Professor of the Year: Teacher Tells Students That If They Don't Bother Him By Handing In Their "Shitty Papers," He'll Give Them All A's Just For Leaving Him Alone

He also has some piquant advice for students who come to him with their personal problems.

Is this man a Hero or a Villain?

Slavoj Zizek fans and haters can finally agree on something: he probably doesn’t like any of you.

Zizek has always been vocal about his general disdain for students and humanity writ large. He once admitted in 2008 that seeing stupid people happy makes him depressed, before describing teaching as the worst job he has ever had.

“I hate students,” he said, “they are (as all people) mostly stupid and boring.

He hates office hours and grading papers. He's come up with a solution for avoiding grading papers: If you don't turn in a paper, you get an A.

If you turn one in, your grade may suffer.

“I even told students at the New School for example… if you don’t give me any of your shitty papers, you get an A. If you give me a paper I may read it and not like it and you can get a lower grade.” He received no papers that semester.

He doesn't like students coming to him with their problems during office hours.

However, his open contempt of students may keep them away.

“I can’t imagine a worse experience than some idiot comes there and starts to ask you questions, which is still tolerable. The problem is that here in the United States students tend to be so open that sooner or later, if you’re kind to them, they even start to ask you personal questions [about] private problems… What should I tell them?”

“I don’t care,” he continued. “Kill yourself. It’s not my problem."

He goes on to say he does like "the universities without the students," but goes on to note that these are called "research laboratories," not universities.

There's a video of the interview with him at the link. His ranting about "hating giving classes" starts around 7:45.

He sounds like Count Dracula with a speech impediment, but maybe that's due to the scratchy quality of the audio.

He's some kind of film professor. Of course. (Actually, he's a Marxist philosopher and "cultural critic.")

posted by Ace at 03:12 PM

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