Do you have to speak english fluently in order to be a professor?

[ambient]

Originally Posted by FreshFresh

Usually when I take challenging courses in math and science I have professors who are incoherent. And they have this attitude like something is wrong with me if I have trouble keeping up.

I get that some foreign-born professors could be hard to understand, but wouldn't it be quite a coincidence if they always pop up only whenever you're taking a challenging course? Maybe you do have trouble keeping up. Nothing wrong with that. Just take steps after class to remedy it.

[Coney]

If only. I had a finance teacher from Italy. It wasn't just his heavy accent, he couldn't express himself. Perhaps, he understood English well enough when someone was talking to him, but he had great difficulty finding the words needed to explain things and presenting the material. I also had a Chinese teacher for high school chemistry (public school) who was really nice but barely comprehensible. Class was like a game of pictionary or charades. He would try to articulate what he wanted to say using gestures and pictures on the board and the class would shout out guesses.

[stellastar2345]

Originally Posted by FreshFresh

Usually when I take challenging courses in math and science I have professors who are incoherent. And they have this attitude like something is wrong with me if I have trouble keeping up.

no. At least not in UGA (granted it's pretty low ranking..60 on US news), perhaps at better colleges they hire people who speak English.

As a side note, I once had a math teacher who spelled the word graph like "graf". Unfortunately we used graphs a lot in that course. Twas terrible. He mumbled and had a strong russian accent. I felt like I was transported to the USSR. He's also say things in russian first, and then translate it to English.

It hasn't really gotten much better in my upper level CS classes (thankfully most upper level Econ professors here are American/speak fluent English/completed their education in America). At least none of my professors speak in another language first, and then translate themselves.

I guess we will see more of this though. In my college's MS in comp sci/ pHd in comp sci, at least 70% are from another country.

I once read a note that said even though you may have gotten a 24 on the speaking portion of toefl (english speaking exam) you can still apply to be a TA (they usually teach intro classes). I think passing is a 26. So, they allow people who aren't passing the speaking portion to teach newbies in comp sci. Administrators take note: THIS IS WHY VERY FEW AMERICANS ARE IN THE COMP SCI DEPARTMENT, HIRE PEOPLE WHO AT LEAST PASS THE SPEAKING PORTION OF THE EXAM. TEACHING IN ENGLISH IS ESSENTIAL. /end rant