Nitpicky Professors

[Rageaholic]

Who want things done a very specific way and won't accept it any other way.

I have this statistics professor who has made specific instructions as to how he wants this test turned in (it's take home). He wants us to email the test as a word document and an excel file to two different email addresses. He also wants us to print a version of the test to take to class. He's also specific on things like what he wants each saved file named and how many tabs and files we make. Even though it would be easier and much less of a headache to simply write the answers on the printed document and show the work for the problems on the spreadsheet. And of course, we'll get points off if we don't follow the instructions exactly how he wants.

This isn't the first time I've had nitpicky professors. I had one a while back who would not accept any assignments if the paper was crinkled. Then there are those english professors who make their own rules (one wanted us to write the date differently). And don't get me started on the MLA citation nonsense... but as far as anal professors go, this guy takes the cake. He's taking an already difficult subject and making even it more complicated by having such specific instructions on how he wants the test done. It's hard enough trying to learn all these updated versions of excel without worrying about how many documents we'll need. All of which have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ACTUAL ANSWERS OR SUBJECT MATERIAL!

I suspect he's nervous about us cheating since it's a take home exam. He made us sign some thing promising we would not help or accept help from other students. And I ask, if he's that worried about cheating, WHY DID HE MAKE IT A TAKE HOME EXAM!!!

[AdminAssistant]

First of all, that MLA citation nonsense is the current standard in the fields of English, literature, and some humanities. It exists right alongside Chicago, Turabian (Chicago Lite), and APA. They all exist to standardize the way we write papers, which is actually nice, since I don't have to sit and figure out, "Hm, how will I cite this quotation?" I grab my handy dandy Turabian guide and it tells me.

E-mailing the test to two different addresses is so there's a back-up. I'm betting that one address was his school address and the other was for Gmail. University e-mail is notoriously unreliable, so he probably wants a back-up, just in case. Or, the second e-mail could be for a grader or GTA. Standardizing what the files are named makes it easier for him to organize on his home computer.

Also, you grade a paper that's all crinkled and nasty. It's gross. I've had students circle stains and write, "Ketchup, sorry!" I mean, really? You couldn't print a clean copy or at least keep the paper away from your dinner? Sheesh.

[guywithashovel]

I've had some pretty nitpicky teachers during my life. They can be annoying, but I guess the bright side is that you usually know exactly how they want things done.

A lot of profs ask you to follow MLA, APA, or some other guideline. As an undergrad, I was a psychology major, so I was asked to use APA most of the time. When I got to grad school, the field I was in used both APA and MLA, so the profs usually just told us to use whichever we were most comfortable with. Since I had been using APA the most up to that point, I stuck with that. Generally, those guidelines aren't that hard to follow. As long as you have a manual for the right version (which usually can be found online), they're pretty straightforward. That's been my experience, anyway.

Oh, and here's an example of a nitpicky prof: In college, I had a political science professor who flipped out when a student referred to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a tragedy. She said, "Hurricanes are tragedies. Car accidents are tragedies. But an attack on the United States IS AN ACT OF WAR!!!!!!"

Most of us just sat there and thought, "What the hell?!?"

[HYHYBT]

Right. The file names, in particular, are important if he's going to pull the documents *out* of the email before grading them: it makes sure he knows what they are before opening them.

But the same document in both Excel and Word? That's just bizarre.

(I just hate citations. OK, a standard format I understand... but the last class I was in that involved that sort of writing, the sources were consistently web pages. You're supposed to list not only the site address and when you accessed it, but also the author's name and I forget what else... and those were hardly ever listed.)

[Greenday]

(I just hate citations. OK, a standard format I understand... but the last class I was in that involved that sort of writing, the sources were consistently web pages. You're supposed to list not only the site address and when you accessed it, but also the author's name and I forget what else... and those were hardly ever listed.)

The date the page was last edited.

If the information isn't available, standard format is to just skip it.

[Rageaholic]

Also, you grade a paper that's all crinkled and nasty. It's gross. I've had students circle stains and write, "Ketchup, sorry!" I mean, really? You couldn't print a clean copy or at least keep the paper away from your dinner? Sheesh.

I should have been more specific. If the paper was crinkled or even FOLDED in any way, she wouldn't accept it. Even if it was just the edges of the paper.

As for the documents, it's not just the email part. It's the fact that we can't just circle down the answers for the multiple choice part on a printed copy. No, we have to edit a word document (and then send multiple copies of that). But ONLY the answer part, not the questions. Plus he's picky about where we answer the questions on the document. What does it matter, it's multiple choice? You answer A B C or D. Whether it's circled on a written document, typed out on a seperate sheet, or used on an excel sheet or word document, it's going to be the same.

Oh, and here's an example of a nitpicky prof: In college, I had a political science professor who flipped out when a student referred to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as a tragedy. She said, "Hurricanes are tragedies. Car accidents are tragedies. But an attack on the United States IS AN ACT OF WAR!!!!!!"

Most of us just sat there and thought, "What the hell?!?"

And acts of war aren't tradegies? I wasn't even in that class and all I can think is "what the hell?"

