5 types of lecturers you will meet in any Nigerian University


English Lesson Notes for Junior Secondary

5 types of lecturers you will meet in any Nigerian University

As the name implies, a university is a place where we meet all kinds of people from around the world – people from different backgrounds, people with different belief systems and ideologies about life. Of all the people we come in contact with, lecturers are the most influential because, in one way or the other, we believe about 70% of what they tell us, and their attitudes towards us can either affect us negatively or positively. Lecturers, not being oblivious of this, choose to use their influential powers on students negatively or positively. Such choice has divided these academics into five (5) groups:
5 types of lecturers you will meet in any Nigerian University

1. The guardians
These lecturers care about the academic performance and general well-being of every student in their classes and the university at large. They keenly teach their students and resolutely ensure that their students never miss any lecture except they give a convincing reason. They devise means to achieve this. These lecturers do not derive pleasure in failing their students; thus, before the end of every class/lesson, they dedicate a few minutes to instructing their students on how to answer their examination questions. Sometimes, they jokingly state their likely examination questions in class. 

One intriguing thing about these lecturers is that they judge their performance based on their students' performance in their courses. As a result, they try as much as possible to avoid failure by giving their students their best! Unfortunately, we have a handful of them in Nigerian universities.

2. The 'I don’t care' lecturers
Unlike the guardians, these lecturers don’t give a hoot about students. They assume students know everything and their role is just to take them through some few areas of the curriculum. They don’t care whether you attend classes or not; whether you fail or not is not their concern. You just have to work out your salvation with fear and trembling! Too bad!


3. The ghosts
Ghost lecturers are those who are unpredictable. You don’t know whether they'll come to class or not. They can attend only one lecture just for a few minutes and disappear until the end of the semester. Most times, they reappear only when you are taking their exams. I call them hypocrites because they present their examination questions to look as if they've taught very well. Most times, students who take their courses are almost empty in those areas. It takes only the hardworking students to break even in their courses.

4. The Braggarts
These are lecturers who will tell you how they have made it in life, how their children are schooling abroad, the expensive property they own within and outside country and the pitiable state of the country's educational system. In fact, they teach 'bragging' in class. The aim is to belittle their students and make mockery of their students' parents' inability (or penury).

5. The academic demons
Some persons call them 'sadists,' but I call them 'the academic demons' because they share the same DNA with the devil. Like Satan in the world, they are out to cause harm to students of the university community. Some of their features are:

i. It is abominable if about 70% of their students pass their courses.

ii. Irrespective of what you've written, they fail you or give you low grades in their courses if you fail to 'sort' them.

iii. They derive pleasure in failing students.

iv. As project supervisors, they are hardly available to their 'supervisees'. They only make themselves available one month to project defence and expects their students to perform magic within the said period. 

v. They believe students don't deserve a good treat.

vi. They love to see students cry or at their mercy.

In sum, university students should learn to understand their lecturers and how to live with them in order to avoid a fallout in their academic pursuit. They should never let a lecturer's attitude make them fail a course.