A professor comes to a university full of aspirations to teach “young people” the ideals and in-depth subjects he or she has spent years becoming an expert on. But as the years go by, something begins to harden and close toward the students.

Each sleeping sloucher and gum-popping overachiever begins to morph into one big student who doesn’t care about the lecture and must be slacking no matter what the circumstances.

Then the vendetta begins. No student has an individual case or plea, no student has worthy motives or excuses – they are all the same.

It is an unfortunate cycle because neither side wins. The student loses because they have no singularity in the professor’s eyes and therefore no hope of receiving sympathy during the unexpected, and the professor loses because his or her attitude permeates their teaching and costs them the students’ respect.

When students don’t think you care, they won’t listen to you. (“Dangerous Minds,” anyone?)

I believe this may be the case at any large university. It seems the more students a professor has to deal with, the more annoyed and intolerant he or she becomes.

I came to college expecting a real shock, and I actually was excited! I wanted to be blasted into this “adult world” where people took me seriously and there wasn’t any coddling.

I saw attending class as important and so did attend, but never did I think an attendance policy would be necessary, as any loss I might incur for not going would be my problem. But assumptions such as these proved na’ve as I found that politics and ratings are somehow a part of every pie piece in life.

As the years have gone by, I’ve had a handful of professors at the University who haven’t acted as if they even cared if I learned or graduated for that matter. And the times I waited after class or attended office hours, I received little real advice or help.

Any questions I had over material or tests or class were immediately written off because of an attitude that said, “Students don’t care and will try to get the best of you.”

Now, anyone you ask will tell you I’m not a slacker. I don’t sit around bored, and I never have an empty calendar. I love living this way and I function best when busy. However, situations happen and sometimes they are even unavoidable (imagine that!).

Say a student whose car is owned by her parents (who live out of state) has a wreck – not caused by her – on a Tuesday afternoon. That student has to deal with insurance, a tow truck, the body shop, the 52-year-old person at fault and his insurance, while thinking about classes, her role at the local newspaper, her internship in Atlanta and the heaping mess of laundry on her floor.

P.S. – This is all on the same day.

No matter how you cut it, being a student is not as easy as it looks.

We are getting used to living alone, paying alone, dealing with conflict alone and simultaneously trying to punch out a degree and some résumé material all in four years.

Side note: All of you freshmen reading this, take heed! It goes by much faster than you think it will.

What I don’t appreciate is the professor’s presumption that students don’t have individual problems or circumstances. Making one allowance, can sometimes lead to many, but it is the professor’s job and duty to be sure the student has benefited from the class. Otherwise, what’s the point?

And if the student needs assistance or an extension or a break, the professor should be open to discussing that with him or her.

Growing up with a mom who was a teacher and professor, I learned early what the expectation was for students. Be respectful, ask questions, turn in work on time, take notes, listen, don’t talk, etc.

But just because one student decides he or she wants to sleep through every class, never study for tests and then complain about a professor giving difficult assignments, doesn’t mean we all do. I probably truly didn’t understand question number 47.

We aren’t all slacking whiners. Some of us really want to learn and are trying to do our best, but have to ride two buses to get to class in the morning and just can’t seem to make it on time to that 8 a.m., even after running from the stop.

We don’t all expect handouts. Some students are irresponsible and disrespectful, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t deserve some office time and some understanding when we can’t seem to make over a 75 on the exams.

All of this boils down to a need for less apathy on either side of the wall. But if teaching [blank] is your passion, make me fall in love with the subject, too.

Do more than a PowerPoint of the book chapters, fight for class participation, never assign group projects and take student concerns seriously.

Being overly compassionate doesn’t seem like the kind of trait that would ever cause damage in a learning environment, but being jaded and apathetic certainly will.

- Whitney Kessler is the Out & About editor for The Red & Black.