Fuck You, You Fuckin' Fuck

The BBQ Pit
1

So I have returned to school after about 18 years out and am getting finally getting my degree. Since I have chosen to do this full time, I’m taking as full a load as possible, including this summer, to expedite graduating and easing what’s been a financial burden on Mr. Sat on Cookie. Hopefully, I’ll graduate in December.

As you may imagine, it’s slim pickens for the summer courses – basically take what you can get. One of the classes I took basically by default is “Writing for Management” – I knew that it wouldn’t be challenging but I figured, I’ve been working my ass off and it might not be a bad thing to take something easy and it was really the only thing to fit my schedule. Plus, it’s a 3000 level course so I didn’t think it would be that bad.

For the record, I graduated from one of those foo-foo secretarial schools (with a 3.9), have been working as a high-level personal assistant and in office management for 18 years, and have had articles published here and there. I am going back to school to transition my “career” toward writing.

I’m not one of those people who thinks going into a class like this and announcing my “creditials” is a good idea so I didn’t.

So far, I have a B- and a 67 on the mid-term.

Now, I could live with this and not want to rip her from limb to limb if it was a legitimate 67 – I get how annoying it is to be a teacher and have someone think they know better. But it’s really just fucking obnoxious. She basically graded me way down because I did not give her the answers straight out of the book --meaning I did not use the book’s exact terminology when defining things like “editing” “revising” and “proofreading.” I defined what they were (not being arrogant but for my background, this is like asking a math major what 2+2 equals…basic stuff).

Another example is that she asked us to define outsourcing and in my answer I said that a lot of companies outsourced payroll. WRONG! The book said companies outsourced copying.

Then, the motherfucking crinkled bitch called me and another student (who could’ve been my son) out of the class, together, to talk about how we must be really dissappointed with our grades. The poor kid just hemmed and hawed and said he didn’t really study and I said that it was difficult for me to differentiate between real-world experience and the text book and that I had assumed a real world correct answer would suffice. She said, no, only text-book answers were correct.

So, I ask you, bitch fucking teacher bitch: What the fuck is your point? I am standing before you, OBVIOUSLY an older student who hasn’t done jack shit to request “special” consideration because I know this stuff in my fucking sleep. I read the fucking book, I contribute to class discussion. What THE FUCK skin is it off your crinkled up nose to let this class be the ONE FUCKING CLASS WHERE MY 18 YEARS OF HARD WORK ACTUALLY COUNT FOR SOMETHING?

I just don’t fucking get it. When I went back to school I accepted the fucking fact that I was a fish out of water and that I had to start from scratch. But Jesus Fucking Christ…you’re going to bust my proverbial balls for WHAT? Because you’re such a control freak that it irks the fuck out of you or something that I might actually KNOW something?

She then suggested that Other Kid and I practice edu-macting ourselves by using flash cards – it really helps in the learning process! I wanted, really wanted, to just get my stuff and leave. I don’t know how to describe the amount of fucking goddamn humble pie I feel like eat EVERY MOTHERFUCKING DAY between this and my internship and I really wonder…When the FUCK am I going to stop being penalized for fucking up my “shot” at education when I was 18/20 like the rest of the world.

Sorry this is so goddamn fucking long. I’ve just had it and am seriously considering withdrawing from the class even though it’ll fuck up my graduation date.

2

You may want to discuss this with someone who has a higher rank over your professor, like the department chair. Explain the situation and see if there is anything the chairperson can do. Hope that helps.
If not, be wary about dropping the class, you could still be liable for part of your tuition, if not all of it. If that is not an issue for you, rock on, and drop the class and hope for someone better next time.

3

*#@$%^@#

COMPANIES DO OUTSOURCE PAYROLL!!! GAH!!!*

If I were you I’d have to take some very slow, deep breaths to keep from completely losing my shit and going caveman on her ass.

4

Those who know, do. Those who don’t, teach.

Gee. Rote learning. How nineteenth century.

5

Wrong wrong wrong!!! It WASN’T in the textbook. It’s wrong. Wrong. Double wrong. Tra la la it’s wrong. It’s wrong on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. It’s wrong before noon and after noon.

Wrong.

6

Well.

Won’t ADP and Paychex be surprised to hear that!

7

Go to the ADP and Paychex websites, print out their information about what they do for companies, highlight the pertinent parts for her, and then hand it to her with, “I thought you might find this interesting. I’ve highlighted the important parts for you since I don’t want it to be too difficult for you to understand what they’re trying to tell you.”

Either that or just roll it up and stick it up her ass.

8

Okay, the hamsters ate the last part of the last sentence in the first paragraph, which should have read, “…what they’re trying to tell you about HOW THEIR ENTIRE BUSINESS IS OUTSOURCING PAYROLL.”

9

It sounds to me like you’re just pissed that the instructor isn’t particularly impressed with all your worldly “creditials.”

Just quit whining and follow the same rules as everybody else. It isn’t going to kill you to humble yourself a little. Just play the game, use the textbook (it doesn’t matter if you agree with it), use the terminology the way the instructor asks you too and get your credits. It’s only a few weeks and it’s just fucking possible that you might learn something.

I’ve taken classes too where I felt like I knew more than the instructor. It’s annoying while it’s happening but you get through it and your life goes on. Don’t equate your grade in the class as a referendum on your RL knowledge. One has nothing to do with the other.

