Did I do the right thing? (Guess so- need lock please!)
JaysonFour
Classy Monster KittehRegistered User regular
Classy Monster KittehRegistered User regular
You know, some people just never leave high school.
Yesterday, I was in the classroom where I have my latest Math class at the community college. The teacher comes in and she starts writing on the chalkboard. Uh-oh, she's got laryngitis- she can barely talk above a whisper. She takes attendance by passing the sheet around, and immediately, two guys my age (mid-20s) start giving a sixty-something year-old-woman grief. One starts talking to a friend on the other side of the next table, dropping f-bombs and everything. Now, I'm not the cleanest-mouthed guy myself, but in a classroom, you don't use those words. You respect the teacher and your classmates.
So after a bit, she takes him outside and kicks him out of the class for the night. After a sigh of relief, the class almost gets back underway- we start going over last week's homework and some moron in the corner pulls out a Blackberry and begins texting. The teacher has to go over and ask him to put it away, because it's disrespectful and distracting to everyone else in the class.
He tells the teacher "It's a really important text." with a big old grin on his face. She tells him that he should do it out in the hallway if it's so important, as to not disturb the rest of us. His response?
"I don't get reception out in the hall."
This almost sends the teacher over the edge. She just decides to hand back the last test and then says that anyone who wants to leave because she has a really wheezy voice can. Out of a forty person class, thirty-five stand up. I'm left in the room with four other people.
She continues class as normal (now that we can all hear her a bit more clearly), and then it's time for book work. She goes around, asking if people understand it.
She apologizes for the fact she can barely speak, but I apologize right back to her, saying that someone should for the way the two clowns were acting. She deserved an apology for the disrespect they'd put her through. Then I offered her some throat drops I had in my pack, and they started to clear her throat up and resurrected her voice to the point that she could speak louder and finish the class. As I was leaving, she told me I was really kind.
So i got home, and told my family. Mom and sister were happy about it, sister's boyfriend said I should have kept my mouth shut and it wasn't my place.
I just felt like someone had to. It was obvious that the two clowns had really rattled her- you don't really expect that kind of crap out of someone who's seven or eight years out of high school. But I'm still questioning it. I think I did the right thing.... but I'm not sure. Any ideas?
Yesterday, I was in the classroom where I have my latest Math class at the community college. The teacher comes in and she starts writing on the chalkboard. Uh-oh, she's got laryngitis- she can barely talk above a whisper. She takes attendance by passing the sheet around, and immediately, two guys my age (mid-20s) start giving a sixty-something year-old-woman grief. One starts talking to a friend on the other side of the next table, dropping f-bombs and everything. Now, I'm not the cleanest-mouthed guy myself, but in a classroom, you don't use those words. You respect the teacher and your classmates.
So after a bit, she takes him outside and kicks him out of the class for the night. After a sigh of relief, the class almost gets back underway- we start going over last week's homework and some moron in the corner pulls out a Blackberry and begins texting. The teacher has to go over and ask him to put it away, because it's disrespectful and distracting to everyone else in the class.
He tells the teacher "It's a really important text." with a big old grin on his face. She tells him that he should do it out in the hallway if it's so important, as to not disturb the rest of us. His response?
"I don't get reception out in the hall."
This almost sends the teacher over the edge. She just decides to hand back the last test and then says that anyone who wants to leave because she has a really wheezy voice can. Out of a forty person class, thirty-five stand up. I'm left in the room with four other people.
She continues class as normal (now that we can all hear her a bit more clearly), and then it's time for book work. She goes around, asking if people understand it.
She apologizes for the fact she can barely speak, but I apologize right back to her, saying that someone should for the way the two clowns were acting. She deserved an apology for the disrespect they'd put her through. Then I offered her some throat drops I had in my pack, and they started to clear her throat up and resurrected her voice to the point that she could speak louder and finish the class. As I was leaving, she told me I was really kind.
So i got home, and told my family. Mom and sister were happy about it, sister's boyfriend said I should have kept my mouth shut and it wasn't my place.
I just felt like someone had to. It was obvious that the two clowns had really rattled her- you don't really expect that kind of crap out of someone who's seven or eight years out of high school. But I'm still questioning it. I think I did the right thing.... but I'm not sure. Any ideas?
I can has cheezburger, yes?
JaysonFour on
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Protip: Someone's a douchebag here, and it's not you.
And yeah, what did you possibly do that could be wrong? You gave her a cough drop and said you hope she feels better.
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Yeah, you did nothing wrong.
Some would argue that had you said anything to the douchebags in your class directly, you may have been crossing a line. Many (including myself) subscribe to the philosophy that it's the instructors job to control their room, and attempts by others to do so undermine that authority.
