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May 1, 2006
If You're A Registered Independent, You Don't Have To Listen To Anything!
After 34 years of college teaching, I thought I had heard just about every imaginable student complaint. Last week, however, a freshman in my 300-seat US History Since 1865 course came in to discuss her exam with one of the graders and proceeded to work herself into a semi-hissy over the fact that we had spent four class periods(one of them consisting of a visit from Taylor Branch) discussing the civil rights movement."I don't know where he's getting all of this," she complained,"we never discussed any of this in high school." One might have let the matter rest here as simply an example of a high school history teacher's sins of omission being visited on the hapless old history prof. had the student not informed the TA in an indignant postcript, " I'm not a Democrat! I don't think I should have to listen to this stuff!"
Posted by Eric at May 1, 2006 10:27 PM
Comments
so what did you do? has she produced anything for a grade in which she applies her logic?
i may have to post this at my blog (homepage). i don't teach anymore, but i've encountered enough of this in other forms to know it's fairly widespread. did she attend a parochial high school?
Posted by: chicago dyke at May 2, 2006 8:21 AM
You have to feel sorry for that poor student. She did nothing wrong that caused her to be raised Republican.
Posted by: Justice Moor at May 2, 2006 4:27 PM
Well, I'm an independent. True, I don't have to listen to anything anyone says, but then again, neither does anyone else. I think that she has a deeper issue than just being Republican.
Posted by: Phil at May 3, 2006 6:35 PM
That’s great! She sounds pretty PC to me, Politically Crazy! Wonder if this argument will work with my wife also?
Posted by: Bob at May 4, 2006 10:08 AM