I am just about recovered from my lingering cold, and it's a good thing because I need more strength to deal with students this semester. A student actually talked back to me during class last Friday. I fixed her with my "Mom" stare until she apologized. If she hadn't apologized, I would have asked her to leave the room. I do not teach college to put up with that kind of attitude.

Today I was screamed at over the phone by a student who wants me to sign her into a lab class during the SEVENTH week of the semester. Although she claims to have only missed 3 out of the previous 6 classes (which is an automatic failure by my course policy), she still demands the chance to earn a "C" so that she can graduate in December. I had signed an override form for her earlier in the semester, but she was too incompetent to get it to the Registrar on time.

In both cases, I felt underappreciated. I got attitude from the first student while answering her questions, and I got accused by second student of "not doing my job" by warning her up front that she will fail the class. Here I'm thinking, "I actually got the grades from her TA so I could deal with her situation with full knowledge. I can let her know that she'd only fail if I signed her in. Won't she be grateful that I can address her situation adequately?" Sigh.

Perhaps things would go better if I simply relegated the students to being faceless numbers.

Discuss Darned students