Warranted Skepticism

Two recent experiences have proven instructive. Both have provided reason to question credentials and given reasons to better understand a situation before making assertions. First I am working on a group project in lieu of a final in one class. 80% of the group segmented the real actual work and went off into their respective corners while the remaining 20% awaits input from the group to paste into a final document. In a recent meeting, this 20% took up an inordinate amount of time for a proven unproductive member to blather on about what “we” should do with the project speaking in a pejorative tone offering vague and confusing suggestions. This 20% happens to be a manager at an engineering firm specializing in the subject of the course and their experience would be invaluable if they only would offer real, actual examples instead of talking about how much they know. Their speechifying took a condescending tone when they decided to offer career advice on the assumption of the 80% not yet starting engineering careers. Nevermind that the program is targeted towards working professionals and that the group is made up of mostly working engineers, including myself with ten years experience. The old saying about making assumptions proves itself again, no one should ever assume a lack of experience, especially when they should know better.

In another class the final features an exercise that was not discussed in class and differs from methodologies provided in the text. This same issue came up in the midterm. The professor is cryptic with regard to these issues but fortunately students are allowed any references and are able to find ample help if they have the ability to execute a competent web search. Beyond cryptic the professor states in class that they do not work the problems beforehand even though the midterm problem solution was found on the professor’s website, unchanged since 2002. I got it partially wrong, because I did not understand the solution and went with what I knew based on the class text and notes. This professor spends an inordinate amount of time discussing their own brilliance in class including “beating” other professors in academic forums and numerous awards from conferences below his stature. At the same time tells stories about not working problems that are sourced from text books, repeated from previous semesters and require research because they cannot be solved within the parameters of the class.

It seems that if a person spends more time talking themselves up than providing anything tangible or constructive, it’s probably because they aren’t as good as they think.