<p>I need a good laugh today since I am now annoyed with a person in my class who is an overzealous hand raiser, corrects my professor constantly, and tries to outsmart him. I honestly don't understand why he won't say anything to her, because he does look visibly annoyed (we are too) and tries to avoid calling on her in class. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any good stories where a professor has called these people out?</p>
<p>There's always the facebook group:</p>
<p>"Keep Your ****ing Hand Down in Lecture and Shut Up. No One Cares."</p>
<p>thanks! 10 char</p>
<p>There's always one in every class...:-)</p>
<p>There is this kid in my english comp class that keeps running his mouth for no reason. He goes off on a tangent about some irrelevant **** that nobody cares about.</p>
<p>I don't have any laugh out loud funny stories, but there are a couple subtle things my chem prof does now and then.
Sometimes when somebody asks a really stupid question that makes it obvious they haven't been doing the reading or whatnot, he'll answer with "Chapter 10" (or whatever chapter we're on).</p>
<p>Other times he intentionally looks down at his notes while explaining concepts or looks at the board to avoid looking at the class when he knows that one of those kids in the front row has his/her hand up for a stupid question.</p>
<p>And finally ,one time, a kid who asks way too many questions asked something about "Why" hybrid orbitals behave in a certain way, with which my prof answered laughingly "Because you ask too many questions." Of course the prof acted like he was joking and laughed and then answered the question for real, but most of us could tell he meant it.
Oh man, that front row is annoying...</p>
<p>This technique was useful in high school to stall a quiz.</p>
<p>Here's how it worked. I would find out from someone else that there was going to be a quiz. I would tell two other people and then we'd start asking tons of questions. Between three of us we could usually push the quiz off either to the next day or to later so that we could study our material when our question wasn't the one being answered. Saved lots of points that way!</p>
<p>In college, I ask the questions because I want my money's worth from the professors and because I want to see if I can spot fake profs. However, it's made me a few enemies because there are a lot of whiny people who don't like to be held up so they can spend time with their stupid significant other.</p>
<p>Yes. There's this Jewish girl who sits in the front of the class and volunteers to answer every question -- rhetorical or otherwise -- that the professor throws out. It's aggravating and she always brings it back to the fact that she's Jewish. "So yeah, since I'm a Jew, we celebrate blah blah blah dee blah." </p>
<p>Where's Cartman when you need him?</p>
<p>I can't bregrudge somebody who asks questions because they want their money's worth, and I don't think professors should do so either, but everybody loves when a smartass or pompous jerk is shot down. Most of these people are just trying to impress the professor and overplay their hand, but I've seen a master or two at the craft at work, and it's quite impressive.</p>
<p>If you are concerned with this topic, you MUST see Reese Witherspoon in "Election."</p>
<p>That is the classic movie portrayal of the handraiser-know-it-all.</p>
<p>Oh definitely. "Good morning, Mr. McAllister. Looks like you could use a cupcake."</p>
<p>'Pick Flick'</p>
<p>I don't have a problem with people asking questions pertaining to the material, or questions that are interesting to everyone in the class. Heck, I've even asked some questions! I'm sure everyone wants to get their money's worth! :D What I'm describing is what Feenotype posted.</p>
<p>What I mean is the person who rudely corrects the professor over insignificant things (like misspelling a word, etc.) and tries to outsmart them. Also, the person who <em>always</em> raises their hand to answer a question just to prove how smart he/she really is and never gives other people a chance to answer a question. In defense of my professor, he has spent money, time, and effort to earn his Ph.D, therefore, he's the one who should teach the class; not some first year undergrad student. I paid <em>him</em> to teach me the subject matter. Also, I have asked this professor questions, and he doesn't begrudge them. I don't show off my knowledge to him (unlike this girl who acts like she's the one with the Ph.D) but rather, I seek his knowledge. And he's more than happy to answer my questions.</p>
<p>And another poster said that he/she wants to ask questions and people shouldn't have to worry about being held after class. In response to that, I have 4 classes back to back and all my professors count attendance. So, if your question is going to involve more than one minute of explanation (or if it's a question that you personally want answered), please do us a favor and ask after class or during office hours. This is what I do and I haven't gotten an
any dirty looks or comments from anyone thus far. :)</p>
<p>Incidentally, what constitutes a "fake prof"?</p>
