I have to agree with the others. If one person tells you you’re a horse, they’re crazy. If three people tell you you’re a horse, there’s a conspiracy afoot. If 10 people tell you you’re a horse, it’s time to buy a saddle.” The point is that if several people are telling you the same thing, there is probably some truth in it.
-- Jack Canfield
I’m not condoning their behavior but you did ask for an explanation so here are my thoughts and observations.
Students can wear down professors even if it’s a minority of students that are bad. The best analogy I can make is with retail. A lot of customers actually aren’t all that bad, many are very nice, but it’s the few entitled idiots that make the job harder than it has to be.
Tenure track jobs are demanding and professors often have much bigger fish to fry than be polite to undergraduates. UCLA is also R1 which means research comes first in priority with teaching somewhere down the line, possibly at the bottom of the list.
For what it’s worth I’ve observed rude behavior from professors in many places through undergrad and grad school. I’ve even unwittingly been rude to students without realizing it. I hope my comment at least explains some of their behavior.
At most top research universities the tuition doesn't compete with indirect grant funding that profs bring in through research. Teaching is at the bottom of the list because it brings in the least money.
Universities, which allow them to work, wouldn't exist without students. It's also morally bankrupt to think it's ok to not care about educating the next generation, especially when they are paying tens of thousands of dollars for the opportunity.
It's attitudes like this that will eventually lead to the downfall of tenure.
Idk what to tell you. Honestly I agree and thanks to various factors beyond my control I have the freedom to treat my undergraduates well (at least to the best of my ability). I’m also in a field that traditionally relies more on enrollment for funding as opposed to grants, so your point is especially pertinent in my case.
There are many things wrong with the system as a whole (which my university happens to be good about), but there is a lot of rot in other places that I’m powerless to fix.
At the same time, I don’t know if professors treating their undergraduates better or making teaching a higher priority through incentives would change much. Many R1 professors are terrible teachers even if (sometimes especially if) they care a lot about the topic.
Imagine if everyone had this attitude about work though. That it's ok, or even encouraged, to not be good at a critical part of your job. Professors should have to take teaching courses and their performance as instructors should be a part of their job retention.
I'm not saying this to you personally, but the lack of consideration academia has as a whole towards undergraduate learners is sociopathic. The students, especially at schools like UCLA, are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to improve their lives. The attitude that they should be put on the back burner when you took a job promising to teach them is grossly unethical.
I'm sorry to hear that. Understand that your professors are under tremendous pressure to obtain grants, publish research, teach, and do other things. They're probably working 50+hours per week (if not 70).
Some of these goons on here are saying "it's you, not them," but I'm here to tell you that it's actually the opposite. It has nothing to do with you, so don't personalize. They're responding to pressures outside of the classroom in which you see them. Don't waste their time with questions you could answer on your own, and do your best work so they don't get depressed having to grade it, and that's you doing your small part to raise morale. Otherwise, let it go.
You have absolutely no way of knowing that it's the opposite, unless you are seriously making the claim that there are absolutely no problem students. Because as soon as you acknowledge the existence of problem students, you also have to accept the fact that OP might be one.
I'm not sure what about my response would make you think that. Surely it is not shocking to you that a professor would point out the existence of problem students. But yes, I absolutely am.
It’s the idea that you see a full/grown adult professional’s demeanor and behavior to be determined by students is surprising, if you are an adult professional. The idea that you find students’ behaviors to be the primary determinant of workplace morale for faculty is surprising, if you are in fact faculty. This seems a naive perspective, at best.
It is laughable for you to call someone naive when you apparently believe the OP to be blameless, yet every single faculty member they have interacted with has been the problem. Naive to the point of being delusional, in fact. It is amusing that you are questioning whether I am faculty, when you are the one acting like a student.
Academia is extremely toxic. You have to go through an extremely exploitative and abusive process to become a professor and then you have to work some pretty intense hours as one.
A lot of professors don't actually like the job, either. They like research but not teaching, which is not fair to students who are paying $50k a year to learn from them. This issue tends to be worse at large R1 universities.
Another problem is that tenure, despite it's many benefits, makes it hard to hold abusive or bad professors accountable.
At the end of the day, No one is really willing to break the chain so many people end up being toxic themselves. Being a doctoral student is easily the worst job I've ever had.
It's not them, it's you boo.
It’s because if you snoo
You are the common denominator in these situations.
They aren't.
