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As I was surfing through the flotsam and jetsam of the blogosphere, I came across this post on Classification of Students - A professor of Network Analysis taking a dig at the students on Teacher's Day. And frankly speaking, this was it. Emotions were up to the brim and I had to defend the students.
This is the student version - to which the readers are free to add on and comment upon. A Professor/Teacher at any given instance of time may belong to one or more of the categories.
# The OK Professor
This is the really annoying kind. Talking to them is a real pain in the neck. Their lectures are peppered with OKs, Does This Makes Sense and aahh.. aahh..
They are really nervous while teaching. Or probably, they developed this bad habit in spite of all the training.
In one class that I still remember, the professor had uttered 180 OKs in a span of 30 minutes - that averages to 6 OKs per minute! Or an OK every 10 seconds! Does that make sense? OK?
# The Somnolent Professor
Though the professor is a master in his subject and his presentation is immaculate, there is something in his lecture that puts everyone to sleep.
The professor may not realize it but half the class would be sleeping. It maybe because of his dull voice (rather monotonic?), probably his haphazard manner of going about things or it maybe just nothing at all. But he justs puts everyone to sleep.
# The Peace Maaru Professor
Really doesn't believe in working very hard. Will teach as much as he is paid for. Nothing more.
Comes to the class 10 minutes late and leaves the class 10 minutes early. Solves a question on the board in the whole class and doesn't bother the students much. His policy is - "Live and let Live".
# The Dynamic Professor
This is the professor who feels that the students should get the best out of his class. He gives them a lot of assignments and takes surprise tests.
He is young, energetic and full of passion for his subject. He thinks - "I should try to become the Ideal (Utopian?) professor."
# The Motivators
These are generally the old guys. Already in the teaching profession for 20 to 30 years, they know that whatever they teach is not going to make much of a difference. If however they can motivate some of the students to do something in life, they would have accomplished something.
Their lectures are filled with quotes from the Gita and the Bible. They borrow extensively from Shiv Khera and think that their plagiarism would go unnoticed. One can stand them for a day or two but the rest of their lectures are just "Rewinding the Tape".
# The Pundits
The really knowledgable ones. They have worked in the industry for some time and their breadth of knowledge puts you to awe.
But their lectures are hardly organised. They would start of with programming in C and end up with the reactions that take place in a rocket launcher.
Their lectures can be really hilarious and fun. But it won't do you any good for your exams.
# The Sadists
They may not be sadists at heart. But some of their activities really annoy the students.
If they are invigilators in the exam hall, they might as well throw out half the candidates out of the hall for plagiarism/not bringing admit card/ringing of the mobile phone.
When they evaluate the papers, one really wonders if he had been having breakfast while evaluating the paper. And worse of all, when the answer scripts are shown, the professor is out of town.
They may be excellent teachers. But rarely student friendly.
# The Liberals
They are the modern professors. They believe in modern methods of teaching. They ask students of the opposite gender to sit together in class and they come in casuals instead of formal wear to class.
Their evaluation is liberal and they are a real hit with the students.
I will stop here. I think this is the basic classification. Did I miss any? Have any to add on to this. Do let me know!