<p>Smurfette - .......What I mean is the person who rudely corrects the professor over insignificant things (like misspelling a word, etc.) and tries to outsmart them. Also, the person who <em>always</em> raises their hand to answer a question just to prove how smart he/she really is and never gives other people a chance to answer a question. In defense of my professor, he has spent money, time, and effort to earn his Ph.D, therefore, he's the one who should teach the class; not some first year undergrad student. I paid <em>him</em> to teach me the subject matter. Also, I have asked this professor questions, and he doesn't begrudge them. I don't show off my knowledge to him (unlike this girl who acts like she's the one with the Ph.D) but rather, I seek his knowledge. And he's more than happy to answer my questions.................</p>
<p>Tell this person exactly that - maybe even during a class - get your point across</p>
<p>Hmm...I haven't actually come across any know-it-alls that I can remember. I do know that there are a couple of people in one of my classes (they're friends, actually) who try to assert their know-it-all-ness on a particular subject frequently, except that....the professor admits to not knowing much about that subject, it has nothing to do with the rest of the class, and no one else really knows about it or cares either, so it just sort of comes off as it would if you stood up in the middle of a math class and declared that you know more about your family history than the professor does. </p>
<p>There is this guy in my personal finance class that always interjects loud comments and then he and the professor go off into some tangential discussion about how much the government sucks, basically. The professor always tries to get back to the subject after about a minute of this, but this guy just doesn't quit. When he finally does shut up, he'll just bring it up again 10 minutes later. He sat next to me once and kept asking, "What did he just say? What did she just say? I didn't catch that, what did he say?" over and over again the whole class, every time one of the other students would ask a question or make a comment. Drove me nuts. It's class, not chat hour, let's get through the lecture so we can go home please.</p>
<p>The little things--reminds me of my chem prof from last semester. This guy used to miss a lot of spots on the blackboard when he erased and it annoyed the heck out of the girl behind me. In all honesty, the marks were never a problem unless he wrote something over top of them that made it look different.</p>
<p>But sometimes you have to call out spelling. Take my tenth grade health teacher. HIPAA had just come out that year (I took it Spring 2003). She spelled it out on the board in huge letters as HIPPO. I couldn't even correct her because I was on the floor laughing. This lady was really nice but I think she failed fourth grade spelling--there were at least five mistakes every lecture. The funny part was this time I didn't have a pencil and had to take my essay test in pen. I asked for some white out when I made a mistake and she's like "no problem, I need a gallon jug of this stuff all the time."</p>
<p>I have a suspicion about people that behave like that, but won't make an assumption, but would suggest there is perhaps a different problem going on beside overzealousness, its more of a not understanding of human interactions, reading signals, etc.</p>
<p>More and more people are shown to have this kind of behavior, and it is a learning process, so perhaps a bit of guidance in a gentle way is warranted..</p>
<p>There's a student like that in one of my econ labs (let's just call him "exploding-head-boy" because every now and then his head looks like it will explode if he doesnt get his question answered in exactly the way he thinks it should be answered). My TA can't speak English very well, and often uses the wrong words to describe concepts. For ex, instead of "this will increase GDP" he might say "this is positive for GDP". Not really too hard to figure out once you listen to him for about ten minutes... but e-h-b must correct him on every mistake. Even with the TA's crazy accent, the questions are the most distracting part of class.</p>
<p>I think a lot of these people just need to chill out.</p>
<p>I have two in my English and one in my Econ and Philosophy class. It's unbearable sometimes.</p>
<p>Lol I use to have one in my history class last semester, but he was respected since he has mental disability, so the professor can't do anything about it. I hate those kind of people too, it interrupts the class. -_-</p>
<p>My worst involved this one student that didn't seem to be living in the same classroom, somehow. Classics include (keep in mind, this is a philosophy class) "IT'S GOD!" shouted out loud after professor having drawn a goddamn TRIANGLE on the board and rhetorically posing the question what it was. Or how about "...I have always wondered over the chicken and the egg! I mean..." (no, I am not making this stuff up), or perhaps that time when she finished a marathon monologue with "...and this is what I think makes for good leadership quality! <em>eats another potato chip</em>"</p>