Nov182008
Back to the school rant…
Filed under School by Kim at 9:11 am on Nov 18 2008
I am not at my wit’s end with the administration of this class, but I can see it from here.
I thought last night that we’d get into a normal routine and he’d teach and we’d learn the end. I forgot, however, that we were getting our exams back. So naturally all hell broke loose. Now, normally I would just suffer through this and roll my eyes heavenwards, but this time I ended up getting involved. This is because the teacher actually did something wrong. Several things, really, adding up to me feeling really ticked. First, he incorrectly named something on the practical, marking most of the class wrong, and continues to insist he is right. It’s a bloody fact that what he indicated was the cortical radiate artery. He will not admit he could have been wrong.
Then during lecture, I said something about swallowing and whether it was voluntary and can’t people who are unconcious swallow. He said that no, I was wrong, swallowing is voluntary. I was confused because I’d heard the exact opposite thing earlier in a podcast from another professor at another school. The truth is, it is both. But he should have explained that instead of telling me something patently untrue.
So much of this comes down to language and interpretation. Yes, technically part of swallowing is voluntary. But to tell a classroom of students “Swallowing is voluntary” is facile and misleading. This kind of crap happens all the time, and if you call him on it even in the most polite and tentative way, he gets his back up and goes on the attack.
Another thing this guy does is starts sentences with “I know how students are…” or “I know what you’re really asking me…”. I loathe this. I can deal (more or less) with getting a lower grade because of one or two mis-marked questions. But please do not assume that because there are some students who strive to manipulate teachers or whine themselves into a better grade or hope to cheat that all students are like this. I have no idea how to protest this because every single thing I try to address with this guy he interprets as my malicious attack on his teaching or attempt to manipulate the system. Although, the way some of my classmates act, it explains a little why he behaves this way. But he’s supposed to be the adult and the leader, and for him to respond to bullying by bullying back just makes every class session an emotional beatdown of constant confrontation. It is utterly miserable.
Of course, he did say something nice to me, which is that I should go to med school. I think he meant it as a compliment.
