Stupid classmates

The BBQ Pit
1

In one of my classes there is this lady who, every time she says something, she has no point, or it’s just stupid BS. I remember a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about graffitti (tagging). She said she feels that because it’s illegal, it keeps them from being creative and so that makes them go out and tag (note: her son is a tagger.). I wanted to tell her so fucking badly that if I ever caught her son tagging my property, i’d prosecute the bastard to the full extent of the law (well, i wouldnt have said it exactly like that.

Today was just as bad. She was supposed to respond to a question, and she had absolutely no point at all. I could tell my professor was a little annoyed because she started ripping on this lady, and tried to get her back on point, but this woman kept drifting off point. We got to talking about stereotypes and this lady claimed there were no black people in Mexico (she grew up there). My professor said that at the beginning of the semester, this lady thought my professor was from Veracruz (Veracruz supposedly has a population of blacks who have been there for at least 500 years, according to my professor). So, my professor asked this lady why she asked that. The lady said because my professor was black! So, she contradicted herself there (she tried to save her ass by saying she doesnt see the differences…yeah right).

So, now it’s like fingernails on the chalk board when this lady opens her mouth. I disagree with 90% of what she says (EVERYONE in my class feels the exact same way. We were in fact talking about her as we left the class). I remember as I was leaving, my professor mentioned something about how we always run out of time, and someone joked that my professor should stop asking the opinions of this lady. Nothing this lady says really has any substance or point to it, and she makes comments that go off on these tangents. It’s hard to sit through a class when she’s making comments because i have to restrain myself from going off or laughing my ass off at her.

2

Yeah, I had a guy like that. He thought that because we were in Chinese class it was appropriate to pipe up with comments like “there were Chinese mercenaries in the Vietnam war.” He would shoot the shit with the TA DURING class. “Oh, you’re from (wherever)? Me too! Did you go to such and such?” Blah blah fucking blah. He was also dumber than shit, embarrassing himself (well, that’s not exactly true as he had no shame) every time he was called on for an answer, and was in danger of failing the class. Surprise, he was also on the football team and a Marine. Not that those are bad things on their own, but GOD, what a classic combination of bulk, stupidity and arrogance. I really regret never telling him to shut up during class, because I know at least ten people would’ve been with me, and only one guy actually seemed to think he was funny.

Now I have this goddam nerd girl who makes really unfunny flippant remarks and is the only one laughing… Not loudly, but I can see her shoulders shaking for several seconds and I just want to throw something at the back of her head… Oh, and that was after only one period with her. I HATE fucking comedians.

3

AHHH! I have one in my classes too! I think since UMKC encourages adult education, it’s worse, because EVERY SINGLE ONE I’ve had in my classes (and I’ve had about 4 now) has been an adult. I don’t know if it’s just harder to learn when you’re an adult, or if you’re more confident so you’re willing to ask more and dumber questions, or just bad experiences on my part or what, but holy shit!

The recent one is this 40 something Russian lady who’s an absolute moron. She kept asking in PolSci today how the Senate and House work together if they’re separate, and how joint-committees work, and all this other shit. The professor (a genius. I’ve had him before, he’s a freaking genius) was trying to put up with her stupidity, but after about 20 minutes of drawing pictures and explaining the same thing over and over and over and her saying “But what about…” he just lost it and started banging on the podium and shouting the explaination AGAIN and she finally gave up.

In my Spanish class first semester last year, we had a hispanic lady that was the same way. She had the worst pronunciation, and would ask the most obvious questions.

I don’t care if you’re having trouble with something in the class, or are just not as quick as the rest of us, but PLEASE do not waste MY classtime with it. Talk to the professor AFTER the freaking class if you’re still not getting it, so the smarter students can move the FUCK on!

