Answer. The. Fucking. Question.

[Rageaholic]

Another professor rant, the stats one again.

It's bad enough that he's a nitpicky douchebag who has very specific ways he wants things done, but when you ask him about it, he won't answer. Instead, he'll make some "clever" comment making us feel like idiots, or he'll play 20 questions to make us figure it out on our own. Either way, it's obvious he does not like answering questions. You can tell he gets annoyed by students who have trouble understanding things the first time.

If he would simply answer the questions we have, classtime would be at least a half an hour shorter (conservatively estimated).

[DrFaroohk]

This seems like the answers I give my 7 year old because I want him to develop some "thinking skills". If he says "How much longer can I stay up?" I'll tell him that bedtime is at 8, and ask what time it is now. He hates it too cuz he wishes I'd just tell him, but I think it's important that he able to help himself.

But for a college student asking something with a direct answer? It sounds like the prof is compensating for his extreme lack of intelligence by trying to sound deep and mystical.

[HYHYBT]

Exactly. Unless, of course, it *is* a question you ought to have figured out on your own. But unless the whole class is idiots, that's not exactly likely to happen often. Still, though I don't know how applicable this would be in statistics, it *could* be a half-assed attempt to teach the process of coming up with the answers rather than just being given them.

[Rageaholic]

It's usually questions involving microsoft excel which is where most of the difficulties come from. But he has done this with other things as well. And he wonders why we're always confused when he tries to test us.

[tabbyblack13]

I expect answers when I ask a question to a professor. I had a professor in college that would not give me a straight answer. Because of that and the fact that he would teach several more of my classes I made the decision to switch majors. It was the best decision I ever made.

[senor boogie woogie]

This was one reason why I hated college so much was having to deal with professors like these. Some do have this power trip, especially those professors who teach freshman courses that students have to pass when it doesn't have anything to do with their majors. Or worse, a pain in the ass professor of a course that is important, and they act like little dictators. Most college professors are actually cool mo-fos working a somewhat laid back job*, the problem is that if a student has a total dictator/sociopath, twat/nutjob, there is almost nothing that the student can do about it.

I am a teacher and when a student asks me a question, I give them the answer if I know it or do my best to find the answer or direct the student to do same. The reason is that the student is either directly or in case of a child, indirectly for my services. (I teach ESL in China.)

I have taught high school and college and told both what exactly will be on my final exam. I do this because this is what I want my students to learn from me. This is not to say that it isn't annoying to go over something just to have someone not understand what the hell was said and want it repeated again.

My suggestion is if you are paying for these courses and not your parents, demand the answer from the guy. F**k him, he needs to do his job.