This is kinda hefty, so for those who'd like to get on with their lives:
TLDR: Professor is an asshole, discriminates and publicly shames people.
I think I tend to have an appreciation for educators. I was always taught to respect them, and generally just anyone older, wiser, etc. A wave of politeness overcomes me, and I filter myself automatically. I've never had issues with teachers or educators. Yes some were better than others, and I have favorites. There are boring ones that I've probably forgotten the names and faces of, but there weren't any strong opinions. They aren't paid enough to teach and entertain us, so I usually learn on my own through a textbook or exercises. It wasn't until this past term where that all changed.
I was really looking forward to this class. It's a major specific class, and I really enjoyed the "prerequisite" for it. I liked being in the lab, working with my hands, seeing the process of designing and creating something. It's what I'm majoring in, of course I'm going to like it, but this professor... I can't even describe what he has done to my mental.
I don't tend to rock the boat. Yes, I talk things over, but confrontation is not the norm for me. Even writing this out is out of the ordinary. Bottling it up is usually the way to go, but this professor has done too much that I can't just deal with it anymore. I can't keep it in. I've been pushed over the ledge. Bringing it up has brought a lot of shame and fear, even when it came to the Office of Accessibilities, but after talking with some classmates and affirming our experiences, I feel more at ease, and especially now that the term is over and he has no power over my grades. With all that prefacing, I'm just going to get straight into it.
There were multiple cases that the instructor was unprofessional or inappropriate. He would yell out people's grades, embarrass or call out people in class, be insensitive to extenuating circumstances. The students on campus generally want to learn, want to do well, want to be active and a good student. No one here wants to make mistakes or do poorly. And yet he often makes fun of students in class. He had given us a Solidworks FEA quiz once that was timed. We had 30 minutes. And if anyone knows CAD and Solidworks in general, the time it takes to do anything is very up in the air. Solidworks has a mind of its own, and running or even loading things up will take a long time. I was taking the quiz, and my force analysis for the gear was not loading up, even when putting one neuton on it. Even when switching from my laptop to a PC. I didn't want this to happen. No one would. But, without my permission, my professor took a screenshot of it, and presented it to the class, basically saying "haha, so silly student bad, even one neuton no work."
Bro.
Why did you feel the need to do that? There is literally no other reason than to just shame someone or make fun of them. Even as a person, not even as an educator or a person of higher authority, that's just fucked up.
It's not even just me. He does this to so many other people. I've witness countless moments of him just discussing grades, tests, etc. with students in public, even if it's not their grades. He basically gossips to other students, whether that be about how a test went, the group dynamics and arguments, anything and everything. I don't want to hear about the drama, and I definitely don't want my professor telling my classmates about it either.
There is a lack of boundaries in regards to both physically and emotionally. There was an instance where I had asked him a question about static analysis, and without permission or warning, he grabbed my arm and started to use it as an example of a four arm. Whether or not his intentions were good or not, that is not okay. There shouldn't be any situation where touching someone without their consent is needed. I didn't even realize how inappropriate it was until months after when I was talking about it with my friends.
Adding more onto this fiery train wreck, I had this time where I couldn't make it to a quiz. There was an emergency, and it left me feeling unwell. After emailing him, he told me that there would be more information about it in class. He eventually told the class that whoever missed it would need to submit it as apart of the corrections in the next homework assignment. The following lecture, because I didn't take the quiz, I was already behind, and it's not like the incident went away, so I recognized that it would be better if I asked for an extension in advance (which, I'd like to note, is in my accommodations). While he gave me the extension, he was not happy about it. There was judgement and complaining. Like bro, I don't want to have to ask for an extension. Even thinking about asking for one is draining and annoying to do. After that, there was no grade for weeks, and the last week of the term, I see a 0. I definitely didn't do that bad on it. I come to find out that he wants me to give him a doctor's note. Are we in fucking high school? I can't go ask mommy to write him a little letter saying why I wasn't at school and have her pack it in my lunch box. I talk with the Office of Accessibilities, apparently he should know that you can't ask for a doctor's note. The department head tells their team that they shouldn't. And once I found that out, I told him and CC'd my advisor. There's clearly a power trip or something with this man.