–Tim

4

I’m convinced that this girl I know is actually an android programmed with some kind of stupid-question generating macro. She raises her hand about three times in every goddamned lecture, and everything she says is either
[list=A]
[li]Fucking stupid[/li][li]Totally irrelevant[/li][li]Mindlessly trivial[/li][li]All of the above[/li][/list=A]
Example: A local history buff came to speak during our Reporting lecture. The purpose of his visit was to help us learn more about Columbia so we could do a better job in reporting stories in town. Stupid Chick raises her hand and asks the guy for his opinion on places to shop in St. Louis. :rolleyes:

I understand that some people are not as quick getting the concept as other people. That’s fine. These are lecture classes of up to 300 people, though. If you have a question that isn’t directly related to the subject at hand, shut the fuck up and let the other 299 people in the class move on with our fucking lives. The professor usually hangs around for a few minutes after class so she can take questions. Professors have office hours that are there specifically so you can ask your dumbass questions without wasting my time.

The hell of it is, the Stupid Chick is in three of my four classes. I hope rabid gerbils eat her tongue so the rest of us don’t have to listen to her insipid questions for the rest of the semester.

BTW: this was my first time posting to the Pit in earnest. I hope I did okay. Maybe I should have mentioned goat felching…

5

And a hearty fuck you from a 33 year old returning student. I am so terribly sorry if all us geriatric students are ruining your idyllic college experience, but I paid a lot of godamm money to be sitting in that class (said money provided by me, by the way, not mummy and daddy), and if I don’t understand what the professor is saying, I’m going to ask.

And by the way, I’m on my way to my third 4.0 full time semester, so, no, I don’t think it’s harder to learn as an adult.

6

I know the kind of annoying students you mean. There is a woman that I keep ending up in classes with and I call her the “Yeah, but…” woman. No matter what we are discussing, she has to interject an absurd statement that she has formulated in her tiny brain from bits and pieces of things she has read. An example of this woman’s crap:

We are discussing the Civil War. This woman will say, “You know that the Civil War was started because of Chinese immigrants trying to overthrow the slave trade.”

Someone will say, “Um, no. The Civil War was started because…”

She will then say, “Yeah, but the Chinese immigrants were putting pressure on President Lincoln to do something.”

Someone will say, “Um, no. Actually, it was…”

She will then say, “Yeah, but there were several large troops of Chinese immigrants fighting for the South.”

Someone will say, “Um, I don’t think so…”

Of course, then she will say…you know. It keeps going on until she finally tones down her statement to something true like “Yeah, but there were Chinese immigrants in America in the 1800s.”

It is extremely irritating!

7

Is it just me, or have all the fuck yous of recent vintage suddenly become hearty? Whatshisname on the Pit thread about political correctness – I just don’t feel like looking – was dispensing hearty fuck yous like they were Tic Tacs.

8

I’ve had a few of these types in my classes. One was indeed a non-trad. student, probably in his late thirties, who worked in the school’s copying room (my school had a program whereby employees could take classes super-cheap–which I always thought was a pretty cool thing). This guy would just disagree with the professor on principle, which cheesed me off, 'cause it was pretty obvious this professor knew absolutely everything, not to mention the fact that he (the professor) was a cool guy.

Most of the time, though, the real jack-asses were my own, college-aged peers. It don’t matter how old you are, if you have something to prove, you’re going to fuck it up for everyone else. There was the girl who would snort and make just-loud-enough rude comments during Cog Sci, about whom I had gory death fantasies of the most exotic kind. Then there was the kid who would think out loud (what’s the adage? Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt?) under the guise of contributing to discussion.

Strangely, the first I ever heard of the RealDoll sex toy was when Verbal Diarrhea Lad wrote the website link on the blackboard at the end of one of my Intro to Women’s Studies classes (yeah, I said women’s studies, you wanna fight about it?), as something we might want to check out. Yeah, I guess it was sorta germane, but not really, and it was also very creepy.

9

Thanks, Lucretia, for saying what I was thinking.

You know, Homer, I really like you. But that comment about adults was just assinine, and frankly, hurtful.