(I just hate citations. OK, a standard format I understand... but the last class I was in that involved that sort of writing, the sources were consistently web pages. You're supposed to list not only the site address and when you accessed it, but also the author's name and I forget what else... and those were hardly ever listed.)

Yes, the web pages are the worst. I just had something similar a week ago. I was just quoting something from the web page and went to knight cite, a very handy webpage for this sort of thing. And it asked me for the author of the webpage, the date I accessed it, the number of editors, and a few other specifications. I ended up just keying the URL of the website and the date I accessed it. Seriously, do I really need all that information when I'm just quoting a small part of the site? You'd think just letting the professor know that "hey I got this off this webpage" should be enough.

Oh and since they always appear to be changing the format, knight cite can often get things wrong. As if it wasn't frusturating enough to get marked down just because I didn't have a period in the right place. NO one likes this format, not even some of the professors (they're never able to simply explain it). MLA (or what ever format's being used) wouldn't be such a pain if the citation process wasn't so specific and detailed.

[SkullKing]

What really annoys me is when a teacher tells me: "your answer is right but is not the one I wanted" nad proceedes to lower my grade.

[DrFaroohk]

I always wondered how much we'd be able to get done if we didn't spend time thinking up stupid ways to get things done. And then how much more time we'd spend if the masses didn't have to jump through these hoops to advance anywhere.

For some reason I'm seeing a similar thing to that episode of family guy where they jump to the universe that never had christianity....

[bara]

English teachers makes things up. The subjective clause of the predicate phrase that started with a preposition.

Just saying.

[MaggieTheCat]

I remember a particular spelling test when I was in elementary school. When we did spelling tests, not only would we write the spelling words but we'd also have to use them in a sentence, as dictated by the teacher. So she'd say the word, say a sentence using that word, and we'd have to write everything down.

Well, one of those sentences involved a guy named "John." Except I didn't know John was normally spelled with an "h" so I spelled it Jon. She docked me points for spelling John incorrectly; otherwise I had a perfect score on the test.

What's really funny is that we actually had a kid named Jon (spelled that way) in our class at the time.

[Rageaholic]

Hmmm

He didn't enable editing for the word document. Maybe he just wanted us to print it and turn it to him (I must have read the instructions wrong).

He's still pretty nitpicky on other stuff though.

[Greenday]

My SAT verbal teacher was a pompous prick. We all hated him. We had a test on prefixes. After defining what it is used for, you had to use it in a real word. For the prefix hypo- I used hypoallergenic. He told me it wasn't a word. Despite the fact that every single person in the class agree that "hypoallergenic" is a word, he refused to believe me. I had to actually grab an item that had the word hypoallergenic on it to prove it. He took me out of class to yell at me for making him look bad.

[insertNameHere]

Well for that stat class it sounds a lot like some of my computer science courses. He uses some form of an auto grader that if you don't follow the instructions right won't give proper results and ends up with him having to go in an manually grading or editing the file to make it work against the checks he is doing. Computers can only do what we tell them and any reasoning has to be coded by the maker. If you put words in column A and numbers in B and the computer is looking for the numbers in A as far as it is concerned they don't exist.

At the same time I hate bullshit hoops that hang a large percentage of points on non-relevant items or instance I am alright with losing maybe 5% on formatting of something but if they want to deduct say 25% on issues not related to course content I have a problem.

I really hated my management prof who put us into groups and if he did a spot check that day out of 8-9 people in a group only 1 was allowed to be absent for each person of that you got docked a letter grade.

[Giggle Goose]

Also, you grade a paper that's all crinkled and nasty. It's gross. I've had students circle stains and write, "Ketchup, sorry!" I mean, really? You couldn't print a clean copy or at least keep the paper away from your dinner? Sheesh.

Wow...who would even think to do that?

She docked me points for spelling John incorrectly; otherwise I had a perfect score on the test.

What's really funny is that we actually had a kid named Jon (spelled that way) in our class at the time.

Wow, seriously??!!

I have to agree with all of the other folks who say that the APA/MLA guidelines are nitpicky for a reason. I feel really fortunate that I had them drilled into me in undergrad, because a lot of my classmates are currently struggling with using APA in our papers.

The worst thing, IMO, is profs who are unclear about their expectations no matter how many times you may go to them for help, but also grade way harshly. That's a terrible combination.

[Rageaholic]

My SAT verbal teacher was a pompous prick. We all hated him. We had a test on prefixes. After defining what it is used for, you had to use it in a real word. For the prefix hypo- I used hypoallergenic. He told me it wasn't a word. Despite the fact that every single person in the class agree that "hypoallergenic" is a word, he refused to believe me. I had to actually grab an item that had the word hypoallergenic on it to prove it. He took me out of class to yell at me for making him look bad.

Reminds me of this idiotic letter

Well for that stat class it sounds a lot like some of my computer science courses. He uses some form of an auto grader that if you don't follow the instructions right won't give proper results and ends up with him having to go in an manually grading or editing the file to make it work against the checks he is doing. Computers can only do what we tell them and any reasoning has to be coded by the maker. If you put words in column A and numbers in B and the computer is looking for the numbers in A as far as it is concerned they don't exist.

SHIT I hope that's not what this is. Since he wanted all capital letters for the multiple choice answers, this is possible. And I can't enable editing.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!