Even that is hardly a universal opinion.
And you didn't even do that.
Your sister's boyfriend is probably the exact kind of douchebag you were apologizing for.
Agreed. If you'd done that, then there might be some weight to the "it wasn't your place." Besides, while difficult for her to verbally assert authority, it sure seems like she was asserting herself by telling people to GTFO/turn that shit off/etc. Oh, and I hope you took good notes, because you can bet your ass that whatever material was covered in that lesson is going to be on a test, midterm, or final. :P
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
You didn't do anything wrong.
LFT. Like a motherfucker.
You did good man. I tip my hat to you, kindness these days is a rare commodity, as you can see for yourself.
Would I be right if I guessed that this kid was in his late teens, probably wears baggy pants, and pretends he's a hardass?
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I bet he's got spinners and maybe a phat grill. Yo.
If he's got spinners, they're on a beat-up Ford Taurus he got third-hand. None of the kids at the community college I taught at had nice cars. Roughly half of them lived with their parents, which made the thug-life attitude from the problem-children especially hilarious.
The irony of your sisters boyfriends statement is quite interesting as well.
You're goddamn right he's got spinners!
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
What your sister's boyfriend may have meant was that it wasn't your place to apologise for everyone else. I can kinda see that, but still, it wasn't wrong.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Try mid-20s. I couldn't believe it when he started making like a wise-ass. I mean, that's high-school shit. I thought I left that behind years and years ago, when I got done with high school and all its drama and bullshit.
And I'm not a fan of people mouthing off to old ladies. She's doing her job. If you give her grief, we lose time during the class while we all turn to look at the imbecile who apparently thinks he's awesome because he gave shit to a math teacher at a community college.
At least I got a good bit of instruction on a section that USED to give me a lot of fits, but now it's one I understand completely. I just hope she throws a surprise quiz on that section tomorrow just so I can see thirty-five faces go completely WHITE.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Do you need someone to tell you you're a good person or something? Do you just want recognition?
I mean, good job on not being a dick to the teacher and offering some kindness, but I don't see where the confusion is concerning whether you did something right or wrong.
How could being nice to another human being be WRONG?
The douchebag his sister is dating seems to think so.
I agree that maybe you shouldn't interfere directly with the assholes in classes, but you did. Everything you did was right.
water spirals the wrong way out the sink
Good job.
Not confronting the trouble makers in class was a good idea as well as the teacher seemed to be able to ultimate control them by getting rid of them. I'd say making a complaint to the dean or the head of the department about the behaviour of your classmates wouldn't be out of order though, if you want to stick it to them. As an employee your teacher shouldn't need to deal with that shit in class and as, essentially, a paying customer neither should you.
I'm just astonished that these people are in their 20's. I guess its understandable if this is coming out of a 15 year old, I didn't really know my place at that age, admittedly.
I was always in the same spot as you - feeling very bad for the teacher, and very annoyed at the same idiots ruining it every day. The class itself was a waste, so at least I wasn't missing anything valuable. But yeah, these people are paying money to be there. Why do this?
Community College is nothing more than the 13th grade.
I find this very ironic. You would think that if she were teaching that course she'd be a strong communicator and able to control a class.
Odd. I went to a CC for two years before transferring to a 4-year, and I found my experiences to be the exact opposite. The CC was a far more adult atmosphere, where as I felt like I was stuck in high school again when I went to University.
Regardless, yes OP, you did the right thing.
I find this easy to believe.
I think most CC students are adults returning to study as a stepping stone to a 4 year. They've had some experiences and are more prepared to take things seriously. That's what my view was anyway.
I went to Uni after highschool and pissed the opportunity away. I returned to CC a few years later and was much more mature and prepared to get my education.
They (whomever) should encourage some sort of break between high school and university. There would probably be far more people that successfully graduate.
Long story short, if it's some dumbass class like Remedial Math for Fuckwats at 11am filled with middle-class teenagers who are there only because if they aren't, their parents will kick them out of the house, then you will get dbag behavior all around. If it's a night class and it's something like Chemistry Lab or English as a Second Language, mostly you'll find students who are trying to focus and get out of CC or adults who actually work for a living and hence don't have time/patience for that stupid shit.
Much like high school, if you get a loser kid in a class predominately made up of serious students, dbag kids like that don't have the balls to act up because they know adults are in the room. Adults who have no problem telling you they are paying for their education, they are here on their free time after work, and you need to get the fuck up and leave. If you're one of 5 serious students in a class of 35, then there's really not much you can do beyond allow the teacher to assert his/her authority.
Okay, sounds like I know what to do about them. I'd say this thread needs a lock.
I can has cheezburger, yes?