10

Wait a second - this course is “Writing for Management”? Are you suggesting that management types take course like this? Cause that would explain a lot in my professional life.

“Yeah, we can’t afford any more accounting staff. All we can afford is five more salespeople to more than double the revenue by this time next year. You gals can handle triple the work load, can’t you?”

11

Dio, I’ve taken classes like that as well. Typically, if you approach the professor and show them that, even though it’s not in the book, if it’s a fact, they’ll still give you credit. Most classes relying on essays and papers and the like really like it when a student shows enough innitiative to use information from something other than the text book. Of course, if there’s a question about it, they’re often asked to provide proof (for example, show the part of a book you quoted that wasn’t part of the class ciriculum). Sat on Cookie’s real life experiences should account for something. If he mentioned the outsourcing of payroll in class, the teacher said “Yes, that’s a very good point,” and other students wrote it down in their notes, it would be a viable answer on the test. Because it’s an actual fact that may not have been covered in the class for the other students’ benefit, doesn’t mean that it’s not a true fact, and that the other students may not have found out on their own. A fact is a fact, and if a test is designed to help make sure you know the facts, you should be penalized for being smart and knowing what’s what.

Cookie, if you haven’t had a proper discussion with your professor about the topic yet, I’d suggest giving that a shot. If that doesn’t work, and you really feel the grade is important to you, go talk to the dean. If not, then drop the class. Still, even then, for the sake of other students, I’d suggest talking to the dean about the professor’s teaching methods, because that’s just not right.

12

Now, this is timely - I find myself faced with moving 70 employees on Paychex to/from 200 employees on ADP.
Should I should ADP or Paychex? And, if I go, will it be double?

::“F” word overuse headache ::

13

Should I “go with”, not “should”

Headache, impacting keystrokes.

14

Okay, I’m going to dissent here.
You’re taking a class in which you essentially know all the pertinent info in, right? So you’re not taking it to learn, you’re taking it for a grade. I did this in college, too. Nothing wrong with that. The thing is, when you’re in class, the teacher is boss. They say ‘x’ is true, it’s true. Even if you think / know it isn’t, the way you’re going to get the good grade is to agree. You can, once you walk away from that class every day, scream to the sky and tell every student in it (s)he’s wrong, but while in class, you’re asking the teacher for a grade, and they’re asking you for a specific answer.
Case in point. History of England class. We did a little week-long session on the Robin Hood myth. It became -frighteningly- obvious that the teacher had her own pet theory on who / what started that myth. I don’t even remember what it was, but I remember that I thought she was full of manure. But the final came up, I regurgitated the fact as she wanted to see it, and went on my merry way, forgetting it all completely. I wanted the grade, and I got it. No skin off my nose.
Yes, I know I’ll get lambasted for kowtowing to rote learning. I don’t mind. I just wanna point out that you’re asking for a grade, and the only person that can really give it to you is asking you to do things his / her way. It’s unfortunate, but so is lots of life.

15

Gonna have to agree with ArrMatey. You know the answer that she expects, plus you know the true answer. Trying to convince her that the answers she expects are not the true answers out in the real world will get you absolutely nowhere. It may actually hurt you. You will probably not be able to convince her that you are right.

If you feel you must argue the point with her, do so after you have the grade. Also take it up with her superiors. Again, AFTER you have the grade.

16

Wow, now I see why I was never really very good at being in school. I’m with Cookie all the way - if the point of receiving an education is to master facts, then the providers of those facts have an obligation to verify their truth. I can’t see co-opting a tiny subset of reality & calling that the entire answer despite evidence to the contrary. Because it’s “in the textbook”? What a bunch of crap!

OTOH, Hubby treated the whole thing like a game, in the way that ArrMatey and Spooje describe. He did extremely well in school.

Something about this is really depressing.

17

My mommy bought me a black shirt in St. Louis that has written, in a really small font in the upper left-hand corner, “Fuck you, you fucking fuck” in blue. You can’t really make it out unless you get really close. I like to wear it.

18

Well, you certainly demonstrated the full range of the expression.
[/b.s.] :slight_smile:

19

Ugh, management classes. I’ve had a few. I don’t want to be a manager. After those classes, I don’t really want to be around managers, either. :wink:

I had a graduate level communications class once pitched at managers. Unlike my other grad level classes, the textbook had really big print, lots of pictures and was written at a 4th grade level. If it weren’t so depressing, I’d have found it funny.

20

Sat On Cookie, I think you rock. First of all, the reason you’re taking the class is neither here nor there. “In the real world,” companies outsource payroll. If she asks you what outsourcing is and that’s the answer you give, it’s still right. I don’t care if the textbook says that companies outsource cutting oranges for the cafeteria, they still outsource payroll. Your teacher is flat-out wrong.

But now you know what to do. Slog through the class, spit back out exactly what she wants to hear, and once you have your grade talk to someone in the department if you want to. Do the directions in the test say that only examples from the text will be correct? If not, I think you have a good chance of getting your grade fixed after the fact.

You might also feel better if you stop thinking of graduating from secretarial school with a 3.9 as “fucking up my “shot” at education when I was 18/20 like the rest of the world.” You, and all college students, regardless of age, have to eat enough humble pie as it is (sometimes with a serving of crow, or egg on the face). Only eat what you have to. :wink:

Good luck!