Practice what you preach!!!!!

This is a rhetorical question, but have you ever asked yourself why does professors insist on treating their students so poorly? In the education department, professors go on and on about treating students with dignity and respect, but they fail to treat their own students that way. What ever happen to “practice what you preach?”

I get so annoyed with professors who require lengthy lesson plans and reflections from their students when they refuse to do any of it themselves. If you are a professor and you working with teachers in an elementary school, when you teach a lesson in their classroom and they ask you for the lesson plan, do not laugh and declare that you do not need to do lesson plans. With that attitude you come off extremely arrogant. I understand that they are professionals and they have already graduated college, but that does not excuse their behavior.

Another thing, why does it seem like some professors do not understand the difference between constructive criticism and applying a militaristic approach? Let me clarify, constructive criticism does not cause you students to cry themselves to sleep and doubt themselves as future teachers. Constructive criticism helps them identify what they are lacking in their lesson plans and teaching approach. Why do you pride yourself on breaking your students down? If the success of your student is a reflection of your teaching, why wouldn't you help your students become better students and better teachers? I do not understand the need to constantly knock your students down and tell them that they are in the wrong profession and they will not make it as teachers. News flash you are not perfect! Perfection does not exist! You might think you are perfect, but you are not, you make grammatical mistakes and you are a college professor. If you are going to tell a student that their work needs improvement, tell them what they need to improve upon. Do not tell them that you will not accept their work after they have spent hours completing it. How can you students learn and grow if they are kept in the dark? Cortland has a great education program, but some of the professors need to reconsider their approach.

When I was at Hunter College as a nursing major, one of the first thing the dean said was to look to your right then look to your left, only one of you will make it. If I wanted to be part of a program that discourages, weed out and apply a Darwinistic approach I would have remain a nursing major at Hunter. Having high expectation for your students does not equate to weeding out the weak, but providing the adequate support in order to ensure their success. If you cannot provide that for you student then you should not be preparing future teachers. There is much more to being a teacher than teaching content.

I would like to say to all the students in the education program that has had a professor say to you, you are in the wrong profession or you will not be a good teacher, “no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt. You are a work in progress and education is always a work in progress. If they do not understand that then they might be the ones in the wrong profession.

One professor's opinion should not dictate your future. You are strong, intelligent young ladies. If you weren't you would not have made it this far.

By: Bibi H.