Poorly Written Exams, Hastily Graded Papers; Burdens Put Upon Professors Hurt Students Most

I've heard and read so many professors complain about their disappointment in students and the level of work that students are generating. I've heard complaints along the lines of "students today are lazy" and "they all just want easy A's" to "they love to complain" (ok, this one is true) even as harsh as"they're just not that bright these days." Let me start off by saying that for the most part I really respect professors. But some of the trends I'm seeing among my professors are becoming increasingly worrisome and I think it's time that students offer some constructive criticism back in the face of some of the criticisms they've offered to us.

I had a midterm in one of my nursing classes yesterday and let's just say it didn't go well. It wasn't that the amount of material covered was vast like in Pharmacology, or concepts complex like in Organic Chem, or that I didn't adequately prepare for the exam. The problem was that the exam was written so poorly that it was incredibly difficult to discern just what the professor was asking for most of the questions. I think in her attempt to oversimplify or "dumb up" the material my professor lost clarity and the ability to ask us straightforward questions. If I had to take a guess I'd say another professor teaching a different section of this class wrote the exam for the department. I believe my professor, busy as she is, gave this exam to us without reading it over. This seems to be a popular mode of action among instructors around here but to me it's simply unacceptable.

I can imagine that writing exams is not an easy nor a favorite task for a professor. If I were to put myself in my professors shoes I'd say that writing clear, carefully poignant questions that are also within the scope of students knowledge of the subject matter is an incredibly time-consuming, tedious, and difficult task. With that being said, it is one of the most important tasks that a professor has to do. I realize the pressure they are under. They're doing research, publishing books, writing journal articles, fighting for tenure, giving speeches, sit on professional boards, busy with membership in academic committees, having to be involved in school bureaucracy, meanwhile trying to keep on top of their classes, working in the hospital if they're still practicing nurses, and maintaining their personal lives. That's a tall order.

But the truth of the matter is, is that if they weren't teaching they wouldn't have a job to begin with. Teaching, in my opinion, should be their priority ONE, professionally speaking. And I'm seeing so many professors put their attention to their classes aside to attend to other things. What I'm starting to see is professors who are demanding a higher level of work from students yet failing to meet that challenge themselves. I'm sensing that instructors are slacking on dedicating the appropriate amount of time to read and grade over papers. I'm seeing professors cut corners, not have the time to be interested in students, even instructors who genuinely don't seem to be present in class. At the very worst I had a professor not show up for class without prior warning twice, both on exam days.

To the peril of university students everywhere the academic world has shaped itself over the years so that prestige comes from research and publishing and not from the level of instruction given or dedication to students shown. Why is this? It's the economy, stupid. Research and publishing draws both dollars and prestige to a university. So of course universities have research and publishing requirements that professors have to meet in order to keep their jobs. To meet these ever-increasing requirements professors are taking on staggering amounts of commitments outside of the classroom. But isn't the quality of teaching almost directly proportional to the quality of students that these universities are graduating? Aren't any of you concerned that your nurse or doctor or the engineer of the bridge you'll be driving over for that matter just graduated from a university where his/her professors were more concerned about their latest publishing then they were on taking the time to adequately prepare the student to meet the challenges of their new career.

Ultimately, I just want instructors that challenge themselves at acheiving excellence in the classroom as much as they challenge us to become exceptional students/nurses. Yet because professors are so overburdened by the constraints placed upon them in the modern academic world they often times fall short at fulfilling their teacherly obligatons to us as students and its the students that ultimately suffer. For the future of students out there and for my own future as well I hope that the emphasis in the academic world goes back to focusing on outstanding academic instruction so that students and professors can unite with the common goal of bettering ourselves for the service of others.