Got Frustrated with my Professor

[FairyGodmother]

So, in general, when I don't understand something I get frustrated quite quickly. I am currently taking a Computer Science course for distribution credits in college, which has absolutely nothing to do with my major. Needless to say, alot of the time I have no idea what's going on. However, I am hard working so I do my best to read all the assignments and pay attention in class. My boyfriend was an IT major, so he helps me sometimes. In the class have only had one project so far, but I got a 100% on it. Today I handed in another, which I am fairly certain will get a high grade as well.

 

Well, in class today the professor gave us a hand out that said the following:

 

Write a program to read 4 numbers and print them out:

 

1. Declare myList

2. For i = 0; i

3. For i = 0; i

 

First of all, this is new material we had only gone over for 20 minutes previous to the handout. Second of all, even if you know nothing about computing I think logical questions you would be asking yourself are:

 

- What is the purpose of this program?

- Does the user have to input these numbers, or are they already stored on the computer?

 

So I asked the professor, and he said the purpose of the program was to teach us to write arrays. Okay, that's great and all, but that wasn't really what I meant -_- I meant what is the objective of the actual program, not what is the point of giving us this handout. So then he goes, well it says right there "to read and print the numbers". At this point I was probably starting to get more visibly frustrated and talking more forcefully than was needed, which I shouldn't have done. I tried to calm down and said, yes, but where are the numbers being read from? And he answered the screen. THE SCREEN. WELL NO DUH. FNREUIFGB. Now, I'm basically trying to not raise my voice because I'm really getting angry. After some more futile questions I'm finally like look, I just need to know if the user needs to input these numbers, or if they are already stored on the computer?! And he says, the user inputs them of course! After all this roundabout discussion, we finally get to the simple answer which was all I wanted in the first place. With that information I was able to do the program.

 

Of course, I felt bad about being frustrated, so after class I went up to him and apologized. I explained that when I don't understand things I can get testy. He said it was perfectly alright, and he seemed okay with me.

 

I know I need to work on my temper, but do you think that I was in any was justified for being frustrated?

 

Also does anyone have any tips for staying calm in frustrating situations?

[camus154]

I think you weren't very clear in the questions you were asking. "What's the purpose of this program" is vague and when I first read that I wondered why you were asking it to begin with. Your only real question seemed to be "are we getting these numbers by user input or can we randomly populate the arrays?"

 

Sounds like poor communication is all.

[Edmund Exley]

No I dont think you were justified. Dealing with miscommunication is a calm way is always more effective. Did you communicate to him that you weren't understanding where the initial input was coming from? Nothing in the code you have here indicated user input.

[Edmund Exley]

Tips for staying calm. Take a deep breath and think about what it is you are trying to get at/to.

[FairyGodmother]

I think you weren't very clear in the questions you were asking. "What's the purpose of this program" is vague and when I first read that I wondered why you were asking it to begin with. Your only real question seemed to be "are we getting these numbers by user input or can we randomly populate the arrays?"

 

Sounds like poor communication is all.

 

You're right, maybe I chose poor wording. I guess what I was trying to say is what is the objective of the program, not what is the purpose.

[FairyGodmother]

No I dont think you were justified. Dealing with miscommunication is a calm way is always more effective. Did you communicate to him that you weren't understanding where the initial input was coming from? Nothing in the code you have here indicated user input.

 

I suppose getting frustrated is never really justified. I was trying to ask him to explain where the initial input was coming from but he kept going on about for loops, which just made me more confused When I finally got him to answer about the initial input he seemed to think it was self-evident in the directions he gave.

[superfan]

Keep in mind that professors have not gone to teacher's college. They are professors because they are experts in their field (usually holding a Masters or PHD). They know the material inside and out, but don't always know the best way to deliver that material to the student, especially if (to them) it seems like a simple concept.

 

As a high school teacher, I learned in teacher's college how to deliver material in differentiated ways to students of all kinds of varying ability levels. It is the reason WHY we go to teacher's college. To learn how to best deliver material in a step by step manner so that the student grasps is properly.

 

College and University professors are not required to go to teacher's college because by that point it is assumed that the student has enough tools given to them in high school to learn independently without the need to be spoon fed the material. They simply put it out there and you are supposed to know how to take it and assemble it properly.

 

This is not always something that happens easily for students - especially if it is a course outside your major or something you are not naturally suited to. It is likely the professor behaved the way he did, because to HIM, the question (and the concept) was simple and he has not been TAUGHT other ways of delivering it for people who are not as naturally inclined to the subject.

 

Might be good to keep that in mind for the future and approach the Professor after class time for any extra explanation that is needed rather than becoming confrontational DURING class time.

[Edmund Exley]

Good advice from tvnerdgirl, also keep in mind (And I say this because I was an I.T. major and took numerous comp sci courses) that many comp sci people have a hard time relating to others what is easily understood to them.

[Seraphim]

Ok, as the person wanting the info it is up to you to communicate yourself properly. That said I have a son with communication disabilities. He has severe written communication disabilities. Verbally speaking he is far above average. Being autistic though he gets frustrated very fast in some situations. What he has been taught is to take himself out of the situation for a few minutes until he can calm himself down and then approach the situation again. So that is what he does. He goes to a "quiet room" or the hallway and he collects himself and then he approaches again when he is calm.

 

Most adults can not be bothered understanding exactly what you are trying to ask. That is up to you to be clear. I am used to my son so I am very quick in translating what someone wants from what they have said even if they are not being clear about it.