I WISH to HELL I could go back to school. I’m thirtyheartyfuckingfour (that was for you, Snoooopy :wink: ) with a high school education and a great employer who would pay for it. ALL of it. Fortunately for you though, I don’t have a support system in place at home whereby I could actually make it work. So don’t freakin worry about this “intelligence and youth disadvantged” adult taking up YOUR time with my idiotic questions.

10

As a long-time instructor of Freshman Comp, I have to agree that dumbfucks come in all age-groups. That said, I appreciated my older students at the previous school I taught in. They were there–as a whole–to learn and wouldn’t let me be confusing (something all of us do at times). If they didn’t understand what I was saying, they asked. Usually the majority of the class appreciated that because they didn’t understand either, but were too “cool” to ask. I noticed some resentment from my smarter traditional freshmen at times, but then again the non-traditional students got kinda pissed off when the young 'uns were trying to get dates during lecture.

Now I’m teaching at a larger university which doesn’t have nearly as many older students; in fact, one of my students this semester is the first one over 30 I’ve had in 3 full years here. I also have a 26 year-old Sargeant in the Marine Corps (female–you’d never peg her for a Marine until she kicked your ass!), and I as well as most of my students appreciate their experience and different points of view.

Part of it has to do with the instructor: there are ways of shutting down time-sucks and topic-changers. My favorite is, “That’s an interesting point. Did you have your hand up, Fred?” After a few refusals to engage the idjit, they tend to think a bit harder before jumping in.

One thing to remember, though–and this is especially applicable to the solipsists in the crowd (not that you know who you are)–if one person asks the question, there are usually a few more who are thinking it. Even if it annoys you, there are probably 4 or 5 out of every 25 or so (from my experience and average class-size) who have the same “inane” misunderstanding.

Stofsky

I’d call this my two cents’ worth, but as a TA I can’t afford it.

11

I agree that the prof has to shut down the morons. Just asking questions if you don’t understand is fine, but if a student finds they don’t understand any of the lecture at all, including most of the vocabulary, other arrangements need to be made. My worst ever was in a physics lab, where we had a guy who was so clueless he asked the same question every single hearty-fucking session. “I have a problem with gravity. Is it possitive or negative?” That doesn’t even make sense in context, and this was the second quarter of first-year physics. If he didn’t understand that, there is no way he should have been there at all.

After the first couple of times, the teacher just started putting him off, telling him to come to his office and he would work with him. Appearantly he never went. The rest of the class had trouble believing this guy made it into the school. He was routinely late, he came in the class puffing a big ciger one time, which in a closed-up tight building is just plain rude.

What pissed me off the most was he was assigned as my lab partner, which normally would mean that we would alternate write-ups. I would do one week, he would do the next week, and so on. I offered to help him, admittedly a somewhat selfish act since I didn’t want to fail, and he said he was too busy. I went to the teacher after I saw his first attempt, and got dispensation to do my own write-ups on every lab, and share half of them with the moron.

The guy seemed to have no idea that when his behaviour was inappropriate, either. How could a person not notice that when he opens his mouth everyone groans? It was almost like the teacher hired him to provide comedy relief. To this day I am amazed that this guy could have lived to be old enough to attend college. You would think he would have accidentally removed him self from the gene pool long before then. He was so stupid.

12

I am in college. I love college. If you don’t get out of my class. I don’t care how old you are, if you are taking up my class time because your mummy and papa told you to get out of the house, go work for McD’s.

I am tired of listening to my classmates whine about having to take this or that class, how unfair this or that prof is, and all of the rest of it. You do not have to be here. You signed up for the class, you get to deal. You can skip if you want. I would prefer that you did.

This is why I like hard classes. Honors, accelerated, its all great. They aren’t any harder, they just filter out the whiners. The people who take them intend to work. They may not be brilliant, but they are working hard. Its all I ask of my classmates. Well, it would be nice if they learned to walk faster than Guppy the Wonder Slug.

This is why I usually prefer older people. They did pay for this class, in real money, not scholarships or hand outs. They care about what is going on.

