Terror professors: A look at major issues

The course offerings are finally out, *Michelle, a freshman, checks her flowchart for the subjects she needs to take next term. She views the course offerings in her My.LaSalle account only to find out that the three BUSMATH classes being offered for next term will be handled by three of the four “LOTR” professors.

All universities in the country, if not in the world, have their own share of “terror” professors. They fail students, give out difficult exams and demand regular assignments and other requirements from students. For most Lasallians, they are the professors to avoid.

Profiling a terror professor

There are multiple factors that make one a terror professor. Most Lasallians say that terror professors are short-tempered and unapproachable. They give out academic requirements that would usually engulf most of the student’s time and energy, and they are notorious for giving out difficult and detailed exams.

Jerome Choa (III, PSM-MKT) admits that he started staying away from enrolling in classes terror professors teach after his COMALGE experience. He shares that his Algebra professor taught at a fast pace to a point that the students could not follow the lessons anymore. In addition, his professor was also temperamental and was very particular with requirement formats.

“You get a big deduction when you do not follow the format during exams. It is as if the professor is putting more weight on the format than the student’s answers to the test questions,” Choa adds in Filipino.

Franz Meroy (V, ECM-BMG) describes a terror professor as someone who teaches one thing and tests his or her students on something he or she did not discuss. For him, terror professors are those who are close-minded, those who do not want their decisions to be questioned.

In other situations, warnings can be given out as much as recommendations are. Joshua Barruela (I – BSBCHEM) shares that Froshies like himself have been warned by upperclassmen of “LOTR” and the other terrors to look out for even before their first term in DLSU. Although some unsolicited advice could be helpful, he admits how this was detrimental to the impression he made of what the class would be like, or how the professor would be, prior actually taking the class.

Justin Carandang (IV, PSM) says that he had a fair share of terror professors during his four years at DLSU, most of the terror professors he got were for his majors subjects. He points out that he appreciates the rigorous training given by his majors professors, but he finds it peculiar why some General Course professors are stricter, and generally more demanding.

“I understand why some Psychology professors are strict and demanding in terms of academic requirement because it is their duty to train their students as rigorous as possible to prepare them to compete in the industry once they graduate, but I do not get it why some professors in the general courses demand the same amount of effort from the students as if they were their professors for their major subjects – Paimportante,” Carandang quips.

Manufacture Engineering and Personal Effectiveness (PERSEF) professor Oscar Unas thinks that some professors are branded as terror professors because of their high standards and expectations. He explains that his college, the Gokongwei College of Engineering (GCOE), follows an output-based grading, or Engineering professors grade their students according to the accuracy and precision of the output submitted by the students, based on what was thought to them by their professors.

He explains his point further in percentages. He says that the terror professors usually demand a 95 to 100 percent accuracy rate, while those who settle for a lower accuracy rate of 70 percent to 90 percent are the more lenient professors. He points out that the GCOE complies with the Washington Accord, which aims to make DLSU’s engineering courses more competitive – world-class, although the country is not a signatory.

Unas affirms that such professors are still empathetic towards their students, despite their high standards. He shares that they know how to strike a work-life balance when giving deadlines and tests; they consider the students’ capacity to comply with their requirements. This grading method is applicable to both majors subjects and general courses.

The Washington Accord recognizes that there is a substantial equivalency of engineering courses and practices among the countries that are signatories to the agreement.

Profs to pick and avoid

Upon enlistment, Lasallians seem to have the upper hand, as they are able to choose their class schedules depending on the time schedule or the professor. With this, some students have developed the inevitable habit of working their schedule around trying to avoid a certain terror professor.  Whether or not they get the desired schedule and professor of their choice come the first week of classes would be another story.

They, however, have been able to exhaust all their resources in the process through online forums, which a lot of other students participate in, in the pursuit of getting the information they want or sharing an experience about a certain professor for others’ knowledge. These forums are on PinoyExchange, Blogspot, and most recently, on Facebook.

