Teach me something!

In my many years of schooling I have had those teachers that have opened my eyes to the way I think. My sixth grade teacher for example was the only reason I stayed at a public school all the way through elementary school. He was probably the first teacher that I had who I could tell really loved his job. It was obvious that he loved to teach. He was one of those teachers that everyone knew and wanted to have. He was funny, well educated, and most of all he taught with enthusiasm.

One of the big problems with the Hawaii school system is that schools do not hold education to the same standards of the mainland (continental US). I am not saying that public schools are bad, or that people who went to public schools are dumb or anything, but the statistics showed some interesting facts. I went to a public high school graduation of about 500 high school seniors and the percent going to further their education was below 25%. My parents thought that I was one of those kids that might get “lost in the hustle and bustle” so they sent me to a private school for the rest of my schooling years, and have continued to send me to a private university for my education.

Now this is where the big argument comes. In high school I also had great teachers, but I also had some teachers of questionable teaching abilities. My parents did not pay tens of thousands of dollars to send me to a school where the teachers were ok. They along as me expected excellence from those teachers. Well weren’t we all in for a big surprise. I have had teachers call me a retard, or have them say I should die; I have had teachers that do not even know how to solve physics questions during the physics class. I thought that when coming to SMU, all of this would change, but again like in high school, I was setting myself up for a little surprise.

As we all know, SMU for most people is not pocket change despite having the nickname of Southern Millionaires University. I would like to think that SMU prides itself of having great teachers and a very wonderful student body, so you would think that all of the teachers would be incredible. I expected all of my teachers to be so passionate about what they were teaching, and for the most part I have. But again like in high school there are those teachers that have disappointed me. I have two new teachers to SMU this year, and sometimes I feel that the school does not really care for the student. I mean if the school did care, wouldn’t they hire teachers that were the best of the best. I mean for 40,000-50,000 they better be the best of the best. Not the best of the worst.

All of my teachers are very nice people and I have nothing against them personally, but I think that the school hired these people based off of credentials and not on teaching ability. For example, I am almost positive that everyone attending SMU speaks English very well, or is so used to understanding English they sometimes don’t understand people who speak differently. If this is the case why have a teacher who can’t pronounce words. If someone pronounces certain words in three different ways, wouldn’t it be a little bit difficult. I am pretty good with understanding most accents, but accents mixed with bad teaching skills and the inability to get a point across with coherent thoughts, then I have a problem.

I feel like though the school says that they care for their students, but they really don’t at the same time. I mean for example I am in a class that has all future civil, mechanical, and structural engineers. I might be the only student in this class that is going into environmental engineering. All of these students have either taken physics or intro to mechanical engineering, all except me. Why would I be put in this class if I have not taken these two classes or at least one of them before? I have no clue what is going on, and it requires me so much more work to understand the same concepts. I mean the school can’t please everyone, but I feel like the school could try a little more for 40,000-50,000 thousand dollars. I mean at least find teachers that appease to the masses!