As far as instructors and professors go, the students here have it pretty good.

For the most part, students express high praise for those who have taught them.

However, majority of professors are not the issue. The issue resides with the small percentage of professors whose names are said with the accompaniment of an eye roll or exasperated sigh.

The issue lies with professors who prompt responses such as: “I’m so sorry” and “I feel your pain.”

Students assume when they come to college, paying an arm and a leg for higher education, they will receive professors who match the dollar amount.

Students assume they will receive professors who grade fairly, teach efficiently and wish for them to succeed.

These bright eyed 18-year-olds step onto campus with high expectations, assuming their success is only dependent on how hard they work. The problem with this expectation is that their success is just as dependent on their professor as it is with them.

Let it be clear professors who assign difficult work or expect students to meet deadlines are not the ones in question–professors who are unhelpful, unrealistic, or unclear in their expectations are.

The same professors who seem to expect students to know how to do everything in their class as flawlessly as they would.

Forgetting, of course, they have a Ph.D. in the subject, while students are trying to understand new concepts.

It is not emphasized enough how crucial a good professor is for the success of students, and how detrimental a bad one is.

These detrimental professors treat students’ questions and confusion as an inconvenience.

What good does that type of response do for students?

Bad professors push students to give up on asking questions to avoid being treated as if they were stupid.

Bad professors push students to give up on pursuing a certain major.

Bad professors push students to give up on higher education altogether.

Professors should be cultivating a love for learning in students, a love for their major and an excitement to step into the real world—degree in hand.

Professors should not cause students to lose their confidence in their ability to graduate because they don’t understand everything in their first semester of college.

It doesn’t matter how many scholarly articles a professor has published, how smart a professor is, or how highly esteemed they are in the academic community.

A professor has done nothing for students if they have not shown they care.