J.J. Jenkins is a journalism freshman and Mustang Daily freshman columnist.
What’s better than a story about your crazy, or crazy-awesome, professor? I know some of the funniest conversations my friends and I have occur when swapping tales about the things our professors said or did in the middle of a lecture.
However, my perception of the academic elite was not always defined by the hilarity caused by my professors.
Coming into college, I saw the change from having teachers to attending lectures with “professors” a rather big deal.
I mean, were professors more serious? Did they care less about my well-being as a student? Were they truly better than high school teachers?
After experiencing 11 different professors after the first weeks of spring quarter, I’m here to say that I do not have a solid answer for questions. However, I have found that my professors have been, at the very least, entertaining.
Coming into my first day of classes in the fall, one of the fears at the top of my list was forgetting to call a professor by his or her correct title. I feared that saying “Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so” would somehow offend them, as they had worked hard to earn such a distinction.
In my first weeks on campus, before walking up to an instructor to ask a question, I would repeat “professor, professor, professor” in my head so my high school habits would be subdued and a “Mr.” or “Mrs.” would not slip out.
I came to realize that, like most irrational fears, there was little substance to my worries. Older students would look at me quizzically when I talked to them about Professor “X” not realizing who I was talking about because they were so used to calling them by their first names.
In fact, I found my winter quarter professors so relaxed and entertaining, even if it was in a morbid sense, that, as a dutiful journalist, I began writing down their funniest quotes. Now, to be fair, most of these quotes are out of context but that is what makes them funny.
As I sat daydreaming about the beautiful California weather at 3 p.m. one day I heard my professor say.
“There is an invisible gremlin teaching this class.”
To be fair, he was teaching philosophy and this is the same professor who, in the final week of class, said, “Suppose you go into your doctor and say ‘my penis really hurts.’”
He may have placed a poor visual in my head but, on the plus side, he got me thinking: how many great quotes are floated out by professors to an unwitting class? I decided to find out.
While nearly falling asleep after a late night and four hours of class, the only thing keeping my eyes open for a 6 p.m. class was my ridiculously funny history professor. In between his impressions of Borat and showing videos from “MythBusters,” we discussed Islam, specifically, Ramadan.
“Sex just isn’t practical during the day,” he said of the prohibitions invoked by the holy month.
While going over early American civilizations, he lectured about the religious practices of the Aztecs, which he appeared to approve of.
“There is actually a perfectly legitimate reason for human sacrifice,” he told the now-edgy class which quickly located the nearest exits in the darkened room.
Needless to say, he broke the stereotype of the serious, scholarly professor, while simultaneously enlightening the class to the historical significance of events that were inexplicably passed over in high school.
I have come to realize that professors are people too — even people who like Lady Gaga. One journalism professor told us of her trip to San Francisco this summer to see the one-of-a-kind performer in concert.
Are professors more serious? No.
On Thursday, one lecturer, in the middle of class, gasped at a problem he finished on the board then laid down on the floor in mock disbelief. He continued to lecture there for a few minutes before returning to his feet.
Do they care less about my well-being as a student? No.
The same philosophy professor who brought quizzical looks to my face spent two hours during dead week explaining how to write the final paper.
Are they truly better than high school teachers? Yes. Nothing is better than a crazy or crazy-awesome professor.