I have an Anatomy and Physiology class right now. The class is really hard to begin with. The professor is making it worse.
What is the Christian way to deal with a professor who seems intent on failing you?
Are there any others out there who have had evil professors and/or classes? How did you deal with them? Any tips on studying for a person who learns by hearing and the professors lectures don't help at all?
Given the forum you have posted in, I am going to assume you are either a pre-health, nursing, or pre-grad student. If otherwise, what follows should hopefully help such persons, along with anyone facing what you are.
Undergrad science profs and their departments face a quiet dilemma you will not find in your college catalog; namely, there are many more students who wish to pass the USMLEs (or comparable) and gain access to med or other profesional health school, or take the NCLEX in the case of nursing, or apply to grad science programs, then will actually make it. These are statistical facts. For example, for every U.S. med school slot there are about 20 applicants, meaning about 19 get trurned away. This is one of the many
bottlenecks in the fields of professional science.
Another statistical fact the science profs and departments know is that future students judge their institution based upon how many students actually gain entrance to a health professions school or pass the NCLEX or enter grad school otherwise - those who make it through the varied bottlenecks.
Undergrad science courses are therefore partially viewed by profs and science departments
as weeding-out mechanisms. If the more marginal students
can be weeded out from even being able to apply to health professions schools (or from taking the NCLEX or from applying to sceince grad programs), then the science department obtains better stats and thus a better reputation to future students. The less students who even enter the bottlenecks, the better. That is the view.
This is something of a manipulation of figures, to be sure - it is a numbers game, no doubt - but there is some good rationale behind it. For example, having 15% of your pre-health student graduates succeed at actually entering U.S. health professions schools is exceedingly better than having 5% of them succeed, with an additional 3% going to the Caribbean and half of them failing out. The same goes for grad level hard sciences, etc.
So you have to see this from the bigger realist picture.
Undergrad science courses are and ever will be weeding-out mechanisms. They have to be, because not everyone gets to be an astronaut, so to speak. Beleive it or not, this is a good thing.
Now let us assume you are an excellent student fully capable of entering the health or science profession of your choice. Let us further assume your science prof sucks.
But some profs suck by design. They do not
actually suck (I know a few of them and can attest). They are simply being that way
as another weeding-out mechanism. Why?
Because health professions and grad science schools are primarily a venture in self-directed learning. No prof there will spoon-feed you
anything. Mostly, you learn on your own, despite classes. And learning on your own is an utterly crucial skill for any health professional or scientist. And let me reiterate that there are many more who wish to enter professional science fields than can be accomodated in professional schools.
Bottlenecks are an inherent, even an important part of, "the game."
I took grad-level human gross anatomy at a prominent U.S. university with a highly respected med school attached. Most students in the course were med students. The professors sucked and could hardly explain anything well. The "core notes," what we were supposed to know to pass, were abysmal. The writer was utterly confusing and could hardly even write a clear sentence lest explain the material clearly.
How did students cope?
They taught themselves, foremost. They used various books (everything from Moore's to the Ridiculously Simple series) and CDs (e.g., Adam Software). They formed study groups and racked their brains long into the night. They spent many, many, many hours both on their own and in groups in the anatomy lab. They formed so many silly mnemonics they could have written a book of them, if they'd had any leftover time. They lost sleep; lots and lots of it.
(Incidentally, this same med school had a full-time academic counselor. Her main job was to help students discover their individual learning style(s) and advise them on how they could, through their style(s), cope with learning within the particular environment they were in. She was quite popular.)
With professional medical and scientific fields and practice, you will largely have to teach yourself. That is "the name of the game." In kind, you will largely have to teach yourself in health profesions or grad school. Equally, you will largely have to teach yourself during undergrad. This is very much by design.
This is to realistically prepare you for what is realistically to come.
"College ain't high school," it is rightly said. More so this is true with grad or health school and professional practice. The higher you go, the more
bottlenecks will become a hard fact of life. I suspect you are facing one right now.
And right now is the time to learn to get through bottlenecks, if you at all can. If you can't well get through them now, then right now is the time to find that out, lest you embark upon what is little more than a fantasy at great personal cost and failure.
So understand all this; and, mostly forget the prof you percieve as giving you trouble.
If you know your stuff come test time, there is nothing that can be said against you. Knowing "the stuff" is foremost in your hands, not the prof's. This is all by design and with some good reason. You may actually thank this particular prof greatly in the future, much more than those who have spoon-fed you in the past.
This all may be some rather strong and perceptually unpleasant "medicine." Feel free to shoot back questions and I wil help you as best as I can.
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