Bunker Hill Community College

Date: Jul 10 2010
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)

This is my experience. You may have had a different one, you may have had a better one…but this is the one i had.

My first semester at BHCC was tops. I didn't know it at the time but i was lucky to have chosen a round of the friendliest most helpfeul and progressive instructors the school had to offer. Sociology with proffessor Scott was great. College writing with Professor Peled (who i am sad to say left aftr that semseter. and now i know why becasue she was hinting at i tto usthe entire semester but i was new and didn't understand) was very well planned, thought out, inclusive and to the point.

And that was the end of that. I am in my fourth semester at the college and it it wll without doubt be my last. Let me tell you it has been a nightmare. Out of over twenty classes taken i can honestly say that four of the proffesors were of any use in my college career. The rest were bitter. Ignorant. Condescending. Sarcastic. Close minded.(and i am using periods to emphasise the words people. it is important you know exactly what you are paying for) And will grade you based on how they FEEL about you rather than the coursework you completed and your relative intelligence portaining to the subject.

Many have a "System" that works for them not for the students. Most syllabi are submitted to the department and approved yes, but what is in the syllabus is NOT what the instructor is teaching in calss

Case in point. I took World Religions and got a healthy dose of racism, sexism and pure bile from the instructor. He did not teach World Religion i.e. a socially responsable view of religions from around the world as his syllabus and the course description said. He was teaching christian religion or theology. too bad i didn't realize until three weeks in. I did my research and found out his mode of teaching about religion is literally BANNED in Colleges country wide, except for divinity schools where christianity is supposed to be the better or complex religion and all others are "primitive and basic" he actually used those words. By the end of the semester the class of twenty five was a class of literally (and i am not exaggerating) four. People withdrew under pains and penalty of academic probation. I was too naive and afraid of losing a good GPA so i stayed. he was verbally abusive to ME at every opportunty and made it clear he did not want me in his class. I dealt with that every week for an entire semester. And though i am a devout pacifist i can totally see how college campus shootings are suddenly aflower in the minds of young people.And it makes me sad.

Don't take World Religions taught by Professor Kukura. He does not like black people. he does not honor his syllabus and he does not like women. He WILL yell at you, verbally abuse you and squash any conversation in the room.

Here are some more teachers who are ignorant and close minded but are teaching classes that call for a teacher with a dynamic understanding of the world: Middle eastern literature taught by professor Santos-Silva Lee. The man villifies islam, has no understanding of sociology and does not like to be disagreed with. His understanding of the world is black and white. He does not understand the texts he is teaching from. and when i took the class he was culturally insenstive to the middle eastern people in the class room. He is afraid to lead the class and allows mob rule under the guise of "open discussion". In theses "discussions" people say horrible ignorant things while he sits back and watches the mayhem that insues. He does not guide anyone to any understadning of middle eastern culture. He has taken a stance that it is bad..and teaches from that view. He becomes sarcastic snarky and rude if you disagree with anything he says. The man is a disaster as an instructor.

Professor Straughter for math. Do not take this ladies 091 or 092. I have seen her berate and belittle people and this is a REMEDIAL math class so i think she should be accustomed to people who aren't exctly human calculators. She implies that you have asked a stupid question by not answering or responding with a snippy answer such as "why did you do that?" or "what makes you think that?"or "Show me where in the book it says to do that.". I have been on the recieveing end of her sarcasm ONCE and only once but because i am not an immigrant or a kid straight out of highschool (and yes you will find these two groups of people are great sport for the faculty who are maladjusted) i was able to assert mnyself and let her know that i would not be taking that kind of abuse in a class i paid for. her attyitude did not improve mind you but she never tried to verbally attack me again. She does not like to teach that is obviouse. She does not help you with math problems and everything she does is in the uncomfortable format of public scrutiny. She enjoys making her students feel unintelligent and offers absolutely NO encouragemnt. really i never heard her say a kind word to anyone. In other words it is instructors like her who turned me off of math way back in grade school. They may be brilliant but they have no interpersonal skills and contempt for us lesser beings drips off of them like oil.

Pschology 101 with professor Scott. The man is a racist sexist pig. I saw a comment on here about him but no one named names. I will. Don't take his class. he makes references to minorities, immigrants women and the poor that are extremely off topic and offensive. however he is an easy A. he literally lets you use your text book for tests, gives you the answers to the next test in the previouse class and allows you to take your tests home.

I took a saturday course with an adjunct professor who no longer works atthe school. The woman was mentally unbalanced. She verbally attacked me in class. I was fifteen minutes late (was never late even once before that)and she made a nasty referance to my parenting skills in front of the entire class. (my daughter is of mixed race and i had brought her to class with me a week or so before. She was carrying her violin for a recital afterwards. I think in some way this sparked the professor's interest as i saw her staring with a weird expression on her face the entire class. but she didn't have the strength of character to strike up a conversation. instead she verbally attacked me a week later) after class i let her know that what she said was innapropriate and unethical. she literally asked me

don;t you think the problem is you? Have you ever asked yourself that question?

at which point i stated very calmly that i don't have self esteem issues and intimidation will not be what carries the day in our converstaion. She could either choose to be respectful in the future or i could file a formal complaint withthe department heads.
After that i couldn't get away from her. She wanted to be my best friend. She would hunt me down in the halls and tell me about her abusive husband and her financial problems. She would say

i am a black woman just like you, i've been through alot.

I didn't want to tell her that i hadn't and ruin her stereotype of me. of course i thought she was a complete nut and nodded and smiled my way to an A in her class.

One semester i had the bad luck of taking oral communications with an instructor who was leaving the school after that semester so i won't mention her name. In fact i'm scared to and you'll see why. Much like the aforementioned instructor she was a nightmare. personal attacks abounded on all her students especially the immigrants. once again it seemed she assumed i was not from this country because of my name and directed her attention my way too. On the last day of class she made a B line for me and i tried to get out with the rest of the crowd but she had me cornered. And then she began telling me her life story, how she was active in the civil rights movement and how she was a progressive femenist. i think by this time she had realized i was NOT an immigrant and would probably be making a complaint against her. I smiled and nodded once again and as soon as she took a breath and moved aside I fled the room. Literally hop stepping until i was two hallways away. Two weeks later i recieved a strange out of the blue call at home from the dean of students who said she had tickets to a public speaking for a famouse femenist and said my communications teacher had recommended me. (i didn't file the complaint btw. but if i had it would have been through the dean of students so I'll leave it to you to decide if this was some sortof intimidation tactic or not) I said yes i would like to go. at which time she suddenly withdrew the offer in an extremely elitest manner saying "i am going to save these for someone who is more familiar with the speakers work."

Is anyone seeing a pattern here? The majority of professora at BHCC do not teach with thier students population in mind. In fact they seem to dislike and resent the people who attend classes there. BHCC is populated by women, immigrants, minoroties, working adults and non traditional students. Only a hadndfull of the instuctors live up to the college's pledge to serve this majority of students. The rest are…well to be honset i do not know how to describe the particular brand of ineptitude that permieates the faculty there. and it doesn't stop at the level of instructors. It goes all the way up to the top apparently. Complaints will not be entertained or followed up in other words so your best bet is not to go to this school at all. go ANYWHERE but here. Unless you enjoy being taught by The dreggs of academia..and hold outs from the dark ages that have managed to stay on because of tenure. I htink if you are a teen aged white looking male youwill do fine here. or a white looking woman between 25 and 30. I noticed these two groups of people don't get alot of attentionand in the case of bunker hIll..that is actually a GOOD thing.