Let me make this unpopular argument: it is not the professor’s fault you are failing a course. It is completely your fault when you fail, regardless of the professor. 

Every year, I see it on social media, Facebook especially. At times, it is a friend or a stranger asking for advice on what classes to take. This isn’t out of the norm, but what draws my attention is the negative connotation involved with taking certain classes or professors.

Nobody wants to take Spanish with Wortham, yet I loved her class. Go to ratemyprofessor.com right now while reading this. At ULM, Wortham is one of the most rated professors; the majority of which are bad ratings. She teaches an entry level Spanish course.

I took her class-had an incredibly hard time-but managed to pass. I always tell people that in all my years as a college student, her class was the class I skipped the very least, once in fact, if my memory serves me correctly.

Go back to “ratemyprofessor” and search up another Spanish professor, Dr. Holloway. That man is also among my favorite professors here at ULM. He is the top professor at ULM according to the website. A statistic made even more impressive by the fact that foreign language courses aren’t the most popular here at ULM and the fact that he teaches higher level classes.

I made a better grade in Wortham’s class than in Holloway’s.

I consider Holloway’s class easier than Wortham’s as well. I skipped quite a lot of times in his class for various reasons (sorry Dr. Holloway). My grade suffered because of this and at the end of the semester I earned a B,  instead of the A I should have gotten.

I can only blame myself for my less than stellar performance in my classes. We, as students, earn our grades. It’s not the professors’ job to give us “good” grades if our grades are 65 and below. Professors are solely there to present the information. It is our job to collect and store this information through studying and learning the material. 

In the end, we receive what we put into our courses. You could have the top professor at ULM, and if you don’t put in the right amount of effort, you’ll end up with a lower grade than when you took one of the hardest professors at ULM.

To all my fellow students, especially the freshmen, I give you this advice: respect your professors regardless of their reputations. 

Most of the professors at ULM have doctorate level educations that took years of schooling to obtain. So, we cannot go around calling them dumb and ridiculous when it’s our fault that we are failing the class. 

And to those students reading this, stressing over a class, maybe even Wortham’s class, use every resource at your disposal and study hard. We have multiple departments on campus that offer free tutoring and other subject-assisting services. Your professor won’t fail you if you don’t fail yourself. These are keys to succeed in college and not anger your professor.