Professors

By Brittany Jones

I want to take a week here and talk about professors. I personally have had an eye opening experience this semester when it comes to them and I feel lucky to have had it!

I am a sophomore and am a little ahead in my studies thanks to AP tests and CLEP exams (tests the university offers to students to test out of many gen ed requirements). I am a psychology major with marketing minor and had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I knew that I wanted to go to grad school and that I wanted to continue school as far as I could before stopping (statistics show that most that stop don’t ever return), but I didn’t know for what. My mom always told me that I would be a teacher but that was the farthest thing from my mind. But I have been inspired!

I started with Professor Baker in Psych Statistics last semester and thought it was cool that he taught us an applicable skill for using SPSS to do statistics. There was very little busy work, and not a lot of emphasis on people and history that you would never know again. Most of the class was applications and I feel like I could work for someone crunching numbers if I wanted having taken the class. Even though I am only a sophomore, I liked the teacher so much I took Experimental Psych with him this semester. Almost all of the students in the class are seniors, and I’m almost positive I am the only sophomore. So he (teaching us again about applicable things) had a discussion with us about grad school. I learned more in that 20 minute discussion than I have learned in entire semesters from most professors. That one talk helped me to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life.

I think general education classes are doomed to make students fall asleep, and professors resent teaching. If you would have asked me last year I would tell you that the last thing on Earth I wanted to do was be a college professor. But thanks to the Psychology teachers I have this semester (my human motivation teach France is really good also). I have decided to go for my Ph.D in Psych and teach students about things that they actually can use in life!

My wish for you all is that you keep your eyes and hearts open for moments of inspiration and run with them because they are few and far between and found in unlikely places! For any professor out there I hope you take 10 minutes out of your time-packed schedule of curriculum to teach these students something that they will use long after their next final. Lastly if you have been inspired by a teacher, let them know so that they keep up the good work!

Brittany Jones is a sophomore I/O psychology major from Tinley Park, IL. She is a Student Government Association senator, Vice President of the American Red Cross Club, and a forward on the Women's basketball team. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.