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Showing Original Post only (View all)Don't You Know Who I Am? - Professor to students who missed his lecture [View all]
Don't You Know Who I Am?
When students failed to show up for a lecture given by Guy Halsall, professor of history at the University of York, you might imagine that he suffered a flicker of self-doubt and that the empty seats bruised the confidence of a sensitive scholar.
Not a bit of it: Professor Halsall berated his students for missing a lecture from "probably the most significant historian of early medieval Europe under the age of 60."
He posted the comments within the university's virtual learning environment, which is used for online contact between students and tutors.
According to York student newspaper Nouse, Professor Halsall responded to an underattended second-year lecture by telling students they were failing to make the most of the "obscene amounts of money" that "mummy and daddy" were paying for their education.
For that money, he said, "you get the chance to hear (probably) the most significant historian of early medieval Europe under the age of 60 anywhere in the world give 16 lectures on his current research."
He added that "people pay said lecturer large sums of money and fly him around the world to talk to their students, or to give keynote lectures at conferences."
However, when students complained about his tone, Professor Halsall apologized for his "unprofessional and offensive" remarks.
"I unreservedly apologize to my students and to my departmental colleagues, who take their teaching extremely seriously and should by no means be tarred with the same brush as me. I am very sorry to have lost their respect," he said.
Halsall said that his outburst had been "born of frustration."
Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/03/professors-tirade-against-students-who-skip-class-draws-attention#ixzz2Gw8OGGz7
Inside Higher Ed