Why Professors Should be Shameless Geeks

My English teacher in high school had a habit of slipping hermaphrodite jokes into our lessons.  He had an infatuation for Gatsby and Galactica, co-wrote a paper on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and when his students fell victim to a hot afternoon and began to lose focus, he’d pretend to slide a piece of chalk into his ear and pull it out his mouth.  He was the second nerdiest teacher in the school, but everyone agreed: Phil was one of the best teachers they had ever had.  A professor has on obligation to embrace “uncoolness,” to geek out in their lessons, to share their passion, and hook their students.  A valued college education comes not from the professor in the classroom, but the mentor in the office.

Educational institutions seem to have a habit of promoting generic traits that they promise to magically stamp upon the students that pass through their gates.  I went to an elementary/middle school that heavily promoted teaching “Diversity” to all of it’s 800 white, upper-middle class students.  My high school heavily boasted open discussion of ethics and morality, yet had a habit of letting students on risk of expulsion off the hook when their parents promised checks and/or letters from their lawyer.

Chapman University seems to value this ideal of a “Global Citizen,” maybe hoping one day to be a respectable Ivy-League school with an alum base of Albert Schweitzers.  Chapman may want to believe that they create thinkers, when they graduate, but they don’t realize that you can’t force feed Global Citizenship, Leadership, Critical Thinking and other admissions pamphlet values into a student through midterms and essays.  Students must discover their own path.

Leave the administration out of the equation; college is about the student and the professor.  But responsibilities lie in both hands.  The student should ask “the big questions” as their often expected to in college and search for “deeper meaning” in themselves, etc.

But what about the role of the professors? They’re the one’s who should hold responsibility for the outcome of their students, not the administration.  Professors have the charge of shaping their students minds, not just through the lesson plan, but outside as well, making sure that the students leave not just the classroom, but the gates of the university as the well-rounded thinker you expect with a college education.  

A good professor doesn’t teach; he inspires. In order for a student to get the most out of the college experience, he has to step outside the classroom, and it’s the role of the professor to coax the student beyond what he’s obligated to do, meaning the assignments, the essays, the reading, and help the student find a true interest in the subject.

As a professor, the initial instinct to relate with a student on this level might be to try and adapt to them, to learn about their world, to show them that you aren’t that different from them.  Some professors will try to be cool, toThis path only cheats the student out of what they should get out of their college experience.  Many students grow up in consistent environment for the first eighteen years of their life.  They’re primarily subject to the influences of their parents, their friends, the area where they grow up.  It’s a relatively small circle.  When they reach college, their suddenly hit with different views and opinions from people from their own different circles.  Not only do they clash with their classmates views but also those of great philosophers, economists, reporters, and professors.  It’s the role of the professor to be different, to guide and introduce the student to these alternative ways of thinking.  If the professor just adapts to the student to try to be relatable, the professor cheats the student out of exploring new ideas.

In fact, the professor ought to do just the opposite.  Don’t try to be cool, don’t try to relate to the students.  Don’t conform to what they expect.

Be a geek.

Geek out and obsess over your field.  Share your passion with your students and get them hooked.  Throw something new into their lives.  They’ll come to you with questions.  The more passion and enthusiasm you show, the more you’ll excite them to come up to you after class and strike up a discussion, swing by your office during office hours to strike up a debate, or meet you for coffee two years after they graduate.

Chapman has recently started hiring a fair amount of faculty based on the awards they’ve earned and popularity they’ve garnered.  Many students and other members of the community though have raised the concern that the administration hired these professors not with teaching in mind, but research and scholastic prestige.  Many students doubt that these new Nobel Prize winning professors will be even slightly invested in the students.  If Chapman wants to create the “Global Citizens,” the thinkers, they dream of producing, they need to hire faculty who care about students, who can challenge the students, and not be afraid to geek out.