On Rate My Professor, many students condemn professors for being “judgmental.” Maybe it’s the generational gap but I have no idea what they mean by this. It’s a professor’s job to judge their performance and assign grades. What is it that upsets them?
3 responses to “Judgmental”
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“One has been a poor observer of life if one has not also seen the hand that considerately — kills.” Nietzsche
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I think that opprobrium is most likely due to the professor judging students on their appearance or politics. Or possibly going on diatribes in class about political topics or other ethnic groups/countries. That’s usually what gets meant by “judgmental”, not grading (even tough grading) or ability to use the knowledge gained in class.
I know the last class I took, it was pretty obvious that the professor made a snap judgment about my appearance (I’m in my 50s, and came straight from work which meant I was dressed in scrubs meant to appeal to children. I don’t think the big round reading classes with flowers helped, either, but you do what you can to make a medical clinic a fun place for kids who have to be there far too frequently). I wasn’t there to please the professor’s sense of what older people should look like, I was there because the content of the class interested me. I could see she expected me to be a hindrance or a troublemaker. She got over that by the end of the second time the class met, though (I’m a very good student).
Her judgmental attitude in the beginning didn’t deter me because I know how my appearance affects how younger people treat me, plus I find it amusing to kindly show people the error of their ways. However, I can see how angry that sort of judgmental attitude will make people who think they should be treated the same as everyone else from the get-go (as they should!), despite their religion, color of their skin, or the way they dress…and who get this all the time. At least I didn’t get those attitudes until I aged into my eccentricities.
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I believe that it is really unprofessional to fixate on students’ appearance or clothes. And it’s sad to know that people can’t leave their prejudices outside of the classroom.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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