Little things you do to annoy professors

[DrummingAtom]

Does anyone do things to annoy professors? I don't mean enrage them but just pester.

I'll go first. I scatter my math assignments with "Q.E.D." after a very trivial proof or even just a regular problem.

 

[Pengwuino]

Does anyone do things to annoy professors? I don't mean enrage them but just pester.

I'll go first. I scatter my math assignments with "Q.E.D." after a very trivial proof or even just a regular problem.

I tried that one and had the whole problem screwed up. It's not nice seeing "-10" next to "Q.E.D." when you get it back.

 

[bp_psy]

I sometime write incredibly stupid stuff instead of a correct or even coherent solution. It's probably has to do with brain damage. Does that count?

 

[ArcanaNoir]

I sat in the back by the door in one class to show my disdain for the professor. I don't think he got the hint. He would have had to know I always sit front and center.

 

[KingNothing]

I never did this, but some of my friends would purposely ask questions to the Chinese professors that provoked answers with many "L" sounds.

"Say these resistors had values of alpha and lambda, could we still use the laplace transform?"

 

[QuarkCharmer]

I never did this, but some of my friends would purposely ask questions to the Chinese professors that provoked answers with many "L" sounds.

"Say these resistors had values of alpha and lambda, could we still use the laplace transform?"

That's just lowbrow. Not only is it racist/rude, it requires time to answer questions that need no answer. Glad you didn't do it.

 

[FlexGunship]

Does anyone do things to annoy professors? I don't mean enrage them but just pester.

I'll go first. I scatter my math assignments with "Q.E.D." after a very trivial proof or even just a regular problem.

In college I used to convert my units in the very last step of the problem to something absurd. In some kinematics problems involving motion, I would produce a result in m/s² (for example), and then convert it to furlongs per fortnight per hour.

 

[micromass]

What's fun about pestering other people?? I would not like students doing this to me...

 

[Pyrrhus]

In college I used to convert my units in the very last step of the problem to something absurd. In some kinematics problems involving motion, I would produce a result in m/s² (for example), and then convert it to furlongs per fortnight per hour.

So it was you!

A poor TA like me grading that nonsense!

Actually, I had a student in a class in engineering I TA'd that used to do that. He'll put the right units like m/s, but add also a bunch of useless units that it was obvious that they canceled each other and the correct units m/s were the only ones left.

 

[FlexGunship]

What's fun about pestering other people?? I would not like students doing this to me...

It's more about generating cognitive dissonance than really just annoying someone.

 

[micromass]

It's more about generating cognitive dissonance

I don't really see the fun in that, sorry

 

[FlexGunship]

I don't really see the fun in that, sorry

Meh, fair enough, it's not for everyone. Dr. Northrup enjoyed it (he did it once on the blackboard during a demonstration as a joke) but I wouldn't have dreamed doing it to Dr. Burke. It's a judgement call.

 

[Pyrrhus]

I don't really see the fun in that, sorry

Yes, it's not fun!, especially when you're the TA grading that nonsense

 

[micromass]

Yes, it's not fun!, especially when you're the TA grading that nonsense

Just fail them all, that'll make your day

 

[Ben Niehoff]

If someone gives an answer in ridiculous units I will mark it wrong. I don't have the time to deal with that BS. You can complain to the professor and he can tell you you're an asshat.

 

[ArcanaNoir]

The professor who I dissed by sitting in the back by the door was my least favorite professor ever. He lost his tenure for deliberately failing a student his wife didn't like (at least from what I heard.) He would write things like "At= 1/A" and I would ask, you mean they are equal? And he would respond, no, that's just how you make (whatever). So he would frequently write incorrect equations that meant "something else". Also, there were some high school students in the class since it was a summer semester, for some special summer camp, and they would talk A LOT. He never shushed them or kicked them out and it was really distracting to all the college students. We complained about it several times to him and he did nothing. PLUS he dumbed down the class for the high schoolers, so I have the weakest linear algebra education EVER. And he docked me 7 percent on the project because he said my proof wasn't rigorous enough, even though my proofs teacher said it was a perfectly good proof.

Anything anyone did to annoy this guy, he deserved.

 

[Mororvia]

Hahah, I can see the humor in obnoxious units. If I was grading it though, I would just mark it incorrect too

 

[BadBrain]

No, I can't say I ever did anything like that.

But I've had it done to me.

I was once a substitute teacher in an inner-city secondary school (an occupation which a "60's Radical Quiz" on the PBS website predicted (actually, postdicted) I'd follow), who, on several occasions, held my students in rapt attention, to the amazement of the tenured teachers at the school, only to have my classes subsequently disrupted by the same gang member who was constantly accusing the other students of behavior inappropriate to their demographic niche.

I mean, this same kid showed up in every class I taught AFTER lunch hour (which implies a degree of tactical coordination over the lunch table). On the one occasion when this kid didn't show up, a girl attempting similarly to disrupt a post lunch-hour class was shouted down by the other kids in the class, who pointed out the fact that I was actually trying to teach them science (as, apparently, opposed to some other substitute teachers within their experience). It was almost a "To Sir, With Love" deal, except for the fact that, but for that one day, I failed.

I guess that I'm really inquiring of you as to the point of sabotaging a teacher, as opposed to going through the process of registering a formal complaint with the school administration, which process will, of course, require you actually prove your accusation.

 

[lisab]

No, I can't say I ever did anything like that.

But I've had it done to me.

I was once a substitute teacher in an inner-city secondary school (an occupation which a "60's Radical Quiz" on the PBS website predicted (actually, postdicted) I'd follow), who, on several occasions, held my students in rapt attention, to the amazement of the tenured teachers at the school, only to have my classes subsequently disrupted by the same gang member who was constantly accusing the other students of behavior inappropriate to their demographic niche.

I mean, this same kid showed up in every class I taught AFTER lunch hour (which implies a degree of tactical coordination over the lunch table). On the one occasion when this kid didn't show up, a girl attempting similarly to disrupt a post lunch-hour class was shouted down by the other kids in the class, who pointed out the fact that I was actually trying to teach them science (as, apparently, opposed to some other substitute teachers within their experience). It was almost a "To Sir, With Love" deal, except for the fact that, but for that one day, I failed.

I guess that I'm really inquiring of you as to the point of sabotaging a teacher, as opposed to going through the process of registering a formal complaint with the school administration, which process will, of course, require you actually prove your accusation.

Re the bolded text: I saw that sooooo often in my high school years! What a shame!