When I took the subject Engineering Management back in college, I hoped that it would be a course that will teach me how to, well, manage engineering projects, among others. Because that is what the course title indicates. For a civil engineering student who is interested in the construction industry, this is a valuable subject.
But it wasn’t really Engineering Management that I learned, but how to deal with my engineering school’s worst professor.
Rumors in my engineering school had it that this certain professor is lazy, unengaging, and too easy. He is that kind of worst professor, not the one who terrorizes the entire class. My seniors back then gave me an idea which students the professor likes, how he is inside the classroom, and if he gives away high grades. So even before I took his class, I already had an idea who he is as a teacher so I could adjust.
I was in my third year when this happened. Yet it was my first time to be under this engineering professor from the chemical engineering department even when his students, including myself, are from civil engineering. But this was not an issue to me, because I understood that the principles in Engineering Management apply to all fields.
The first week of the semester went by. He did not show up in our first two meetings, I remember distinctly. At least, he did not fail my expectations from the start.
Source: Giphy
As soon as he showed up, I studied him. What my seniors said about him was true. Every bit.
After a few meetings with him, I thought that the class was just a waste of my time for the entire semester. It was a hopeless case: I tried for a while to give the man a chance and let me learn the subject but to no avail. He was consistent in being the worst professor.
Good thing that he releases the material he reads in our ‘discussion’ every after class. That system allowed me to pass the subject even when I lowered my usual efforts in a class – more often than not, I did not pay attention to his ‘discussion’ and even missed some of his classes on purpose when I feel like it.
It was not really a loss for me to be absent at times. He barely checks his students’ attendance; and if he did, he would just roam around a piece of paper for us to sign. But that can be forged.
In many of our meetings, he went way off the topic and talked about random things no one is interested about. Sometimes, he danced in front of the class trying to be funny. Not teaching Engineering Management.
Unfortunately when these happened, I was there sitting in class, feeling sorry for my parents who spent the tuition fee for that kind of trash.
The teacher’s evaluation was our only chance to tell the university how ineffective this certain professor is. So far, the students haven’t been heard, as I just saw a Facebook post of him still inside the classroom.
Eventually, I passed his class with a relatively high mark. It was surprising, of course, considering how uncooperative I was with him.
But beyond that, I ended up really disappointed because I wanted to learn what Engineering Management is all about. Our professor barely tried to teach it, as he was just getting by. And I hate him for it.
Few of the most effective measures of a great teacher is his or her ability to make the students become interested in the subject matter and his or her skill in letting the students learn the topics by heart. My Engineering Management professor failed in those aspects, among others.
Now I wonder how he managed to stay in the academe despite this terrible teaching performance over the years, I suppose. As far as I know, he has been in the university for twenty or more years now.
Lots of engineers today who were his students must have sworn him to death for being the worst professor ever, like I do now.
