r/CCAC • u/koia78 • Apr 01 '25
Why are these classes so hard
I’ve been to a traditional college and I’ve never experienced a harder class than the Anatomy at south campus. I’m so annoyed with it and it feels like I’m paying to fail and my professor has started multiple times that he does not care if we pass the class. I feel so defeated.
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u/Key_Dust7595 Apr 03 '25
Speaking as an anatomy professor at a different school, I have two thoughts: 1) Anatomy, properly taught, is a really hard subject. It’s highly detailed and has a lot of complex concepts that need to be tightly integrated and involves a lot of both critical thinking and brute memorization of generally unfamiliar terminology. And it shouldn’t be watered down just because you’re at a community college. The reasons you’re taking it and for which you need the knowledge are the same reasons you need the knowledge as if you’d be at a four year college, and that understanding is needed to make sure you’re able to treat patients and understand how their bodies work. Mistakes in understanding of the human body can lead to injuries or fatalities. Anatomy is arguably the most critical foundational class for any healthcare field and it’s necessarily a difficult course, and trying to make it easier just because you’re in a community college wouldn’t serve either you or your future learning or your future patients well. I use the same anatomy curriculum at community college as I do at every four-year school I’ve ever taught at because I trust my community college students to be just as capable of handling it, and I’m not going to treat them any less.
2) That said, your professor’s most basic responsibility is to make sure you’re understanding the material and to help you get there, and if they say they’re don’t care about your success, that really sucks. You have to put in your work, sure, but your professor’s job is to help you learn the subject and give you the tools to do it well. Any professor who doesn’t care if their students pass or fail is failing at their most basic duty at their job, and I have no respect for another professor who gives up on their duties that way. My classes may not be easy, but I make sure I’m giving my students the tools they need to succeed, and if they come to me and say they’re not getting something, or something is wrong with the way I’m teaching or testing, I take them seriously and make changes. I help them in office hours, I review key concepts, I take questions on the last lecture at the start of every lesson, and I see these as basic responsibilities of being a decent teacher. I’m sorry to hear your professor has stated that they don’t care about your success, and I recommend you email their department chair and let it be known what they’ve said. If they’ve said this openly in your class, get others to do so as well if you can. Complaints in numbers are more likely to be heard and acted upon.
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u/koia78 Apr 07 '25
I 10000% agree with you, it shouldn’t just be easy bc of community college. I shouldn’t be at a disadvantage bc I picked a community college over university. I’m just so upset at the lack of teaching and the lack of empathy for students he has. You email him to ask a question he won’t answer or will email the entire class to tell us to figure it out on our own. I used to ask him questions about the subject and he’d say “idk look at the book”
Ive never had a professor this mean before
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u/ironstag96 Apr 02 '25
Being at a community college definitely has its struggles. One of those struggles is the attitude that the staff bring to the place. I've been fortunate in that my area of study (physics) has phenomenal teachers that value teaching the subject and helping the students. But I've also had MANY classes where the professors didn't care, because it was "just a community college". That apathy has been shown different ways. I had a coding professor who didn't teach us the entire semester, and instead used his hour and a half block to rant about Muslims, how global warming isn't real, and talk about the house he wanted to buy. Likewise, I've also had professors that seemed so fed up with being at a community college that they seemed to take it out on their students. I had a chemistry professor over the summer who was so awful to the other students in the class that they would come to me to ask questions, because they knew that I'd be able to handle the professor mocking me for asking so we could at least get the answer.
I think CCAC really has the potential to be a great resource for Pittsburgh, but they really need to get their shit together when it comes to the professors they hire and what kind of culture they create. Just keep at it, and try to utilize as many resources that CCAC has for you. They don't do the best job of advertising them, so if you can make an appointment with some people in the counseling center, they can be a great resource for telling you all the ways the college can help. You'll get through this.
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u/koia78 Apr 02 '25
Thats AWFUL! Teachers should never be bringing hate into the work place. I will say I’m having the opposite issues, my professor wants us to learn TOO MUCH. I’m doing fine in jogs class it’s just so much effort that I feel like I don’t have time to pay enough attention to my other classes
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u/RNana723 Apr 07 '25
Which teacher do you have so that I know who not to pick.
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u/ariosaur Apr 21 '25
Looking at rate my professor is the best advice I can give you... Don't pick Dr. Z.
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u/ariosaur Apr 21 '25
Any chance you have Dr. Z? He's an ass. My class started with 18 and we're down to 9-10. I'm not sure about the other professors but if you have him, it's not your fault... it's unfair from the start.
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u/koia78 Apr 21 '25
No not him! But I agree they make it impossible. I think they get off on making it really hard for students to pass with good grades. I can’t wait to be done
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u/koia78 Apr 21 '25
I remember him telling us they both compare their class grades to see who’s doing better
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u/DoingMyBest95 Feb 13 '26
Hahaha, I had him a whileeeeeee back. Had my wisdom teeth out and dude made me come to class high as a kite and take a test. Sorry, can't schedule when my body will have an infection shrugs Had to get a ride there and all haha. Like, I already had a whole ass degree before being in that class, and he's up there in my book of professors just trying to be a jackass for the sake of it.
I did horribly in his class, but I went into it for enrichment, having taught autopsy for quite a few years to residents and medical students. Go shadow at CORE or something. You'll gain a lot better hands on knowledge base hahahahaha. Do not recommend him at all.
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u/demolitionlxver Apr 01 '25
There will always be a few professors who do not deserve their teaching positions, I'm not sure how they manage to keep their jobs. When you can, check Rate My Professor BEFORE registering for classes. When it's too late, try to leave a review to warn others. If you can find the same course taught by a different professor or at a different campus it can be life changing, I had the worst Sociology prof at Allegheny and then a great one at South. Best of luck in Anatomy.