Monday, August 18, 2003

Today I was humiliated and almost thrown out of a class. I'm not terribly certain why. This is a law class and there is a lot of discussion involved. I always try to be respectful of all participants in a discussion, including the teacher. In all honesty I had gotten hold of the wrong end of a concept and was saying something pretty backwards. I kept trying to reformulate my question in order to get the information that I needed -- I'm not stupid, I'm here to learn -- and the teacher kept interrupting me and answering what he *thought* I was going to say. I finally said "Let me finish my sentence; you aren't letting me finish." Whereupon I was informed that if I wanted to stay in the class I should NEVER say that to this teacher again. It took me 15 minutes or so for me to calm down, I felt so humiliated.

This is a bit of a pattern with this teacher. Last week I asked him a question that he either could not or would not answer. Instead of answering in any number of ways -- i.e. this is true, this is true only under specific situations, this is true for criminal but not civil law, etcetera -- he answered in a way that I knew could not be correct and when I pressed my point, he gave us all a pop quiz.

There's no dishonor in saying "I don't know" when you genuinely don't, or telling a student that you aren't quite certain of what they're trying to ask and trying to clarify the matter. What point is there in ignoring a student or behaving as if you think they're stupid? I've had the south end of a north-bound question before. I can't ever remember being treated in this manner about it.

On the bright side of this morning is an aspect of this blog that I hadn't thought of before -- this is cheap and effective therapy! I don't think anybody is ever going to see this. This blog is a grain of sand on the ocean floor. But there is this sense of communication nonetheless. It is such a relief to tell this to someone.

Don't get me wrong, the spouse wants to do something. Bless his heart, he has suggested everything from bringing a complaint against this instructor to roasting the instructor's heart on a pike in front of his dying eyes. This last, although emotionally satisfying, is probably the least helpful and I've reluctantly persuaded him against it. The spouse is (forgive this, dearheart!) typically male in that he is solution-oriented; he wants action. Sometimes the help that I need is someone to listen without giving me a grocery list of things to do about it. That approach drives the spouse crazy, of course. As Ogden Nash once said, "Marriage is the only happy meeting of the immovable object and the irresistable force." We take turns at being each, of course.

Weight this morning: 205 pounds
Baseline weight: 205 pounds
Exercise: None, unless you count the walk from the farthest parking lot to the college bookstore and back.
Plans for tomorrow: Read up on HTML language in a (probably vain) effort to get this blog to do what I want. Oh, and study my tootsies off for my Wednesday class with Dr. Demento.

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