It is very normal for any professor at the university to face several problems with students. I faced some of them, but I quickly found a solution to them by absorbing the student’s psychological condition and convincing him that it is necessary to respect the professor and at the same time the student must be taken into account because he may face certain problems in his life that require us Help him

In the end I gave up classroom teaching. One problem I found is that students were fed a curriculum and wanted only that as by knowing the curriculum thoroughly they could pass. They did not want understanding.

I now only do online teaching and marking where relationship reactions are at a minimum.

I share Stanley's view. the other problem is that academia has become a business of cookie cutting profiles and if it is not within the cookie cutter mold then it is not accepted

Good Answer Dr.Suaad Hadi Al-Taai

Thank you Dr.Suaad Hadi Al-Taai for your question. Always be honest and accommodate challenging situations. If you feel you were wrong, apologies and explain your position. This is usually the right way to resolve things and calm down the problem. Be specific. Always show leadership and the ability to help, explain things if people misunderstand you. Be flexible and focus on the matter. For dysfunctional students (problematic), we have four levels of managing them in higher education, described in the literature. You should follow them.

Also, Dr.Suaad Hadi Al-Taai I suggest, always do not make a knee jerk response. Give the matter sometime (one or few hours). If you do not know what should you do, discuss the matter with an academic whom you trust, and you feel he/she has academic experience and wisdom. You can call the equal opportunity office at your university for advice, and help. As I said, in academia, we have four levels for handling dysfunctional (problematic) students, you should follow. But always be helpful, transparent, wise, honest and careful. Do not use power; be gentle.

Also, Dr.Suaad Hadi Al-Taai I want you always to take challenging situations into an opportunity for learning and helping yourself and students to learn. Always try to see good things, even in situations that look entirely dark. Try to open windows and resolve, and leave a great impact. Be humble and effective in such situations. Do not react, be objective and aiming to disclose good things out of such bad conditions.

A very few students sometimes try to build a sort of personal relationship with the faculties which could be a cause of developing little biasedness. I think the interactions are OK to some extent because those adherences propel up the students to be flourished their best but facilitators must be a rationale, an idol, and an ideal personality to follow.

Hello Dr. Suaad,

I would like to add this to what Prof. Samy Azer mentioned. While we interact with students(whether for academic or for any related matters), try to always put ourselves into their shoes first. If students get convinced that we understand and consider them, their time, their tough schedules, their deadlines, etc. they will trust us. This trust between the faculty and students is the most important facilitator of great student-teacher relationship.