Arwin Job Guinto (IV, BSA) runs the Facebook forum. He shares that he is uncertain about what kind of help the group is for fellow Lasallians. Currently, there are at least 4,000 members of that group, all of which are not active contributors or consistent repliers. Nevertheless, he finds it a relatively big pool for professor inquiry assuming that everyone is capable of giving feedback.

He furthers that these forums have not been as accurate as people would consider due to past experiences. He once had commercial law professor whom other students suggested not to pick. As it turned out, she was contrary to the usual impression students gave about her, and she did not seem like a terror while he was in her class.

Marinel Mamac (II, CAM-ADV) also looks out for professors with the use of these forums. She shares that it could would work to one’s advantage, as one is able to anticipate what kind of profs he will be getting. It becomes dangerous when anyone can post the wrong information on a certain professor.

Lazy students do not get high marks

One of the more popular terror professors, which students often avoid, is Philosophy professor Victor Gojocco. Known for his blunt manner of discussing topics and his uptight disposition, Gojocco admits that he knows that Lasallians brand him as a terror professor, if not avoid his name during enrollment.

The philosophy professor shares that his teaching methods and standards are grounded on the objective of materializing the University’s vision-mission. For those who find his classes and requirements burdensome and time-consuming, Gojocco defends that he makes sure that his students could comply with the requirements and the resources needed are widely and conveniently available to the students.

Gojocco narrates that during his time, students were required to go to the library to access the different materials required by their professors, today, the Internet makes it easier for students to access his reading materials. He does not understand why students fail to come to his class prepared, when he has done his part in giving clear instructions and accessible references.

“[In this way], I am contributing to the realization that DLSU students could be world-class,” Gojocco ends.

Accountancy professor Elsie Velasco shares the sentiments of Gojocco. DLSU professors are required to maintain a certain learning standard because we are not just an ordinary university, we are De La Salle University.

She observes that Lasallians are getting lazier as time passes. They do not turn in assignments on time anymore, and if they do submit, they do not understand the lesson behind the assignments – students simply pass homeworks to comply with the faculty member’s requirements.

Hazel Tan (IV, BSA) was a former student of Velasco. She shares that the accounting professor gives difficult, but challenging quizzes, but at the end of the day, she is most thankful for the discipline Velasco instilled in all her students.

Different folks, different strokes

Nick Tan (’08, BIO-CHEM), however, does not want to follow the footsteps of the terror professors he had during his stay at DLSU. As a professor himself, Tan shares that he could impart the same amount of knowledge to his students in a different, more appealing way.

He says that his students appreciate it when the teaching set-up is conversational and informal. His students are able to learn and retain more information about the topics being discussed, but they do not feel any pressure that may be hamper their performance in class.

Wilson Cordova, a professor on Business Mathematics, is one professor who gets mixed student reviews. Others can proclaim he is one of the best, while others insist he has a tendency to be unreasonable.

In an interview, Cordova admits that he can be strict during the first few weeks of the term, only for the reason that students would understand that his subject required serious participation. He says that one factor for a professor to be deemed a terror would most likely be attributed to what the subject entailed. And since he is teaching what he calls an exact science, he understands how the label cannot be avoided.

However, as the term develops, students begin to retract their first impressions on him and would, in turn, come to thank him for his methods. A tabletop of gifts in his office from students to him would remain as a testament to that. Thus, he believes that a student’s experience with a professor and a class would be different from others’.

Tricia Ayana Cacho (IV, CAM-FIN) thinks students get to learn more with terror professors since they become more conscious with their grades probably due to the fear that these ‘terror’ profs might cause. She believes how a student picks his professors for his subjects could tell us how a he views his studies. Others prefer to be challenged, while some would rather have professors who give an easy 4.0 to get a higher CGPA.

Danielle Kei Pua (II, BSBCHEM) agrees, saying it is best to come to class with an open mind and give it your all rather than relying on a professor for a good grade.