<p>I am taking an Art History class this semester. This has been by far the worst class I have attended so far. The professor will ask questions and before you can finish answering she will cut you off especially if she feels you are not answering correctly. No one wants to reply to her questions. In class last week she wanted us to verbally analyze a work of art. First of all, she has never really explained different mediums or the vocabulary needed to do this kind of thing. We were all confused as to what she wanted us to say. She was getting irritated and kept saying, "come on guys!" So I tried to answer. She cut me off and snapped at me and told me I could not start out that way. No no no that isn't right. I was unnerved and tried again and she actually yelled at me. I just stopped talking and I felt utterly humiliated. I am embarrassed to say I teared up a bit and even though I tried to stay in the class and endure the remainder of her interrogation of the other students, I walked out. I do not want to return to class. I know I have to because it is too late in the semester to withdraw. I know talking to her will not do any good. She acts superior to her students and when I have tried to ask her questions or talk to her about something she doesn't listen and cuts me off, misunderstanding what I am asking. It is very frustrating. I don't know what to do. Do I just suck it up and go back to class or do I talk to the dean of the department about her behavior. I am not the only student who has felt this way about her. I would love some advice on this. I have never had an experience like this before and I am an easy going person who tries to get along with everyone. I know she is a professor, but should someone with authority over her students be allowed to treat them so disrespectfully?</p>
<p>Grin and bear it. My calculus professor last semester was such a *****, and she would constantly criticize the mistakes I made, even though they were small and far apart. She really hated me, haha. But I just ignored it and did what I was supposed to. Everyone in my class either failed, or got a D or a C. I walked away with a B+. You just have to deal.</p>
<p>interupt her while you are being interupted and tell her to go fly a kite in a thunderstorm and kill herslef because she is a horrible professor and teaches art history. </p>
<p>then tell her all the flaws in her teaching (or anything else) to go for the jugular.</p>
<p>Ignore the ■■■■■■, Riku had okay advice but chopsticks… well, you’re smart you can tell.</p>
<p>Go ahead with your idea to talk to the dean or the head of the department. She might not listen to her students but if one of the department heads says they’ve been getting complaints about her she’ll straighten up right quick.</p>
<p>@Itachirumon - Agreed. However, it might not always work. I (and many others) went to the head of the mathematics department and complained. All the advice he had to offer was to ride out the class, because they have had numerous complaints in the past and they can’t do much about it. Which I don’t understand. But whatever.</p>
<p>Before you go to the department chair or the dean (which is a BIG step), I would talk to your advisor. Your advisor is someone who should be in your corner, looking out for your interests. That doesn’t mean she’ll automatically take your side, but she is a more likely ally than the dean.</p>
<p>Here are some things to think about before you go. Please don’t think that I am accusing you of doing anything wrong - I just want you to have all your ducks in a row before you bring in another authority figure.</p>
<p>(1) Are you being over-sensitive? Is the teacher really as awful as you portray her, or are you over-reacting? Here’s why I ask . . . when I taught, many of my Republican students thought I was a Democrat and many of my Democratic students thought I was a Republican. Their perceptions were totally skewed into thinking I was the opposite of whatever they were. So in my experience, students often mis-perceive what is actually happening in class. (Again - I’m not saying you ARE doing this. But you should think honestly about whether you are).</p>
<p>(2) In retrospect, should you have been able to come up with the answers she wanted? If you had done all the required reading, would you have known the answer? Were the mediums and vocabulary explained in some assignment you were supposed to complete but didn’t? Or did you miss a class?</p>
<p>(3) Is the teacher new, or has she been around awhile? Do other students have the same perception of her classes? I’m not a big fan of ratemyprofessor.com, but this is one instance where I might encourage someone to go on and see what other students have said.</p>
<p>(4) Think about what you want the ultimate resolution to be. Do you want her to change her behavior? Do you just want to hunker down and get through the class with as few waves as possible? You need to figure out what you really want, and then talk with your advisor how best to make that happen. Complaining never helps - you need to have a goal in mind, as well as suggestions about how to improve the situation.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Suck it up. Converse with your classmates to get your questions answered instead of listening to their opinion about the professor.</p>
<p>Edit: Honestly sounds like a passionate professor burning your ego.</p>
<p>You’ve got to suck it up. Honestly, at most schools no one can or will do a thing about this. It seems like you might be over reacting. You teared up and walked out because she yelled at you? That doesn’t make you seem exactly level-headed. </p>
<p>I had one TA who regularly made students cry. It was a strange class where there was a professor but he did absolutely none of the work, and what he taught wasn’t what we were graded on. He had an undergraduate assistant who was also completely powerless.
So when he started in on me, I stood up to him for a friend…I ended up with an 89.4% that he refused to round to an A-…Not sure what the moral of that story is but at least I felt better about myself than the people who let him continue. </p>
<p>But really, in your life, people are going to be *******s, they are going to yell at you. And you usually don’t have the option to run away or go tell on them. You’ve got to learn to deal with it.</p>
<p>Does the professor know that she is being rude? Perhaps you need to send her some anonymous feedback.</p>
<p>The only way to empower yourself in her class is to speak up and answer her questions when she wants a student to answer.
Are you as prepared for her class as you should be?
Do you do the reading? Did you look up words you don’t know?
Profs do not explain everything but assume you come in with the basics covered.
It is an Art History class and you should know art terminology.
Perhaps reading an Art 101 text would help.
Walking out was not the answer.</p>
<p>Since it is too late in the semester to drop the class. Two choices…</p>
<p>Ignore her talk as little as possible. </p>
<p>or </p>
<p>Stand up to her and when she “yells” politely “yell” back. </p>
<p>You are not the only one that feels the way that you do. I am sure many class members feels as you do and hate going to class. </p>
<p>I think after the class is over you should talk to the dean. I realize that in life there are people that will yell, but she is a professor that you are paying to pass on knowledge. I think you should not have to put up with that in the future.</p>
<p>If you have a book for the class I would suggest studying the book as much as possible if she is making the class difficult. I would suggest talking with her after class, I’m sure she does realize that you guys are adults and are not in HS</p>
<p>I have a rude professor that comes in on class days calling us a********, etc. It’s somewhat crazy, but it is the way it is.</p>
<p>First try going to the professor’s office hours. I know, you don’t want to. But you have to start there.
Say something like “The other day when you asked us about Van Gogh’s Starry Night I answered but you said “that i can’t start that way”. What sort of thing are you looking for? Also sometimes I don’t feel like I have the vocabulary for the criticisms. How would you suggest that I learn more about that?”</p>
<p>Obviously make sure you are prepared for class and have done all the readings etc.</p>
<p>Then if you need to, go to your adviser and say “I would like your advice on how to work best with Professor X. <tell the=”" story="">. I can understand she can get frustrated, but I have done the readings and it didn’t prepare us for what she wanted. What should I do if she is yelling at me?"</tell></p>
<p>Sometimes all you can do is just sit there quietly and suck it up. And make sure your end-of-term course evaluations give solid examples of what you found to be negative (not just “she’s so rude!” but actual examples. In your story, for instance, including exactly what you tried to say would help us understand the situation much better than a vague “she cut me off”)</p>
<p>Please use old threads only for information/research. People will start answering the OP from three years ago.</p>