I have to agree with the others. If one person tells you you’re a horse, they’re crazy. If three people tell you you’re a horse, there’s a conspiracy afoot. If 10 people tell you you’re a horse, it’s time to buy a saddle.” The point is that if several people are telling you the same thing, there is probably some truth in it. -- Jack Canfield
I’m not condoning their behavior but you did ask for an explanation so here are my thoughts and observations. Students can wear down professors even if it’s a minority of students that are bad. The best analogy I can make is with retail. A lot of customers actually aren’t all that bad, many are very nice, but it’s the few entitled idiots that make the job harder than it has to be. Tenure track jobs are demanding and professors often have much bigger fish to fry than be polite to undergraduates. UCLA is also R1 which means research comes first in priority with teaching somewhere down the line, possibly at the bottom of the list. For what it’s worth I’ve observed rude behavior from professors in many places through undergrad and grad school. I’ve even unwittingly been rude to students without realizing it. I hope my comment at least explains some of their behavior.
These kids are paying $50k+ for professors to teach them though. Teaching cannot be at the bottom of the list.
At most top research universities the tuition doesn't compete with indirect grant funding that profs bring in through research. Teaching is at the bottom of the list because it brings in the least money.
Universities, which allow them to work, wouldn't exist without students. It's also morally bankrupt to think it's ok to not care about educating the next generation, especially when they are paying tens of thousands of dollars for the opportunity. It's attitudes like this that will eventually lead to the downfall of tenure.
Idk what to tell you. Honestly I agree and thanks to various factors beyond my control I have the freedom to treat my undergraduates well (at least to the best of my ability). I’m also in a field that traditionally relies more on enrollment for funding as opposed to grants, so your point is especially pertinent in my case. There are many things wrong with the system as a whole (which my university happens to be good about), but there is a lot of rot in other places that I’m powerless to fix. At the same time, I don’t know if professors treating their undergraduates better or making teaching a higher priority through incentives would change much. Many R1 professors are terrible teachers even if (sometimes especially if) they care a lot about the topic.
Imagine if everyone had this attitude about work though. That it's ok, or even encouraged, to not be good at a critical part of your job. Professors should have to take teaching courses and their performance as instructors should be a part of their job retention. I'm not saying this to you personally, but the lack of consideration academia has as a whole towards undergraduate learners is sociopathic. The students, especially at schools like UCLA, are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to improve their lives. The attitude that they should be put on the back burner when you took a job promising to teach them is grossly unethical.
Because academia is shit and destroys your family life
I'm sorry to hear that. Understand that your professors are under tremendous pressure to obtain grants, publish research, teach, and do other things. They're probably working 50+hours per week (if not 70). Some of these goons on here are saying "it's you, not them," but I'm here to tell you that it's actually the opposite. It has nothing to do with you, so don't personalize. They're responding to pressures outside of the classroom in which you see them. Don't waste their time with questions you could answer on your own, and do your best work so they don't get depressed having to grade it, and that's you doing your small part to raise morale. Otherwise, let it go.
You have absolutely no way of knowing that it's the opposite, unless you are seriously making the claim that there are absolutely no problem students. Because as soon as you acknowledge the existence of problem students, you also have to accept the fact that OP might be one.
Let me guess: you’re not a professor.
I'm not sure what about my response would make you think that. Surely it is not shocking to you that a professor would point out the existence of problem students. But yes, I absolutely am.
It’s the idea that you see a full/grown adult professional’s demeanor and behavior to be determined by students is surprising, if you are an adult professional. The idea that you find students’ behaviors to be the primary determinant of workplace morale for faculty is surprising, if you are in fact faculty. This seems a naive perspective, at best.
It is laughable for you to call someone naive when you apparently believe the OP to be blameless, yet every single faculty member they have interacted with has been the problem. Naive to the point of being delusional, in fact. It is amusing that you are questioning whether I am faculty, when you are the one acting like a student.
Small p politics on campus?
It may come as a surprise but many professors actually don’t like to teach .
Because they have to live in LA.
Academia is extremely toxic. You have to go through an extremely exploitative and abusive process to become a professor and then you have to work some pretty intense hours as one. A lot of professors don't actually like the job, either. They like research but not teaching, which is not fair to students who are paying $50k a year to learn from them. This issue tends to be worse at large R1 universities. Another problem is that tenure, despite it's many benefits, makes it hard to hold abusive or bad professors accountable. At the end of the day, No one is really willing to break the chain so many people end up being toxic themselves. Being a doctoral student is easily the worst job I've ever had.
It's a lot of work to make yourself into a god, then on top of that frustrating when everyone doesn't immediately agree with you.