13

::sigh:: I knew before I posted I was going to be interpreted wrong.

Look, did I ever say that all non-traditional (thanks for the term, Lux) were like this? No. I can count 20 for every 1 that did it. Hell, I’ve been friends with some of them. Non-traditional students are for the most part very intelligent, funny, and a great addition to class.

What I said was that every time, in my experiences, it had been a non-traditional student.

And I’m glad you want to ‘get your moneys worth,’ more power to you. But if it means asking the same question for 20 minutes, or wanting a deep explaination on something that everyone else got with a quick overview, please, ask it after class.

And it is harder to learn as an adult. The older you get, the harder it is to learn. It doesn’t mean you can’t, it just means that a person has to work harder for the same end as a younger person.

I’m sure one day I’ll get a person my age doing this, but so far, it just ain’t happening.

I suppose I should have amended my post to say “Note to all smart non-traditional students: I don’t mean you. Just the morons, of which many people my age are, also, I’ve just yet to have one who wasted class time.”

Lucretia, Missy2U, don’t be sad, don’t be offended, because I wasn’t talking about you.

–Tim

14

A couple of my classmates through the years:

  1. Born Again - Female in English Literature class who would somehow manage to insert the line “When I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior…” into every commentary. Nothing against your religion, but it’s yours, not mine. Keep it to yourself. You don’t hear me saying “When I was boning my wife…” in class because it’s none of your business and I have sense enough to know what others may not want to hear.

  2. Government Hack - God, how summer sessions bring the idiots out in droves. Woman comes to evening Poli Sci class dressed in Postal Carrier outfit. Asked the dumbest questions, especially when given the opportunity by the prof via the ol’ “Any questions before the test next class?” Sweet Baby Jesus, the minutia this would provoke. The questions combined with the outfit… let’s just say that stereotypes were reinforced.

  3. Bored Housewife - Summer sessions also seem to be a siren song for housewives. You know the type. “I’m so bored around the house here, I’m going to spice things up and take a class.” Unfortunately they took my class. To “professional” students (the ones that are going 4-years and out) the summer class is an oppurtunity to learn a bit, but quite frankly represents another 4 units towards a degree. To the Bored Housewife, summer class is an opportunity to pretend to be striving for Nobel Prize consideration. Philosophical topics must be brought up, issues hashed out, hypothetical “what-ifs” must be persued to their illogical ends, and new psycho-social world orders must be constructed. Too bad they’re doing this in a basic accouting class. Go back to your soaps.

15

I’m in the sort of situation right now where I have to get through several mindlessly-numbing classes to get to the shit I really want. Example: English 201. Basically 2nd-year english. The majority of the students do not know the difference between “theirs” and “their’s”. So when I raise the question of why “their’s” is used when, to me, that’s not proper grammar, a lot of them are suddenly both clueless and pissed off at me. I realize this looks like a mundane point, but in the context of the poem it was quite important. The most interesting part: the prof didn’t know the difference there. I had to explain a fucking point of grammar to the entire class. Several times to someone who appears to be an otherwise intelligent woman (c. my age). Three times I explain it to her . . . Gee, fun:rollseyes:

As for people who “have to take a class” and complain about it bitterly (which I don’t think I did . . . I actually enjoy my class for the most part, morons notwithstanding), if you don’t like it, go the fuck somewhere else! If you don’t like the gen ed. requirements, don’t go to fucking college! Don’t waste your time, money, or my time! Thanks and have a nice squicking session:)

16

Well, so far I only have HS experience, but I go through the same thing. And we all have to be there. sigh
There is a girl in my class, we call her Biffy. Her two best friends are Tiffy and Miffy. It’s an insult, they take it as a compliment.
First month of Honors Chem, and already I want to kill her.
Teacher: Ok, I’ll give you an example. H20 is 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen. So it’s dihydrogen monoxide. Remember from yesterday’s lecture, if it’s a non-metal there is a prefix.
Biffy: Why is it dihydrogen.
Teacher: Because it’s a non-metal.
Biffy: But why is it DIhydrogen
Teacher: Because there are 2 hydrogens
Biffy: Why is there 2 hydgrogens?
Teacher: Because that’s how water is made.
Biffy: So why do you put a Di in front of hydrogen?

