Monday, October 1, 2012
A time in your life where you did something that could be considered "activist."
It all started in my sophomore Algebra II class. I had the displeasure of having the absolute worst teacher known to mankind; or at least to the mankind of my high school. I will not mention any names, but believe me when I say this lady was the worst. It was rare that she actually taught something of value in class, she didn't properly check the homework (unless you call a glance at a sheet of paper with virtually anything written on it deserving of a solid A+), when you would go in for tutoring she wasn't even there half the time, she gave you answers on the test, etc. Well words eventually got around about how ridiculous and easy the class was, and I'm assuming parents and school officials began to read further in to the situation. The fact that the lady was a complete lunatic was no secret, even other faculty members could agree, of course they'd never actually tell you that. Anyway, when things started to hit the fan and people started questioning her teaching abilities she decided she was going to make the class 10 times harder and her first act would be to give us a sort of pop test, per say. The class started out normal, her teaching us a "lesson". The lady waqs clueless so hardly anything she ever said was correct, and when we began to question the information she was giving us (which was wrong) she decided she'd just stop the lesson and give us the test which we weren't supposed to take for I don't know probably a few days I really don't remember exactly how long but bottom line that day was not test day. So naturally myself along with every other individual in the class grew infuriated. I'm pretty positive that isn't allowed, nor was it right. If you ask me the woman was bringing a little too much of her personal issues in life in to the classroom and laying them upon her students. As she began to pass out the test we were all looking around in shock. Then my friends and I decided that since the test was not supposed to be that day that we were not going to take it that day. So we stood up, gathered our things, and headed for the door. When the teacher threatened to call the office and get the principle down there I responded by saying "Do it.". I was more than willing to explain why I wasn't going to take that test and how delusional my teacher was coming to be. Basically everyone in the class agreed (minus those two kids who never do anything they're "not supposed to") and when she saw just how serious we were she took back her previous idea and went on with teaching the class. After the incident she went back to the same way she was before, pretty much just going through the motions to get herself through the day. She's still teaches at my high school, and she's still as clueless as ever. Sometimes I look bad for giving her a hard time, because although that was the most drastic measure I had ever taken with her it was not the only time I spoke out, but on the other hand I feel like I was just standing up for what I felt at the time was not fair. I ended up getting a B in the class overall so I must have done something right.
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I think I like your post so much cause it reminds me of a time when I had a similar situation and too had to stand up for not only myself but my whole class. This was my senior year of high school and we had a new teacher for english who really did not mesh with my school at all. He didn't get what it was all about, hated the philosophy, wanted to change everything, and basically had a big ass chip on his shoulder. A lot of people had conflicts with him and when it came my time, I took it to the administration. My classmates were pleased but the administration not so much, they wanted to stick by a fellow teacher. Well long story short, not much came of it except an attitude change from him for about a week and awkward period 7 english for another semester. Like you, I feel like I was standing up for what I felt was unfair and I'd do it again. Two years later, last year someone told me he was no longer teaching at my high school. I couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with the same reasons the Class of 2010 took issue with him.
ReplyDeleteAlmost the same exact situation happened with me! Crazy how things like that happen. It was also my sophomore year Algebra II teacher. She was a horrible teacher. Nice lady but could not teach math whatsoever. She was so inconsistent with her grading that when she took off more points on mine than she did on another classmates FOR THE EXACT SAME MISTAKE, I raised hell! She tried justifying herself and didn't change the grade. I stormed out of the class. And just like you,I was just trying to prove my point and stand up for what I thought was right.
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