Prof Hates Students, Offers Them an A if They Don’t Hand in Any Papers
This man seems to really dislike being a professor and everything that goes with the job.
Hat tip to Ace of Spades HQ. Critical Theory has the story.
Professor of the Year, “If You Don’t Give Me Any of Your Shitty Papers You Get an A”
Slavoj Zizek fans and haters can finally agree on something: he probably doesn’t like any of you.
Zizek has always been vocal about his general disdain for students and humanity writ large. He once admitted in 2008 that seeing stupid people happy makes him depressed, before describing teaching as the worst job he has ever had.
“I hate students,” he said, “they are (as all people) mostly stupid and boring.
In a recent interview at this year’s Zizek Conference in Ohio, Zizek talked about his personal life before delving into his thoughts on teaching.
“I hate giving classes,” Zizek said, citing office hours and grading papers as his two biggest peeves.
“I did teach a class here [at the University of Cincinnati] and all of the grading was pure bluff,” he continues. “I even told students at the New School for example… if you don’t give me any of your shitty papers, you get an A. If you give me a paper I may read it and not like it and you can get a lower grade.” He received no papers that semester.
But it’s office hours that are the main reason he does not want to teach.
“I can’t imagine a worse experience than some idiot comes there and starts to ask you questions, which is still tolerable. The problem is that here in the United States students tend to be so open that sooner or later, if you’re kind to them, they even start to ask you personal questions [about] private problems… What should I tell them?”
“I don’t care,” he continued. “Kill yourself. It’s not my problem,”
Professor of the Year, “If You Don’t Give Me Any of Your Shitty Papers You Get an A” (Critical Theory)
Comments
Will nobody have mercy on this man and his students, and fire him? Where the hell is the management of the University of Cincinnati? If he has tenure, it should be revoked for misconduct.
Hilarious! I don’t blame him one bit. There’s nothing more depressing than having to read and mark a bunch of badly written and illogical papers.
If you read his interview, he’s one odd duck. I don’t condone for a second what he did.
However, I must say that a little part of me cheered at sticking back a bit of that arrogant crap some students shove at us all day, every day.
“…And no can know how glad I am to find /
On any sheet the least display of mind.”
– Robert Frost, from “A Considerable Speck”
What’s he a professor of? What does he do in his classes, tell the students to stay off his lawn?
And what’s this year’s Zizek Conference in Ohio? Some annual thing where all the Zizeks have a powwow, and rubbish the other Zizeks who didn’t show up?
Oh, he’s a Slovenian Marxist philosopher and cultural critic. So I suppose he’s just doing his job.
There’s always one in the crowd.