Teachers and how to deal with them

There are some we love and there are some we hate. You are likely to meet both categories of teachers during your years in college. While it is peanuts to deal with the teachers we love, it is more difficult to deal with those we do not love as much. However, it is important to at least remain polite to all of your teachers, because they can turn out to be more influential in your life than you initially think. So, how to remain polite if you dislike the teacher, dislike the course, and dislike everything about it?

In my university, most of my Bachelor subjects are mandatory, and I think every program in the world has at least one or two mandatory courses. If this happens to be the course with the teacher you dislike, there is no way to escape, other than to change studies. It is, however, the question whether it's worth changing studies for only one or two teachers. Every department has one or two teachers who are didactically or socially weak, making them unpopular among students, so changing studies and departments is not really an option.

The only rule is: remain polite!

Here are a few applications of this rule. Always start and end your e-mails to the teacher in a formal way unless your teacher announced you can use less formal ways. Always greet the teacher whenever you see him / her. Always pretend to pay attention in class. These are simple, basic rules that become more difficult as you come to dislike someone more, but it is important to stick to them.

A second rule is to weigh and reconsider your words whenever you disagree with your teacher. You can say "you *******, ya totally wrong, ya know, *****?" You can also say "But sir / madam, if you look at it from this point of view, then you may get a completely different outcome". I think it is needless to tell you which strategy works better. Some teachers may indeed make you want to hit your head against a wall five times during a class period, but weigh your words! Otherwise you may say things you regret later on. Also, if you have a low grade, inform kindly why your grade is as it is and ask for constructive feedback. This will get you further than "I want a better grade!!!" This is not just to keep your relationship with your teacher in good spirits, it will also be far more helpful for you.

These two applications of the politeness rule do, of course, not mean that you have to become best friends with your teacher. It is also wise to keep in mind that you usually have a teacher for one semester or a part of a semester. Sometimes, courses are even arranged so that there is another lecturer for each class session. It is, however, more common that you have one teacher for (the majority of) the whole period or semester. In this case, the only thing you can do is make the best of it. Complain to students of whom you know they also dislike the teacher, remain polite, weigh the words you may need to exchange with your teacher, and remember that there are worse things in the world and that this course will pass.

Do you have teachers you explicitly hate (not asking for names here!)? What are your experiences with less favourite teachers? How did you deal with them?