After one whole semester, I am happy to see it end. It has been a rollercoaster ride to say the very least, but it’s all over now. One thing I can’t seem to wrap my mind around however is why the person who is supposed to help guide us through our collegiate journey would want to break their students down to where they feel completely worthless. I know I am not alone in this situation. I know so many are scared to even speak of this. But I for one speak for all of us when I say: enough is enough.
I want to look up to you, but you make it so difficult.
You have seniority and so much education within you, yes. You might even have a ten year– which is awesome! But why are you making us feel like we just are part of your paycheck. I get it, not everyone treats you with the respect you would like to receive. Some people just don’t want to grow up…even if they are in college. At a time I truly looked forward to coming to your class due to it actually being something that can help me during my post-graduate years. But as the semester went by, suddenly I lost interest in coming in. I want to look up to you, but you make it so difficult. I want to see you as a mentor. I want to say in the future “I owe it to my professor, for teaching me all that I know”. But why do I feel so small compared to you?
I am scared to ask for assistance from you, which is so terribly wrong.
Professors are supposed to help when we are struggling. Sometimes, us students don’t understand the criteria right away. We aren’t as experienced as you. We come to your office hours after perusing and rereading our notes, slides, and textbook because we still don’t quite comprehend something– just for you to tell us we should know it or get offended that we even are coming to speak to you. On occasion you have made me feel as if I will never succeed in my major. That I am not smart enough to do something so technical. That I might as well be stuck at a minimum wage job for the rest of my life. Do you mean to do this, or am I just anxious? However, if I’m just anxious then why do my peers feel the same way too? Sometimes we need that extra push or dose of tough love, but I don’t see your words as loving at all.
Something may have happened in the past that has made you this way. I can’t be so incredibly mad because we all have our off times in life. Maybe you’re just misunderstood and going through a really rough point in your life. But taking it out on students who truly want to get better and succeed in their major is not the way to cope with things. We are not the reason things aren’t going well. Please don’t dull our shining eyes, we’re looking to you for guidance. Belittling us and making us feel unworthy in this field isn’t going to help us succeed. However until the tune changes, you will no longer break our spirits. We are going to all persevere in the end and prove to everyone who doubted us that we could do it all along.