re: Why do universities hire professors that students can't understand?

quote:

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Why do universities hire professors that students can't understand?
There are two situations
1. The professor’s English is terrible and it’s truly unreasonable to expect someone to understand.
2. They have an “accent” but the command of the English language is reasonable.

I truly have sympathy in case 1. But most of the time it is case 2 and in this scenario, the student should make an effort to understand. In case 2, the student uses the “accent” as an excuse for laziness or failure.

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This is exactly correct. Ability to communicate with students is a factor in hiring. The importance placed on it can vary with the institution.

However, most of the time, an accent is just an easy excuse for not doing what you were supposed to do. It us easy to fool oneself, especially rather than to blame oneself.

Another thing is that students who may not have been exposed to accents may take some time to learn how to listen and concentrate to understand. They seem to get better with experience.