Originally published at: Video: Cruel professor in California berates a student because she is hard of hearing | Boing Boing
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My preschool teacher did this to my friend when we were 4. I got a timeout for yelling at her about it, and a lifelong distrust for authority figures
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Christ, what an asshole.
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I sometimes wish we kept the fierce sense of justice we had when we were little.
I recently read a post on Twitter (can’t remember the account, sorry) that claimed the ancient Greeks prized righteous fury above all other emotions.
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When this self-important prick starts trying to make excuses, I hope the inquisitors keep cutting him off, telling him he isn’t trying hard enough and needs to work harder for their approval.
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My anxiety and problem with authority would absolutely kick ass in that scenario!
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Some excerpts from his students : Michael Abram at Oxnard College | Rate My Professors
He wants your cameras on and even if you are there with your camera off, he says its your right. He doesnt count that as being present. He spends too much time on the topic of web cameras instead of the actual lecture.
He thinks he is doing us a favor by being rude and saying thats how the real world is. Completely out of tune with himself and arrogant, he always thinks hes right
Goes off topic too often and thinks hes right and every student is wrong. Shows favoritism with students
Punished the whole class because students complained about how bad he is
He may not be the “nicest” but we’re here to learn NOT MAKE A NEW FRIEND.
Not a bad guy, just doesn’t stay on topic, so lectures are pointless and boring. Yes, he can be a bit of an ass too. Bottom line, you won’t really learn anything new unless you study on your own time.
Take advantage of Dr. Abram if you want to learn and if you’re the easily offended type then don’t…
Honestly, I don’t even know where to start with this man. If you are pursuing a field in healthcare you won’t learn anything from this professor. He is very outspoken, political and rude at times. He constantly goes off topic which is very frustrating. He is always making jokes which aren’t funny. I would suggest you avoid him at all costs!
Be ready for inappropriate stuff. In my case I didn’t care.
Would never take a class with him ever again. Inappropriate jokes and remarks sometimes rude and offensive.
Can be offensive if youre sensitive or easily offended, I find him funny.
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I hope that they will soon stop the “paid” part and just tell him to leave.
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The guy still has a 4.2 out of 5, so… 
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One can hope.
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The forced online teaching is creating problems for everyone, students and faculty alike. I’ve not made my undergraduate students keep their cameras on, but it is really tough interacting with a class when all you see is a sea of cat photos with student names.
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So given your background, can you guess/explain as to why does this guy still has his job? Even of most people shrug off his unprofessionalism with jokes or being rude, it sounds like it happens enough to be an issue. Do the powers that be don’t care, or just don’t watch things too closely unless something big happens?
I mostly loved my teachers in college, but ugh… there were a handful who I don’t understand why they even bothered. I LOVE art and LOVE history, and HATED my art history courses “taught” by the department head. I say taught because half the time it was lectures by recordings or done by the “teachers assistant”. Honestly, a grad student probably would have done a better job. I still have a shrink wrapped book she made us buy that she wrote - that literally was never mentioned in the course. 
Anyway, in her case I assume her asset as an administrator outweighed her meh performance as a teacher. And at least she wasn’t demeaning like this guy.
I’m guessing, primarily, he’s in a tenure track position, so he was hired for a permanent, full time position that will eventually have job security that comes with tenure (provided he can jump through all the publishing, service, teaching hoops set up for his specific position - it’s different in each institution/department). He might have a stellar publication record, great service work in the department/college, and have a high profile in his field at conferences and the like. If you’re going for a tenure track, they probably focus far less on student evals and the like.
If he were a part-timer or adjunct, he’d be less able to get away with that kind of thing. They care a lot less about how you engage the students if you have a high profile in other ways.
Plus, it’s pretty well known that men who are professors get away with this kind of shit far more often in general, because people will give them high marks even if they bully students, if they are seen as “cool” or very prestigious in some way.
To be fair, heading up a department is a lot of work that doesn’t involve teaching (so in some institutions, you only have a one or two classes to teach a year instead of the normal load). They might have just been overwhelmed with other things, but they still have to teach their required course.
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Instead of teaching kids how to tolerate and serve a world full of assholes (“this is how the real world works”), maybe it would be more effective teaching kids how to not tolerate assholes and how to build a life without assholes in it?
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Yeah, it’s tough for everyone working remotely. Absolutely no excuse for this kind of behavior. If the prof is frustrated with adapting to our unprecedented situation, fine. He doesn’t need to be an abusive dick about it. Taking your frustrations out on your colleagues, subordinates or students isn’t an okay stress response. It’s a reflection of your own character, or in his case lack thereof.
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Also, I’m guessing if he’s acting like this online, he’s acted like this in class (as @gene_wood above noted from his RMP profile).
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This can happen in any field and any school, but I’m not surprised he teaches in a vocational field at a community college. CCs often hire instructors for such classes from industry, rather than out of traditional academics-directed degree programs, and there has been less filtering for, or training in, proper pedagogical comportment. I know a lot of the faculty in Arts & Science departments in the local CCs, and even the asshats are professional enough not to treat students this way, especially not when they know they are being recorded.
Anyway, I agree that this guy seems like a general jerk, not someone just suffering from a particular instance of Zoom frustration.
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Perhaps, but empathy isn’t a function of pedagogical training. Also, we have some CC professors here among our own regular Happy Mutant ranks, and while I may not always agree with them, I’d be willing to go out on a limb and say they know better than to verbally abuse their students.
While a person should practice their ethical framework regardless of observation, I don’t think this is mere obtuseness. This professor displays a fundamental lack of self-aware composure.
Exactly. I get working and teaching remotely is stressful. A couple of my profs from grad school have enlisted my help because I was a generally enthusiastic TA, and I’m happy to help. I get this is a major shock to instruction across the board. Ethics still apply.
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I don’t think you need empathy, just some notion of what is acceptable classroom behavior. Many of the local CC faculty were our students, and while I can’t vouch for their empathy I am absolutely sure they know enough not to behave like this, because they learned to teach from us and we wouldn’t have tolerated it.
Also, we have some CC professors here among our own regular Happy Mutant ranks,
Sure. It has nothing to do with CC vs any other kind of school. However, applied skills departments are more often found in CCs than in other institutions, and are more likely to have faculty with limited instructional background.
Also, this is not the way that a person with basic human decency behaves. (I hadn’t looked at the video before my first post.) People here lacking that decency wouldn’t survive moderation.
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Per KTLA, he’s tenured.
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