Letter From The Good Student in Your Class

Not all of our students hate us. Check out this letter posted on RateYourStudents.com on July 22, 2006:

To all the dear disgruntled professors,

I dislike being in classes with the same sorts of students you dislike having in classes. I love to learn and when I am in class I want to squeeze out every last drop of knowledge and understanding. I'm the girl who will stretch you to the limits of your expertise and ask questions you can't answer. Then I will go to the library, find the answer, and tell you after the next class.

When I hear something on NPR that happens to be in your area of interest, I will email you a link to the audio file. I love having professors with whom I can do this, even better are professors who will reciprocate this extra-curricular learning.

I can appreciate that you feel underappreciated, because I believe that you are. I realize that for most of you, this blog is about venting frustrations when they seem to dominate, but that you also realize that the frustrations are not all there is to your profession. Things are the same here on the student side. Sometimes I need to vent about professors who slack, but in general, I love being in school. Professors are people, too. I've grown out of the "teacher as slavedriver" phase that dominated high school. I suppose I bypassed the "professor as servant" phase of college, the phase in which so many of your least favorite students seem stuck. I'm in the "professor as mentor and partner in learning" phase. You are the expert; I remain cogniscent of this, yet I am confident that I have something to offer you, as well.

I guess this is just to say, I do appreciate you. I am grateful that so many people value education so much as to make it their lives' work, appreciated or not. I hope you know plenty of students who appreciate you and remind you that what you do is worthwhile.

From a 22 year old college student who loves you.