By Ron Marken
“Fjelstad Hall, 4:30 a.m., April 1, 1958 – another Tuesday”
Firstly, every professor posts office hours. She doesn’t do this in an attempt to prove she really works when she’s not teaching. The post means she would be happy to talk with you. In my experience, fewer than 15% of students take advantage of this opportunity, and 85% of them are – let’s be blunt – out of their minds for not doing so.
At some point in every lecture, you will ask yourself, “Am I the only person in this room who doesn’t get it? I don’t understand any of this!” FACT: The only one in the room who DOES get it will be the girl in the front row in the plaid skirt. Her name is Jennifer. Every girl named “Jennifer” is an A student. Jennifer takes ballet, speaks two foreign languages, plays the flute, designs her own clothes, and works part-time as a model. No one calls her “Jen” or “Jenny.” It’s Jennifer. The rest of us learn to live with it. Another fact about Jennifers: they all make appointments to talk with their professors – to find ways to improve on their 93% averages.
And the rest of you should do the same. Professors are busy people. They are often lonely people and have been employed to teach you because each one has a genuine and intense enthusiasm for a particular subject. Professors do not think any question is a dumb question, especially questions about their subject. They know great discoveries often come from dumb questions. “What if I froze wire down to absolute zero and then ran a current through it? What would happen?” Super-conductors! That’s what would happen.
So, if you have dumb questions about the class material, talk to your prof during office hours.
She will learn to attach your face to your name. She will discuss your problem, using strategic approaches she had no time for in a 50-minute class. Later, she will take class time to clarify things for everyone. These advantages are obvious.
This may be less obvious – although lonely and busy, professors are very interesting human beings. Dr. Prausnitz (see “Follow Your Nose”) posted office hours from 4:30 – 7:30 am, seven days a week. He was always there, and you didn’t have to make an appointment to see him. Here’s the wrinkle: his office was open to you for three hours in the morning! To see Dr. Prausnitz, you had to find your way to the back of Fjelstad Hall, at 4:30 am, in the dark, to knock on the window of his basement office. He would be there, practicing his cello (Dr. P. played in the symphony).
I first screwed up the courage to see him when I was a freshman, on April Fool’s Day, 1958. It was a Tuesday. When Dr. P. waved to me, I had to run around to the locked side door so he could let me in. We talked for two hours about my wretchedly bad essay. The conversation turned my life around, academically and professionally. After that morning, my marks in English classes jumped from C+ to A-, because he showed me how to plan and write essays.
In the end, don’t pass up chances like that. Take a trip to your prof’s office. Take several trips. At the very least, you will make lonely, unappreciated people much happier.
