For many, myself included, being a student is one of the most challenging roles to fulfil each day. It’s a role riddled with anxiety and insecurity, and as college students, these uncertainties are only amplified.

We often spend our passing days fretting and ruminating about things outside of our control. Did I perform well enough on my math exam to pass the course? If I take a day off work to catch up on homework, will I make enough to pay my rent? Am I the only one who doesn’t understand this material?

These are only a few of the perturbations students often find themselves preoccupied with. But, one of the most pondered subjects that plagues the minds of students religiously is how they are perceived by their professors.

Does my teacher want me to succeed? Does my teacher enjoy having me in class, or do they think I am a slacker? Does my teacher even want to be here?

While this is a concern of all types of students in college, you’re essentially wondering whether you are getting your money’s worth in some respects.

Well fret not fellow college students. The Chronicle, a newspaper dedicated to covering colleges and universities, conducted a survey of approximately 1,000 faculty members, thus attaining the answers we students have so eagerly awaited.

According to the survey, 90.9 percent of faculty members from all academic fields find teaching to be a very satisfying profession. In addition to this, 98.5 percent of faculty from all academic fields believe that their teaching makes a difference in the lives of their students.

Alternatively, along with grading assignments, conducting research and teaching in general, teachers also face the anxiety of working with groups of students. Did I explain this material clearly enough for everyone to understand? Do my students find me engaging? Do my students respect what I am trying to accomplish?

In this same Chronicle survey, they found that faculty from all academic fields believe that their students have a high opinion of them and their work. The article read, “Higher education has its share of skeptics who don’t think professors are worth the paychecks. But faculty members don’t believe those kinds of critics are in the classroom.”

On the contrary, roughly 63 percent of teachers from all academic fields agree that students are harder to teach than they were in the past.

“Overall, faculty members agree that engaging students in class is trickier than ever before,” the Chronicle read.

Furthermore, a good majority of the fretting we do concerning our teacher’s perception of us is done in vain. Most faculty members who take the steps to earn a teaching degree and join the profession do so because they are, in fact, passionate about educating the younger generations and preparing them to live successful lives.

So, while we students tend to trick ourselves into believing our professors are without a doubt “out to get us,” our teacher’s generally only have our best interests at heart.

Moreover, if you ever feel these concerns starting to seep in, remember that faculty members are human, and they experience these same insecurities on top of the ever-present difficulties that accompany teaching.

Written by Ashlyn Simons, Staff Writer. Photo Courtesy of Pixabay. 

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