Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Pet peeve

This morning we had a lecture by one of my favorite instructors. I have worked with him in school and also in volunteering at the Free Dental Clinic in town. He happens to be a pretty famous dentist and wrote one of the text books that we use extensively as well as students at many other universities use.

At the end of the lecture there were a few students who were making fun and talking about how the lecture was a big joke. I actually learned quite a bit myself. They felt there were a few inconsistencies in the information presented and were making very disrespectful comments. This was upsetting to me although I did not say anything (not sure if I should have or not).

It makes me mad when students purposefully look for ways to make professors look stupid or to catch them in their words. In this instance, they were acting like the instructor was an idiot and they were all very intelligent. I didn't see any problem with the lecture and understood the concepts presented. I just can't understand the mentality of, "I am smarter than the renowned expert who has been practicing and researching in this field for almost 40 years because I am a dental student who happened to read the book (that he wrote)."

Have some humility. Realize before you decide you know more than the expert that maybe you just don't understand the concept. Or, realize that they make mistakes, too, and that we can all improve our communication skills.

2 comments:

Russell's food for thought said...
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Amber said...

I had similar concerns with many of my grad school peers. So much complaining and entitlement! I always hated all the schemes to know exactly what would be on the test to the little tiny details. Or the complaining about how hard a test was when our professors let us redo our answers (open-book). It makes me mad to see how ungrateful people can be when many professors (especially in professional and graduate schools) work very hard to accommodate and help their students succeed.