Conor Moore | Assistant Opinion Director
If I had a nickel for every time a student complained about a minor class issue in a WhatsApp chat, I’d have enough money to pay for everyone’s tuition.
It feels like some of my classmates complain about everything little thing a professor does or says, regardless of how justified it is.
I’ve heard stories from friends who complain about what sounds like borderline entitlement from some students in their group chats, or in person, faulting every single thing about the class ad nauseam.
Professors have also mentioned this issue before. For example, teachers will give a week’s notice to submit a basic assignment such as a discussion post or a couple of multiple-choice problems.
While that sounds simple enough, there’ll still be a cavalcade of annoyed students complaining at 11:58 pm that they weren’t given enough time to complete the assignment, or that it was too unreasonable.
It seems like students are more interested in nitpicking than doing their work.
I once had a class where there were a grand total of three homework assignments throughout the whole semester, and students constantly complained about the length of the assignments and how they seemingly never ended.
As you might expect, they were indeed time-consuming, multi-page projects that required a lot of writing and took a long time to complete. But the professor told us that at the beginning of the semester and was clear that most of the information could have been found in the book and the lectures.
Is it really so bad when the professor is straightforward and honest about expectations?
FIU isn’t populated by a collection of irrational professors who exist to make students’ lives worse. At the end of the day, their job is to teach and any obstacles we as students have with them can be reconciled if you just put the effort in. Not just complaining in a group chat about every slight transgression.
Sometimes, students will even complain about Canvas and how “impossible” some professors make it to navigate. Really? Even with the worst teachers I’ve had, I don’t think that thought crossed my mind once.
Net literacy is nigh-ubiquitous among students given how we all own cell phones and laptops. Getting used to Canvas shouldn’t take longer than maybe a week.
I understand there are bad professors – believe me, I’ve made the mistake of not checking Rate My Professor before signing up for a class more than once before.
But sometimes it feels borderline disrespectful when people go out of their way to insult some teachers for what they perceive as poor teaching or a sloppy curriculum.
If there is a genuine and reasonable problem with the class though, I would recommend taking it up with the teacher. If that doesn’t work, contact their department.
Students should learn to be more patient and not blame every problem on their professor. While it’s tempting to do so sometimes, it won’t work out well for anyone.
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
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