose any weight and won’t listen to me when I tell him to up his fat but lower his sugar/carb intake.

I’ve got a vegetarian roommate who has been disagnosed with iron deficiency but swears it is healthier not to eat meat.

I know a lot of stupid fucking dumb fucks who are completing, utterly and totally fucking WRONG!

I know I’m right.

They think they’re right.

I know they’re wrong.[/quote]

The vegetarian thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. If you’re doing it for moral reasons, then whatever. But those who cling to it as a health thing tend to drive me nuts.

30

Well if your instructor is wrong, you should at least ask a question or two. I think an easy but non-offensive question is “What is in NOxplode that makes it so good?” If he answers “The NO-inducing arginine,” you can say it has been shown that arginine and arginine ester compounds have not been shown in any setting to be effective compounds, and that it is likely the caffeine content that gets people “amped.” You don’t have to destroy him, but you can easily argue with him.

Most professors like that actually… it’s better to have a class with opinions than a class with no opinions!

31

[quote]mrw173 wrote:
CC wrote:
I agree that the better thing to do is just get out of the class with as little conflict and as high a grade as possible. Most professors don’t like to be challenged.

Getting a high grade and avoiding conflict at the expense of experiencing what learning should truly be about is pretty stupid, if you ask me.[/quote]

Apparently you missed the point of my post because you completely disregarded my first paragraph in your response.

I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying it’s “smart”. What I’m saying is that in most universities, it is what it is and it’s likely not going to change.

Maybe you were never concerned with going to graduate school. Or maybe you were lucky and had open-minded professors. If you were, that’s great. I agree, that is what learning should be about . . . in an ideal world.

But an interviewer at whatever medical/law/insert-grad-school-of-choice-here isn’t going to care that that black mark on your transcript was because “your professor just didn’t get it”. School and getting jobs for most people is a numbers game, period. Not everyone has the luxury of “knowing the right people”.

32

[quote]CC wrote:
mrw173 wrote:
CC wrote:
I agree that the better thing to do is just get out of the class with as little conflict and as high a grade as possible. Most professors don’t like to be challenged.

Getting a high grade and avoiding conflict at the expense of experiencing what learning should truly be about is pretty stupid, if you ask me.

Apparently you missed the point of my post because you completely disregarded my first paragraph in your response.

I’m not saying it’s right. I’m not saying it’s “smart”. What I’m saying is that in most universities, it is what it is and it’s likely not going to change.

Maybe you were never concerned with going to graduate school. Or maybe you were lucky and had open-minded professors. If you were, that’s great. I agree, that is what learning should be about . . . in an ideal world.

But an interviewer at whatever medical/law/insert-grad-school-of-choice-here isn’t going to care that that black mark on your transcript was because “your professor just didn’t get it”. School and getting jobs for most people is a numbers game, period. Not everyone has the luxury of “knowing the right people”.[/quote]

Let me clarify. I don’t think that a blanket statement of advice to avoid discussing a topic with a professor because it may conflict with his or her point of view is a good way of approaching your education. Whether or not someone chooses to actually discuss something like that with a professor would be determined by a number of things, including how open-minded the professor may be, how important an “A” in that class actually is, etc.

I’m not saying to discuss the issue with him. Recommending that across all situations is just as bad as recommending avoiding it in all situations. The responses that the original poster were suggesting is that you should just avoid the situation all together, get your A, and move on. That may be the right thing to do in certain situations, but being that passive may also have adverse consequences as well.

For most rational professors, I see nothing wrong with having a polite one-on-one discussion about why he/she reached certain conclusions in the face of potentially contradictory evidence. I actually am in graduate school (not sure what your point there was), and have had plenty of experiences like this. People can look at a certain research finding, experience certain phenomena, etc. and come to completely different conclusions that may contradict what other people have come to. There’s no reason that much of the time, friendly discussion about different conclusions can’t happen. I’ve taught classes, and to me it would be a great sign if a student wanted to actively participate like that, even if he didn’t reach the same conclusions as I did.