In a viral TikTok video, a college student called out professors who are disconnected from the financial realities of being a student and worker.
In the clip, Jocy (@ramennoodleha1r) shares her experience with college professors who she says are “detached from reality.”
Jocy shares that she had just started her sophomore year of college, and so far, every teacher has done one of two things. One, they assign an “extremely expensive” textbook that is mandatory for the class “like it’s no big deal at all.”
The TikToker says she doesn’t understand how they expect students to fork over $200 for a book for a two-credit class.
Or two: they act “so shocked” when they find out that most students spend their summers working. In one of her classes, the professor asked what everyone did over the summer, and 80% of the class said they worked.
“Wow, all you guys do is work. You guys need to take a break. That’s really unhealthy,” the professor said, according to Jocy.
@ramennoodleha1r The textbook is also always by a fellow ‘colleague’ of their’s… #college #university #professor #uni #school ♬ original sound – Jocy
“Imagine the privilege you have to not have to work over the summer,” Jocy points out.
She says professors react even worse when students tell them they work during the school year, especially if the workload is more than 10 hours.
“You need to focus on your academics,” they’ll say.
Jocy points out that she works out of necessity to be able to afford basics like groceries.
She adds that many professors speak very casually about getting a Ph.D. or having multiple degrees and staying in school for eight to 10 years because they weren’t ready for a “real life” job and preferred to stay in school.
At the end of the video, Jocy wonders how the professors even afforded to go to school for so long when they were shocked by the concept of working and going to school at the same time.
“The textbook is also always by a fellow ‘colleague’ of their’s…” the caption read.
The video has more than 115,000 views and nearly 300 comments as of Wednesday morning.
Jocy’s video resonated with many fellow students. Several commenters said they’ve had similar experiences with out-of-touch teachers.
“The worst for me is when the professor WROTE the textbook and still makes you buy it,” a top comment read.
“Seriously, like I gotta work all summer to be able to afford your $200 textbook that im gonna open once and then forget about,” a person said.
“Especially community college. Like we are here bc we have no money… c’mon,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jocy via TikTok comment.
