Warning: This post is crass and gripey. You will probably like me less by the end of it because I am so darn whiney.
It happens each semester. You are sitting in class the first day. You have your new notebook out, with your new pen. You are listening to the teacher introduce himself. He passes the syllabus out, and now you have something to read. The professor seems knowledgable, and not too boring.
"Good!" you think. "This isn't going to be so bad after all!"
Then it happens. You hear sucking sounds like a giant vacuum cleaner coming from the front row of the classroom. Though you can't see who is making the noises, you can definitely hear them. It is the horrible sound of a student sucking up to the teacher. Yes, the wannabe teacher's pet.
This pet takes many different forms, but he always has these same characteristics:
- tries to make witty jokes with the professor
- does not let other people answer questions
- relays boring stories from his own life to impress the teacher
- sits on the front row
- generally increases the length of lecture time by at least 5% because of his incessant commentary
- is absolutely oblivious to the pain he causes her peers, and sometimes even the professor
Yes, I have one of these. In this case, it is a "she." In this case, she is in two of my four classes. In this case, my hormones make me want to jump her in the alley behind the Human Services Building.
She is in the same program that I am, and will probably continue to be in my classes until we graduate in August.
Heaven help me.
"Good!" you think. "This isn't going to be so bad after all!"
Then it happens. You hear sucking sounds like a giant vacuum cleaner coming from the front row of the classroom. Though you can't see who is making the noises, you can definitely hear them. It is the horrible sound of a student sucking up to the teacher. Yes, the wannabe teacher's pet.
This pet takes many different forms, but he always has these same characteristics:
- tries to make witty jokes with the professor
- does not let other people answer questions
- relays boring stories from his own life to impress the teacher
- sits on the front row
- generally increases the length of lecture time by at least 5% because of his incessant commentary
- is absolutely oblivious to the pain he causes her peers, and sometimes even the professor
Yes, I have one of these. In this case, it is a "she." In this case, she is in two of my four classes. In this case, my hormones make me want to jump her in the alley behind the Human Services Building.
She is in the same program that I am, and will probably continue to be in my classes until we graduate in August.
Heaven help me.
posted by Amanda
at
12:16 PM
13 Comments:
i thought that people got over this after HS. apparently not.
gseoghkq
NO! that is what is so painful. because MOST people get over it after HS, but some people continue on.
i want to write her an anonymous note. i will sign it:
phvlo!
Ha! In my classes we have competing suck-ups. There is a him and her non-pair. They compete to see who can "win". It's so aggravating, especially in the classes that have participation points. :)
or you could sign it qybvjq!
man, I've never had a student suck up to me . . . I feel like I'm missing out on a key part of my profession.
Or maybe it's because none of my students seem to take me seriously anyway. My colleague is "genius," "incredible," "deserves a raise and a half" while I "am really cute."
(Students fill out one form for the two of us.)
I bet they suck up to him.
melinda - oh my gosh! you are way worse off than i am! competing suck ups!? that is insane.
znwufdwk!
Hey, I was just talking about that girl the other day. Well it wasn't her specifically, but you're right--there's (at least) one in every class.
It stinks for me as the teacher, too, because a) it annoys me, and b) it stresses me out to see the other students' frustration. It's not easy to cut these people off; they're very determined.
another reason I disliked college.
ecfoqdiq
my ear itches.
svjft
jes, you must be bored.
vmcvh
woops. try again.
pewaoex
Are you KIDDING me? It is an unwritten rule that you can whine as much as you want when you have somebody like this in your class. You have my permission to smack said student upside the head anytime you would like.
xybpmzq
no, not bored. i just had an itchy ear at that moment, and it seemed like the most appropriate thing to tell you at that moment. :)
tqlsxn! almost like texan!
I had "that guy" in my EE class and my family psych class. He asked SO many questions! You know when youre sitting in class and paying attention and there are random, not directly related wonderings that pop into your head? You would NEVER waste so much time actually asking all those non-questions. This guy did. My EE professor actually stared at him after he asked yet another dumb question and said "what does that have to do with the lecture topic?" and called on someone else.
akqalqs
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