Though your goal may not be simply pointing out the problems, that may be a good place to start if you’re hoping for improvement, rather than offering vague critiques like “dropping the baton”.

Perhaps students should be more independent & not expect to have their hand held thru the college process. They are adults now – this is not high school anymore.

Mr. Ford, time for you to grow up and take some responsibilty for yourself. Advising can only help a student who is proactive about their education. It is not the advisor’s job to hunt you down and get to know you. It is your job to schedule regular appointments with your advisor and fill them in on your goals. It is an easy problem to fix. Tell your fellow students to go to advising to plan, don’t wait until the last minute or when you have a problem. If you do, then it’s your own fault. GROW UP!

Mr. Ford’s Advising Absurdity

I find the fact that the DTH has chosen to devote an editorial series to “Improving UNC’s advising” laughable. There are numerous grave issues currently facing students, such as the tuition hikes, but the DTH has chosen to devote time and space to lambasting the advising system. First, Mr. Ford seems to suggest that advising is lacking because his experiences have been “impersonal,” due in part to the fact that UNC is a large university. Why then did he not attend a smaller school? Your advisor will know you well if you meet with them regularly and share your concerns and plans. Meet with the same advisor, consistency is key. Second, Mr. Ford implies that university advising should function in the same manner as high school counseling. You and your peers are no longer in high school, as an adult, you must shape your education. Advisors in the UNC Academic Advising Program are not high school guidance counselors. Had they wished to pursue careers at the high school level, I am certain they would be working in high schools and not at the university level.
I graduated from UNC in May, and I still keep in touch with two of my advisors- both are no longer with UNC. I had a wonderful experience with UNC advising. I believe that Mr. Ford’s suggested “overhaul” of the system should begin with the students. I was not a pro-active or exceptional student. I was a responsible student. Take the initiative. It’s your future.

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Susan Harris, you seem awfully certain that you know what Ford’s complaints will be before he’s even made them.

I think you are the one who needs to ‘grow up’ and let him have his say,

Ohai, you’re obviously another person who does not want to take responsiblity for yourself, it’s easier to blame others. There is nothing wrong with the Academic Advising Program, just the students who don’t use it to their advantage, then complain about it.

Susan Harris, I spent much time my freshman year trying to talk to Academic Advising, they didn’t seem to know nor care what was best for me. Now, I simply go to the Head of Undergraduate Studies in my department. He did in 5 minutes what Advising failed to do in multiple hour long meetings. No need to jump down these students’ throats just because you have a soft spot for advising.

Ohai, You say that I don’t know what his complaints are? Did you read the article or not? Here are just a few things he “complained” about: The Academic Advising Program is a hinderance, they lack providing support, they’re the weakest leg upon which the university stands, his experiences have been frustrating, unfulfilling and impersonal. Academic Advising, is the same as anything else in life, you get out what you put in. One day both of you will “grow up” and realize that.

Elijah, I’ll repeat myself again, in case you need to have things said to you TWICE. You only get out what you put in. Maybe you should have read more and researched a bit more so that you would have been better able to communicate your needs. These advisers are not paid any more than a school teacher. Trust me, if they didn’t care, they wouldn’t be there.

Susan, if you need to speak negatively towards others to boost your self-esteem, I’ll gladly be that person for you. But I read and did my research, which makes Advising quite worthless when you go into the meeting knowing more than the adviser.

Having said that, my research brought me to a REAL adviser in my department. You won’t hear me saying that we need to change Advising because I think we should get rid of it. That would work perfectly with your oh so eloquent “you only get out what you put in” motto.

Apparently Susan Harris is an adjunct assistant professor at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. I wonder if her dean knows how disdainfully she views UNC’s students?

Elijah, good luck graduating from UNC without going through Advising!

Ginger, Thanks, finally someone who cares. (:

Elijah, you can’t graduate from UNC without going through advising.

@wow: I know that quite a few faculty and grad students here are disdainful of the undergraduates they teach. A grad studnet friend of mine won’t shut up about how lazy and entitled his students are.

But what’t the problem with that? Why should the dean care? Your professors aren’t your parents, they don’t have to love you.

Your advisors really do care and want you to succeed, but when you don’t take the initiative and grab the reins of your own academic career, why is it their fault when you realize you’re 6 credits short after your 8th semester and haven’t made appointments for two years?

I was pretty sure elijah said he goes to an advisor in his department now.

Elijah said he goes to an advisor in his major’s department, not an advisor in the Steele Building.

Of course your professors don’t have to love you, but one would hope that someone who chooses a career as an educator has a certain degree of respect and enthusiasm for the profession, including the students they teach. There will always be entitled idiots in our classrooms, but Ms. Harris seems to be full of bile and expresses herself in a manner that represents herself and her department rather poorly.

I also know plenty of graduate students and professors who express a degree of disdain for students. They’d never do so in print, though.

It’s also a possibility that Susan Harris is a common name and that the person commenting may or may not be associated with the School of Pharmacy.

Am I missing something here? Let me see if I get this right: a group of hippies illegally occupy privately owned property and set up camp; hours later, the police get wind of the loitering; police show up, and, instead of arresting them (as they were fully within their rights to do), they’re nice to the hippies and give them the option of just leaving with nothing more than a metaphorical slap on the wrist; hippies are outraged at potential police brutality and expect special treatment for camping out and not bathing. Did I get that right?

Why are we giving these people so much leeway? If this was a group of, say, UNC frat guys illegally camping out on someone’s private property, we’d be in the streets with pitchforks calling for their expulsion/probation/dissolution of their chapter/heads on a silver platter. Why is it not the same treatment for these entitled whiners?

And my comment posts to the wrong article.

headdesk

ohai

“Of course your professors don’t have to love you, but one would hope that someone who chooses a career as an educator has a certain degree of respect and enthusiasm for the profession, including the students they teach.”

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Ha, that blog is amazing.