One of the most common criticisms of teachers found on websites that rate college professors is that certain instructors have an accent that makes them difficult to understand.
All professors deserve respect, no matter the way they speak.
Instead of disengaging from professors, realize they are more than capable of recognizing when students have mentally checked out on them. Removing oneself from the classroom is both discourteous and not conducive to learning.
If the urge to sit back and not participate takes over, students should remind themselves why they are in that classroom to begin with.
The first reason, hopefully, is to learn valuable information and to engage with it critically. Regardless of whether or not certain instructors have an accent, if they are properly qualified, then students should give them their full attention.
A second reason is to broaden students’ perspectives. International teachers are uniquely positioned to aid in that regard, since they not only teach the material required for the course but also come from a background that is likely quite unlike their students’.
The majority of the University population is American, so it is time to appreciate that there is an inherent advantage to growing up speaking English when that language is so widely used in academia.
Furthermore, it would serve the community well to recognize that this advantage is not available to those who did not grow up in a country where English is the primary language.
