We’ve all had that class where we show up preparing to learn something with a professor that doesn’t do much more than tell copious number of personal stories and mentally kick his feet up on a desk to teach the class.
Typically, most of these students admit they’re there because they only want to pass the class.
While many Baylor professors typically show a higher level of care and consideration in their teaching, a handful of their apathetic counterparts don’t seem to grasp that their ineffectiveness hurts students in ways that, in the end, outweigh the easy grade boost.
With the intense course load Baylor requires already, many students would easily rather choose an easier professor over a failing grade. However, what the students do not realize is that in turn, a shoddy teacher is more damaging than the falsely earned grade.
Largely, it wastes both the time and money students pour into Baylor. Ineffective professors who misuse or rely too much on extra resources like videos or pass out high marks like candy on Halloween indirectly insult the level of education some students hold.
Why waste time sitting in a class with a professor that doesn’t teach much?
Students who go through these professors’ courses aren’t as prepared as they should be.
For example, a student in an easy teacher’s course learns less than his buddy in the same course with a different professor, yet the student in the blow-off class still ends up with the higher grade.
Some professors are well known for their easy syllabuses and high concentration of athletes in class.
Once word gets out that “Professor XYZ” is a blow-off, students who sign up for the class probably will not take the material seriously, therefore defeating its purpose.
Whether these professors see class as a distraction from their institutional research or the luxury of tenure, some professors here miss the mark year after year, setting their students farther behind knowledge-wise than their peers in other class sections.
In that light, it unfairly upsets the balance in GPA’s. Some students hit the professor jackpot and earn an “easy A” in the required religion courses, for example, while others learn more but receive a more rigorous courseload with a different professor.
These professors are indirectly giving their students the greatest educational disservice: not preparing them appropriately for graduate studies or the professional world.
Furthermore, it disrupts the flow of Baylor’s curriculum, which relies on all of its students to be held to the same standard as their peers in other sections.
The simplest solution to this ongoing problem is to regulate the sections with professor performance reviews.
It’s easy to just speed right through the teacher evaluations at the end of the semester, but thoughtful, constructive feedback can speak volumes to a department.
Secondly, with those evaluations, courses should be regulated for leveled experience in which every student gets the same chance at learning and retaining the information and a fair shot at getting an A.
With across-the-board equality for all sections of courses, students get the best shot at the quality education they paid Baylor to give them.
Otherwise, an “A” in a blow-off class may mean a GPA perk now, but in the long run, shabby professors hurt their students with their lackluster teaching methods.
Essentially, it defeats the intentions and high expectations Baylor holds for both their graduates and faculty.