Another thing, during the first exam, I had taken it in the EPC (testing center for people with accommodations), and he came in yelling while there were other students not in his class taking tests. The entire point of the EPC is for students to get away from the loud distractions, and this interaction- though well-intentioned, I guess- was completely inappropriate. It also seems like he cares more about "catching people" rather than seeing what the students actually learned from the course when it comes to test-taking. There were numerous ways that he prevented cheating that were just overkill. WPI students are all aware of academic integrity and shit. And if people do cheat, so what? Deal with it when it comes, don't fucking inconvenience everyone else. And the phrasing of his tests and the course in general felt as if I was back in high school again with the warnings about cheating. It felt as if he didn't respect us or even regarded us as adults. And especially when it comes to the history of mental health on this campus, I expected there to be empathy of some sort, or even a basic understanding of the lives of his students.
That's not even the last of it. We're in the fucking 21st century. You'd think people would be over all of the racism and sexism and shit, but maybe I think too highly of the world. I forget there are fucking privileged-ass rich white men roaming, and I decided to work in this god-forsaken field that's crawling with them. On multiple occasions, he'd commit microaggressions, specifically onto Asian or Asian-American students. At first, I thought it was kind of neat that he had experience living in Asia. It became uncomfortable when he would go up to students speaking Japanese or when he starting framing it as something exotic and niche and different and quirky. Like... cool man, you know what a shuriken is? You can speak different languages? That's so sick and totally rad. Like, globalization and sharing cultures is normal, but when it's put on a pedestal like something new and never seen before, it puts the minority in an uncomfortable position. What are we supposed to say? Are we supposed to be grateful you know? Should we praise you for learning our backwards ways?
Not even just that, there was also obvious favoritism, and I'm not sure if it was intentional, but it was always with white men. I felt comfortable with my skills and ability to learn. There wasn't a moment that I felt inadequate to my peers, but during class, my professor planted a sense of it. Of course the rich white guys are going to have more experience with robots. They were given access to those opportunities. They'll have more to talk about, and this segment here is more so a rant of the system, but I like robots. I want to have things to talk about. But with my experiences and my childhood and my background, I could never get the same experiences. And it's one thing to just chat about it during office hours, but to shame people in class for not having these opportunities or the funds to do so is just strange. Speaking of funds, there is no empathy from him when it comes to being able to afford the $200 kits. He expected everyone to have one and kept saying "omg who wouldn't want cool beep boop robot?" Of course we would want it, but some people don't have the means. It doesn't mean you have to personally give them money or some shit, just a fucking bit of understanding would do. Another thing I want to note, the people I've heard complaints about were from feminine-presenting people. And there's definitely a change in how he interacts with male students versus female students and any gender minority. It's the typical STEM moment things: questions about the robot and the technical side would be directed towards men during presentations and demos, condescending tones oozed out of comments on homeworks and quizzes, and mansplaining occurred when I asked questions. Love to live out the STEM girly experience.
This professor has single-handedly checked off every box of bigotry while continuously shaming and stressing his students. I like robotics. I like learning about robotics. I like talking about robotics. I like being in the lab. I like the stress that comes with the class and working on the robot. But in his class, my passion for it dulled, and I always dreaded going to class. This has been the worst experience I've had with a professor or any educator in my life. I hate that I have to even write this up or point these things out or even feel the responsibility to teach others or bring this up to the dean. That's just how the world works though I fucking guess.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
But frfr, if you know who I'm talking about, and you have your own experiences, please reach out. If you're comfortable talking about it, I'd like to bring a group to talk to the dean. Strength in numbers or some shit.
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