Prior to any class registration I find myself, along many other students, asking each other which professor should we enroll in classes with.

We usually start by asking, “How are his/her tests? Are they difficult?”

Rarely do we find ourselves asking about their personality and attitudes toward students. Even though ratemyprofessor.com can help in terms of making our minds up about a professor, it is not that accurate, and you might enroll with a professor who has a high rating but will make your semester awful.

Being a student for nearly four years, I have taken a variety of different courses with almost all types of professors. Surprisingly, course difficulty was a minor issue as long as it was with a professor who was charismatic, passionate and humble. We respected and appreciated this type above all professors. They engaged with us and we truly learned in our classes. I would go home still thinking about our class discussions. On the other hand, more often than not, we end up with the all-knowing professor — the opposite of the respected type. They assume we do not know anything and treat us accordingly.

A professor who talks down to students and undermines them will unfortunately allow students to disengage from the course. From my own experience I tend to not care about the course, and I force myself to memorize rather than understand so I can finish and pass the exams.

I am reminded of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. He criticized the banking concept of education, and yet here I am during my senior year dealing with professors who still apply it. He wrote, “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher makes deposits of knowledge which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat.”

The lack of communication between the teacher and student because of the teacher’s pride and personality is a hindrance to the educational process. It prohibits self-questioning and the out-of-the-box thinking that leaves students with many misconceptions. In classrooms under such condescending professors, students are reluctant to engage, question and even challenge some of the information they are being presented with.

What are we learning then? One of my respected professors used to ask us “any questions?” He would literally pause for one minute and wait for us to think. The first time this happened we were unaware of such a privilege and started to giggle and fill the minute with awkward silence. Then as he did it again and again throughout the semester, it began to engage us as equals where we could question the professor, question the material and think outside the context of our texts. Professors need to allow more of this and more pausing moments that enable us to be critical. This can only be allowed under the respectful and humble professor, not the condescending one.

Abdulelah Darandary  is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]