My problem with teaching Harry Potter

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 85046

Dear Tzvi of Brooklyn,

Your experience is not entirely unusual.  I've known several people 
who have taken assorted courses in literature, history and philosophy 
that should have been excellent, but for the incompetence of the 
professor.  I've even suffered the experience a couple of times 
myself.  One philosophy professor in particular didn't seem the least 
interested in several of the philosophers to be covered in the 
course, and so hadn't bothered trying to understand what they had 
written.  The art of getting through the course was figuring out what 
the professor thought these philosophers had written, rather than 
what they actually had, so you could regurgitate the proper manglings 
for the assorted papers and tests over the course of the semester.  
If it had not been required for the degree plan, I would have skipped 
this course.  As it was, several other students and I could only 
resort to complaints to the department head, who plead lack of 
resources to replace the offending professor.

More intriguing was my experience in a class on Shakespeare.  This 
was taught by the mother of one of my friends.  As THIS professor 
professed to love Shakespeare, and had been teaching it for nearly 
forty years, I thought, "Well, she should know this stuff cold by 
now."  I was wrong.  She had most of the material down, but she also 
had some points that were ... well ... off.  Not a single test passed 
that I did not answer at least two questions "incorrectly."  There 
were also the daily muffs she would offer in class.  Not being a 
shrinking violet when it comes to academics, I argued my points and 
won.  This made for a good deal of friction between the professor and 
me, to the point that my friend said she could generally tell when 
her mother had had me in class, as her mother would come home fuming 
and swearing.

One point I'm getting at is that a good many professors are well-
intentioned enough, but not necessarily smarter or better informed on 
a specific topic than their students.  Some are just plain 
incompetent.  The old adage that those who can do while those who 
can't teach is truer than we might appreciate.  Education really lies 
within the student, though, and if a student is intent upon an 
education, sometimes he or she must move beyond the limits of the 
available faculty in order to learn the important areas.  No 
professor can do more than present material while trying to motivate 
students to be interested enough to learn it.  The student has to 
take responsibility for his or her education, making the best of the 
resources at hand.  For the serious scholar, there is an additional 
responsibility, and that is to the students, serious and otherwise, 
who follow.

I would complain bitterly to the department head, but be certain I 
had a strong passing grade before doing so.  A student with an A in a 
course is in a much better position to complain and be heard than one 
with a C ... or worse.  I also now donate as I am able to my alma 
mater, in the hopes that that institution will be better able to hire 
qualified faculty.


Richard, who took his education very seriously