I tend to find many who do not take responsibility for their actions or do not use their potential in becoming self-sufficient. That being said, I applaud professors and faculty who want to see students reach their potential and teach accordingly because I do believe education shouldn’t be handed on a silver platter.

Unfortunately, professors have been on the opposite end of this spectrum: students are teaching themselves.

My experiences aren’t atypical. Many students have shared with me, conversationally, about professors who speak incessantly about their personal life and do not give tests over the information lectured on.

Yes, I do understand that there can be different teaching styles and that students have a duty to study, but this is not an excuse for bad teaching. This isn’t an excuse for tests over unheard of material. This isn’t an excuse for long, conversational tangents away from the material in hopes that students will completely learn it for themselves.

Education is a gift so important that academic institutions pay

individuals to facilitate the giving of this gift: a connection between the relevant information to the learner’s mind. If professors can’t adequately facilitate this connection, instructors lose their purpose entirely.

We can’t simply say, “Well, that’s just the norm.” It’s not, and if it is, it shouldn’t be. We all need to remember why we are in college, students and faculty alike: to promote education. When that purpose is compromised, college no longer has a reason to exist.