In four years of higher education, I have had every kind of professor you can think of. From the super chill guy who’s just happy when you show up to class, to the really sweet one who seems easy but will take points off if you decide to slack off. There are tons of different types of professors.
There are so many types of professors and I just want to thank them all for not only teaching me the course objectives, but for teaching me a thing or two about life in some way.
The “chill” professor:
Extreme cases are the professors who seem like they are straight out of the 70s. They tend to say “man” a lot and probably wear Sanuks, which are super casual close-toed slides (or something similar). Most of the time these are your philosophy, history, music, or art professors, but don’t be fooled, they can be from any department. These professors teach us that you don’t have to take your job, or life in general, so seriously. Life can be stressful and annoying and the last thing we want is our job to make us go crazy. Enjoying your job and being a little relaxed isn’t bad and should be accepted to some extent in the work place.
The “organized/really into their course” professor:
These professors follow the syllabus to a tee. They’re the best because when your life is chaotic and you literally have no idea what is going on, you can count on these professors to make their class easy to follow. Taking a professor like this may be annoying to some because they actually expect you to show up to class and do all the work (I know, shocker). However, they tend to be the professors who don’t just give you busy work. Their assignments are made to really help you dive into the knowledge and really get something from the class, whether you believe it or not.
These professors show us the importance of being punctual and really caring about the work that we do. They also show us that your bosses in the real world will really appreciate any work you do as long as you really try and just listen to what needs to be done.
The “absent” professor:
You hopefully only come across a few in your college career, but absent professors exist. They are professors who don’t really care about their students and are only in it for the paycheck. They are also the ones who may have the “you’re an adult so just do it yourself” mentality, meaning they aren’t going to help you at all and they’ll hardly show up to their office hours. They may even just cancel class too often.
These professors show us that you can’t always rely on the people you think you should be able to. They almost force you to have to grow up a little faster by realizing that you need to solve things in your own way without the constant guidance of someone else.
The best professors of all time:
This can be a combination of some traits previously mentioned with some other character traits as well. These professors make you think, “Wow, the never-ending raise in the cost of higher education isn’t so bad!” When I transferred to Monmouth in the fall of 2015, I hadn’t met any professors like this yet. Coming here, I was extremely lucky to have some of the best faculty. Through all the academic highs and lows and all the personal struggles, I have met some truly amazing professors at MU who have helped me through those things.
These professors love what they do, love being involved in campus life, and love supporting their students without any formal recognition. They do these things just because. These professors show us that in life, it’s not about getting recognition for doing good things; it’s about feeling good and making a difference.
I really hope that the best professors in my life know exactly how much they mean to me and every student they have ever had. All these different types of professors I named above (good and bad) have an impact on us and show us something about life.
Going to college isn’t just about reading the over-priced textbook and taking the exam to get the grade. College is about forming relationships and learning from people- your peers and faculty alike.
Now that I am graduating in May, I can say that as much as I am looking forward to starting a career, I am going to miss the lessons that I have learned from more than just reading a textbook, but from experiencing college classes as a whole.
PHOTO TAKEN by Amanda Drennan