 

Just take yourself out of the situation and try and reformulate your question.

[FairyGodmother]

Might be good to keep that in mind for the future and approach the Professor after class time for any extra explanation that is needed rather than becoming confrontational DURING class time.

 

I will definitely keep everything you said in mind. Also, if he was in the process of a lecture I never would have asked during the class period. The reason I approached him during class is because we are only about 15-20 students, and we had 20 minutes until the end of class so he told us to start programming. You are permitted to work in groups so there was alot of chattering, and he was walking around helping anyone who was stuck. The girl next to me and I tried to figure out what to do together, but eventually we decided to just ask. In the past, I have just sat there for the 20 minutes of programming he gives us, trying to work it out by myself. Usually that just ends up in programs with a million errors that don't run, and me having learnt nothing from that class period

[Edmund Exley]

II have just sat there for the 20 minutes of programming he gives us, trying to work it out by myself. Usually that just ends up in programs with a million errors that don't run, and me having learnt nothing from that class period

 

Which tells me you don't understand the paradigm. Perhaps spend some time with a tutor or a class mate that gets it. Object Oriented Programming can be challenging, its something that usually just "clicks" in your head eventually and all makes sense. Is this your major?

[FairyGodmother]

Which tells me you don't understand the paradigm. Perhaps spend some time with a tutor or a class mate that gets it. Object Oriented Programming can be challenging, its something that usually just "clicks" in your head eventually and all makes sense. Is this your major?

 

No, as I said in my OP, this is a course that I must take for distribution (I go to a liberal arts college). I am a double major in international relations and economics. I think what I'm going to do from now on is going back to not asking in class, trying to figure it out on my own, and then after class looking for the chapters in the textbook corresponding to the lecture.

[pl3asehelp]

If you plan on working in software, you'll get used to not being told why someone wants what they want, but rather trusting their judgment that they figured that out before they came to waste your time implementing it. What does it matter what the purpose of the program is as long as it's clear what you're being asked to do?

[FairyGodmother]

If you plan on working in software, you'll get used to not being told why someone wants what they want, but rather trusting their judgment that they figured that out before they came to waste your time implementing it. What does it matter what the purpose of the program is as long as it's clear what you're being asked to do?

 

No, I have no interest in this subject, so I do not plan on working in software. As I mentioned before, I am taking this course for distribution purposes.

 

The objective of the program mattered because it was not clear what I was being asked to do. I was not sure where the input was meant to be coming from. It could either have been from the user or randomly generated by the computer.

[camus154]

It mattered because it was not clear what I was being asked to do. I was not sure where the input was meant to be coming from. It could either have been the user or randomly generated by the computer.

 

If that's all you wanted to know, then why didn't you simply ask that exact question? Instead, you asked such vague things about program purpose or objective or whatever you want to call it.

 

Be specific. Ask the right questions and you'll get the right answers.

[FairyGodmother]

If that's all you wanted to know, then why didn't you simply ask that exact question? Instead, you asked such vague things about program purpose or objective or whatever you want to call it.

 

Be specific. Ask the right questions and you'll get the right answers.

 

It's easy to say things like that in retrospect. At the time, I was confused in general about the whole task. I couldn't understand what it was he wanted the program to do. In conjunction with that, I was also confused as to where the input was coming from. I'm not sure how I could have asked my questions any better, other than replacing the word purpose for objective. I asked the questions I thought would best clarify the situation.

[pl3asehelp]

No, I have no interest in this subject, so I do not plan on working in software. As I mentioned before, I am taking this course for distribution purposes.

 

The objective of the program mattered because it was not clear what I was being asked to do. I was not sure where the input was meant to be coming from. It could either have been from the user or randomly generated by the computer.

 

I'd drop the class then, this is way too hands on for someone who doesn't have a background in software or plans to work in that field. This won't be useful to you anywhere else in life. For me it was crystal clear in those 3 lines exactly what you were being asked to do. Saying 'declare' means you get to decide what that input is - doesn't matter where it comes from. If where the input came from was relevant, he would have included details about that and since the algorithms referenced don't care at all about where they get their input, you have to assume it's not important to the task.

[Seraphim]

If you are confused about something why not write the question out first before you ask the question? Sometimes it becomes more clear what you need to ask if you write it down, read it and then modify it and then ask the person.

[FairyGodmother]

I'd drop the class then, this is way too hands on for someone who doesn't have a background in software or plans to work in that field. This won't be useful to you anywhere else in life. For me it was crystal clear in those 3 lines exactly what you were being asked to do. Saying 'declare' means you get to decide what that input is - doesn't matter where it comes from. If where the input came from was relevant, he would have included details about that and since the algorithms referenced don't care at all about where they get their input, you have to assume it's not important to the task.

 

It's no longer possible to drop the class, as the add/drop period has passed. In any case, it is required for me to take a computer science course so even if I dropped it I'd just have to take it again some other semester

[FairyGodmother]

If you are confused about something why not write the question out first before you ask the question? Sometimes it becomes more clear what you need to ask if you write it down, read it and then modify it and then ask the person.

 

This is a very good suggestion, thank you! I will definitely try that next time.

[Seraphim]

This is a very good suggestion, thank you! I will definitely try that next time.

 

I hope it helps. It may lead to less frustration for you in all areas. Whenever you feel frustrated about something. Write it out. It helps to get the frustration out and it makes us think before we do or say things we regret.