November 25, 2008

A Little Respect

Today I arrived on campus to find student evaluations in my mailbox. Since all but one of my speech students was attending class today, I decided to get it over with. I had to hand them out and then leave the room for 10 minutes while they evaluate me, place the evaluations in a sealed envelope and deliver it without me touching them again.

After about five minutes, one of my students came out to go to the bathroom. I asked her if they were about finished and she said she just had to tell me about a little conversation that was going on in the classroom.

Apparently, one of my students who spent almost the entire semester skipping class and not showing up for speeches was stumped on one of the questions. The question was: "What grade do you expect to earn in this class?"

"What should I put for this?" he said, knowing full well that he's failing.

The student sitting beside him said, "Well that's easy. Just write zero."

The failing student responded with, "Yeah, but I don't want anyone to think it's her fault" ("her" meaning me).

My other student responded back, "Well then just write in the comments section, 'I'm a total douche, never come to class and don't turn anything in, but it's not her fault.'"

Apparently that settled it.

It's nice to know that even those who won't pass at least respect me as a teacher.