AHHHHHH!!! MAKE IT STOP!!! And it goes on and on and on and on and on, this was just a minor example. And it’s just going to get worse.

17

I hate fucking nodders. No, not people who stayed out too late and can’t keep awake in class, I mean those limpnecked disasters who find their way to the front of the class and spend every session wagging their moldy cantaloupes at the professor like some simpering spring toy. I’m not talking about generic ass-kissers either, though those are a definite source of malignant puss. I mean the ones who for whatever reason, just won’t stop nodding in agreement with whatever comment the professor happens to be spewing out at the moment. Just one continuous nod of agreement and encouragement after another, as if stillness during a lecture would signal to the professor they are a complete moron. Again, not the general signs of acknowledgement when a prof is talking directly to them, but a continuous search for the nuts in the prof’s shit.

Prof: As the parcel of air moves up, it enters a region of less density…

Dicklick: nod-nod-nod

Prof: and in doing so begins to expand and cool…

Dicklick: nod-NOD-NOD-NOD

Prof: …and this exertion of energy is referred to…

Dicklick: nod-nod-nod-NOD-NOD

Prof: …as ice-cream cone puppydog adiabatic cooling…

Dicklick: NOD-NOD-NOD-nod-nod

Prof: …and depending lightswitch flipnod coolant sense making none am I…

Dicklick: NOD- NOD- NOD- NOD…… ad infinitum

I hate fucking nodders.

18

There was a really irritating woman in my tutorial group last year. She was absolutely clueless, she constantly missed lectures and tutorial meetings, and everyone dreaded being teamed up with her for oral presentations because she always managed to miss them. She was teamed up with me and two other girls once, met us the day before the presentation to go over everything, and then failed to turn up for the presentation on the day. Our tutor was visibly annoyed and blamed us for not knowing where she was!!! The kicker was when she checked out a journal from the library, one that was vital for our group’s essay. There were 8 of us, and we all needed an article from that journal. But she grabbed hold of it first, and kept it for three weeks. (You’re only supposed to be able to keep it for one day – I personally think that journals should not be checked out at all.) She returned it to the library the day after the essay was due (I monitored the library catalog web site). The infuriating part was that the library would not get it back from her, they’d only fine her a measely 50p (about 80 cents) a day! GRRR!!!

Btw, this woman did happen to be a mature student, but I am by no means against mature students. Most of them are great and a real pleasure to have in the class. In fact, my dad was a mature student for his first degree (he graduated at age 41) and continues to take classes out of personal interest (now age 53). This woman was the only one I’ve had a bad experience with.

19

We were on our senior trip from southern Ohio to Washington, DC for a week.

We pile on the bus, take I-70 East. This carries us across Ohio, through one the arms of West Virginia (near Wheeling), and most of the way across Pennsylvania. Then we turn south, cross Maryland, skirt DC and are driving in Virginia toward our hotel.

Which prompts the question from one girl, “Why is West Virgina so far from Virginia?”

(Also overheard on the trip, “What’s the name of the monument where Lincoln is sitting down?”)

20

Well, I’m a mature student. 4.0 grade average. I don’t think I ask a lot of stupid questions, although I admit that occasionally something really obvious skips right past me. When that happens, I only need a one sentence explanation. Some of the young ones though… talk about immature! (See, it goes both ways, Homer)

There is a woman who takes several classes with me. She has a habit of asking a question right after it’s been answered. That drives me nuts. I don’t need to hear the explanation twice! She also tends to say things like “Well, how come I get it now and I didn’t get it before?”. Like anyone can answer that for you. I really don’t know why. I got it the first time.