There is a right way and a wrong way to handle the issue of a professor being 'wrong' in the middle of a class. (And then there is the painfully annoying, but oh so required way.)


The wrong way is to tell them they're wrong, and doing so in the middle of the class in an overly smug and blatant fashion.

The right way is to begin a discussion about the topic, politely, and in a fashion that is as non-disruptive as possible. (Pointing out typos is as easy as asking "Wait, is that suppose to be X on line Y?". Offering the correct value depends on the professor in question. I've had one math prof who I assume deliberately writes the wrong values from time to time. At least I hope they do, otherwise I have no idea why they still have a job.)




Then there is the annoying, but required way. Once, and only once, during my round about path through university have I had a professor who was actually drummed out of their classes simply because they knew next to nothing about the subject, were unable to answer basic questions, and were unable to communicate during classes in any meaningful manner. Never did get a straight answer about how she managed to get the job. For some reason no one seems to enjoy talking about the professor in general.

Then there is the annoying, but required way. Once, and only once, during my round about path through university have I had a professor who was actually drummed out of their classes simply because they knew next to nothing about the subject, were unable to answer basic questions, and were unable to communicate during classes in any meaningful manner. Never did get a straight answer about how she managed to get the job. For some reason no one seems to enjoy talking about the professor in general.

In most universities, teaching is not the primary occupation of professors.

Research is. They teach because it provides subsidies that fund their research.

A lot of professors can be extremely intelligent and yet have a very hard time teaching what they know. That doesn't necessarily mean the one your speaking about was such a case, but I've known a few.

In most universities, teaching is not the primary occupation of professors.

Research is. They teach because it provides subsidies that fund their research.

Couldn't stop laughing so hard! I'd wish the teachers in the unis from my Country would be reading this. I'd dare to say here's the other way around. Or may be "most univiersities" is ambigous and vague. I don't know.

A lot of professors can be extremely intelligent and yet have a very hard time teaching what they know. That doesn't necessarily mean the one your speaking about was such a case, but I've known a few.[/quote]
Agreed. Like I said two posts above, there all kinds of teachers.

Any fool can learn to program. The important skill you need in real life is the ability to recognise when your ego is out of control. Without this skill, every other programmer you ever work with or for will be "wrong" and you won't last more than a month in any given job.

At work, I extend and maintain a system written by a guy who uses a lot of singletons, shared_ptr as an automatic replacement for all pointers, completely inconsistent variable naming conventions, absolutely no comments and regular reinvention of the wheel instead of using existing libraries.

But you know what? I'm sure he could cite a long list of criticisms of my work too. And he'd probably be right too. And I've learned a heck of a lot from him, despite the fact that there are aspects of his style I personally disagree with. And the software works and makes money.

School courses are as much about learning to play nice with others as they are learning the subject. I'd suggest you take advantage of this opportunity to learn that.

This thread is nonsense and while I can sympathize with OP's arguments, I am confident he should just suck it up. That's life.

Quit obsessing over her lack of l33t h4ck3r skills, and go do all the usual highschool things - sports, girlfriends, etc. You'll only regret it later if you don't.

I was home schooled my entire life and sat inside every day programming. I have no regrets other than not having a move diverse education but i have mostly made up for it now.

I was home schooled my entire life and sat inside every day programming. I have no regrets other than not having a move diverse education but i have mostly made up for it now.

I too was home schooled, right up until university. On a sailboat in the Caribbean, no less.

I too spent plenty of time sitting inside programming, because that was my passion, but I also developed a very solid background in sports, literature, the arts, such fun pursuits as carpentry and house construction - you name it.

I too don't have any regrets from that portion of my life. But I have this recurring dream, of throwing in the towel on the rat race, quitting my job, skipping out on all the student loans, and returning to a mindless and carefree existence on a tropical beach...

I am pretty damn sure that dream will catch up with the rest of you, sometime short of retirement

I was home schooled my entire life and sat inside every day programming. I have no regrets other than not having a move diverse education but i have mostly made up for it now.

When you are 70 and sitting around the bus stop with a bunch of other old farts hearing them recant tales of the "glory days" you might rethink that.

I haven't read most of the thread yet, but I was caught off guard by this bullshit:

[quote name='wiz3kid' timestamp='1322634879' post='4888989']
[quote name='swiftcoder' timestamp='1322634592' post='4888987']
... and go do all the usual highschool things - sports, girlfriends, etc. You'll only regret it later if you don't.

Regret? Why regret?[/quote]
Because you are only young once.

In a couple of years, you won't have half the time and energy you do now, to tryout a new sport, chase after that redhead, learn to fix motorcycles... But you will always have time to learn esoteric programming languages, because it's the kind of thing you can squeeze into half-hour breaks between class, work, and so-forth.
[/quote]
Some years ago, I decided to act more maturely on this site. That is why I cannot use the words I want to use, to describe how vehemently I disagree with this concept. I think you're doing an enormous disservice to him and anyone else who makes the poor decision to take your statement seriously.

I think you're doing an enormous disservice to him and anyone else who makes the poor decision to take your statement seriously.

On what grounds? I'm not looking for an argument - I'm just curious to hear another opinion.

I'm not suggesting one should slack off and not work on school. But I am advocating striking a healthy work/life balance, and taking advantage of the (relatively) carefree nature of youth to live a little.