Professors share their student pet peeves

Sarah Hayner– Associate Producer

Did you know that your professors have classroom pet peeves? Professors came forward to share what really grinds their gears.  

Katrina Hinson, Assistant Professor of English and Languages, says that her biggest pet peeve is excuses.  

“I really don’t like it when students have an excuse,” Hinson said. “I’d rather them just to be honest. If you overslept, just say you overslept. Don’t tell me that your car died, the dog died or some other reason that just doesn’t sound plausible. Just be honest. If you miss class, I’d rather just know that you were tired that day and didn’t want to come to class, rather than you had to do something else.” 

Rudy Tarpley, Agriculture and Consumer Sciences Professor, shared that students not going to class peeves him.  

“My pet peeve with students is that they don’t go to class. Then when they come back next week, they act like it’s up to me to make sure that they have all the assignments that they miss. Students go to class, that’s my pet peeve, one and all,” Tarpley said.  

Vicky Johnson, Fine Arts Associate Professor and Department Head, says her biggest pet peeve is when students don’t use the resources they are given.  

“Well there is an old saying that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. One of my pet peeves is when you provide students with all kinds of online resources, access to tutors and office hours, and they don’t take advantage of those,” Johnson said. “We do our very best for students to be successful, but the bottom line is that it’s up to them to take advantage.” 

Dr. Christopher Gearhart, Assistant Professor and Department Head of Communication Studies, shares the same pet peeve as Johnson – students not taking advantage of resources he provides.  

“One example that I like to give is that many teachers and professors produce a review sheet for their exams, because students request them…” Gearhart said. “One semester, I posted what I thought was the review sheet online, and instead of posting the review sheet, I actually posted the exam key. Well it was too late to do anything at that point; it was the morning of the test. The problem was, that out of a class of about 20 students, only four students downloaded the review sheet…I think that when professors take extra time to offer opportunities for extra credit, to offer resources to help students do well in the class, and they don’t take advantage of those resources, that becomes really a pet peeve for me,” Gearhart said.  

Chris Haynes, Assistant Professor in Agricultural and Consumer Sciences, says that his pet peeve is that students don’t try hard enough to get information on their own. 

“One of my biggest pet peeves involves students not reaching out to find information on their own. Especially, if you are a graduate student. You should be learning from a constructions base model, and not having everything handed to you on a silver platter,” Haynes said.  

Marcie Reynolds, Instructor in the Government, Legal Studies and Philosophy Department, says that students on their cell phones is her biggest pet peeve.  

“One of my pet peeves, is when students are on their cell phones during my lecture. Believe it or not, I can see what you’re doing out there,” Reynolds said.  

Every student knows that their professors have pet peeves, so now that some have been brought to light, let’s see how we can adjust and better respect our professors.