Troubles With The *Other* Prof
Dec. 13th, 2003 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosThis has not been a good term for me for professors. The Prairie Dog Prof disappeared again after his mid-term appearance, and didn't appear again on the bulletin board site until the day before the papers were due. < grrr >
The other prof., Fr. R., was there in the classroom, of course, and a *great* lecturer -- but I had a very strange session with him went I went in to talk to him about next quarter. Now, this was just after my second flood, and I was exhausted, so I wasn't well prepared -- but he didn't do anything to help. The entire time I was there, he gave me the feeling I was wasting his time. He discouraged me from signing up for his Christology class next quarter - which is a required course - on the basis of the fact that it was being held at a different campus. He urged me to sign up for another course, "Sacramental Theology," because it too was required, and said I could take Christology in the spring, from another prof. I found out later that he had not said anything to discourage a few other students in the Christian Anthropology class from taking Christology. Which makes me wonder why he seems uncomfortable with me.
Is it because he'd never heard of my denomination before the first day of class? I can't think of any other reason. I got 95/100 on all three of my papers, and made good contributions in class. Why would he not want me in his class next quarter?
This morning while doing the winter break clearing of my desk, I found the university catalog and idly (procrastinating) looked up the M.Div. requirements. "Sacramental Theology" is only required for Catholic M.Div. students.
So Fr. R. discouraged me from taking a class I needed that he was teaching, and then advised me to sign up for a course that wasn't actually required. I find this out after I order $100+ of textbooks from Amazon. (Fortunately, they are good about returns, but it's still a pain.)
Clearly, I need to have a talk with him. If he's not comfortable with me, then I'll need to get a different advisor. But I can't figure out what it is about me that would make him uncomfortable. Maybe I just caught him on a bad afternoon that day. But he also seemed to avoid calling on me the last couple of weeks of class. I put my hand up far less than many other people who were regular contributors, so I don't think he was trying to keep me from overwhelming the discussion, and I sat in the center front, so it's not like he couldn't see me.
It's very strange.
But I am glad to be taking Christology after all. (I changed my classes this morning - thank goodness for high-tech registration!) Even if Fr. R. feels weird about me, he's a fine teacher. Besides, this is the only weekend or evening course being taught in the Winter that fits my program.
Now that I've had my little LJ vent, I'm going to take Mr. Shop-Vac into the living room to finish my clean-up, then take TLP to get our Christmas tree.
The other prof., Fr. R., was there in the classroom, of course, and a *great* lecturer -- but I had a very strange session with him went I went in to talk to him about next quarter. Now, this was just after my second flood, and I was exhausted, so I wasn't well prepared -- but he didn't do anything to help. The entire time I was there, he gave me the feeling I was wasting his time. He discouraged me from signing up for his Christology class next quarter - which is a required course - on the basis of the fact that it was being held at a different campus. He urged me to sign up for another course, "Sacramental Theology," because it too was required, and said I could take Christology in the spring, from another prof. I found out later that he had not said anything to discourage a few other students in the Christian Anthropology class from taking Christology. Which makes me wonder why he seems uncomfortable with me.
Is it because he'd never heard of my denomination before the first day of class? I can't think of any other reason. I got 95/100 on all three of my papers, and made good contributions in class. Why would he not want me in his class next quarter?
This morning while doing the winter break clearing of my desk, I found the university catalog and idly (procrastinating) looked up the M.Div. requirements. "Sacramental Theology" is only required for Catholic M.Div. students.
So Fr. R. discouraged me from taking a class I needed that he was teaching, and then advised me to sign up for a course that wasn't actually required. I find this out after I order $100+ of textbooks from Amazon. (Fortunately, they are good about returns, but it's still a pain.)
Clearly, I need to have a talk with him. If he's not comfortable with me, then I'll need to get a different advisor. But I can't figure out what it is about me that would make him uncomfortable. Maybe I just caught him on a bad afternoon that day. But he also seemed to avoid calling on me the last couple of weeks of class. I put my hand up far less than many other people who were regular contributors, so I don't think he was trying to keep me from overwhelming the discussion, and I sat in the center front, so it's not like he couldn't see me.
It's very strange.
But I am glad to be taking Christology after all. (I changed my classes this morning - thank goodness for high-tech registration!) Even if Fr. R. feels weird about me, he's a fine teacher. Besides, this is the only weekend or evening course being taught in the Winter that fits my program.
Now that I've had my little LJ vent, I'm going to take Mr. Shop-Vac into the living room to finish my clean-up, then take TLP to get our Christmas tree.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-13 11:38 pm (UTC)Hope it works out.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-14 08:53 am (UTC)I've gotten along well with authority figures all my life. Hopefully this is something that can be resolved as a "we were both having a bad afternoon." If not, I'm going to have to walk the delicate line between respecting his authority (and his influence over my next grade) and advocating for myself.
My impression is that a lot of profs really don't make an effort in the area of advising unless they're working with a protege. Sad -- but that's my experience. I'm hoping to soon find someone who will take a caring, active interest in my academic career -- but it may be difficult since I'm the only one of my denomination at this school.