https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/opinion/college-advice-professor.html
True for most classes. Im the type of student who goes to every class she can, sits in the frony row, interacts with the professors, and has a 3.99 GPA. However, there is this one physics class (200 level) Im taking this quarter where the professor is awful. He’s boring, rambles, goes off on margenally related tangents, does our homework as example problems (i need to figure it out for myself so I actually learn the concepts), and doesnt make an effort to talk or get to know us. He didnt know my name (class of 20 kids, i sit in the front row) untill he handed back my first test (2/3 of my other professors had known my name for weeks).
I got a 194/200 on the first test, the cutoff for an A was a 150/200 and the class average was somewhere around 133 (so gracious curve). I end up not paying much attention in his class, and learn all the material and do the homework on my own. So, while I go to most of his classes bc (I dont really know why? Habit?) I’m not gonna sweat it if I miss one here and there. My time is probably better spent studying physics instead.
TL:DR GO TO MOST/ALL OF YOUR CLASSES, but if youve determined (with grades to back it up) that a professor is not adding (and somehow even detracting) from your learning, take that into account.
One person’s experience and represents two extremes. I skipped some of my gen ed’s but never skipped classes in my major. Recomendations came from prof’s in major or from businessmen who were active in a professional organization where I was a highly involved officer. The author of the article didn’t care about school as an undergrad. That’s a problem whether one goes to all classes or not.
I have some general issues with that article - it’s a mixed bag. It’s true that showing up consistently makes a different in the eyes of your professors and TAs, but if you miss a handful of sessions here and there most professors won’t care (or, frankly, notice). Besides, the professor only sees what goes on in her class - she may not know that you are de-prioritizing her class because it’s your fine arts requirement while you are showing up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in your major courses and/or courses you are more fully interested in. It’s okay to de-prioritize some classes in favor of other ones.
Don’t go to your professors’ offices just to vent. That’s annoying, unless you’ve formed a pre-existing relationship with them that allows that, and you’ll know if you have. And I strongly disagree with the advice to find your professors on social media. Most of my colleagues who teach make it a point not to ‘friend’ any of their students on social media. Twitter, maybe, But not Facebook and definitely not Instagram. Having a professor retweet my work sounds like a good reason to NOT friend them, frankly.
This is my own personal soapbox as someone who taught and worked with college students, but personally, I can’t stand the sanctimonious professors who insist that students have to fit their vision of a ‘serious’ student in order to be worthy of their time and effort. College students care about socializing and relationships, which is expected and normal (so do I, a post-college adult). Sometimes - most of the time - they don’t care about our classes as much as we do, which is also okay. Sometimes they just want a B so they can move on with their lives. That’s okay too.
Probably the biggest point of contradiction in her article, though, is that she was a pretty mediocre student and still managed to get an MFA and teach college classes. There are many paths to success.