My Student Who Probably Didn't Have Corona
I am a college instructor and am teaching my classes online right now. So I mentioned a few days ago that I thought perhaps one of my students had Coronavirus but I didn’t think it was appropriate to ask her. Well, I’m pretty sure now that this student was not actually ‘sick.’ That in fact, she is taking advantage of this situation. Which makes me sick.
She is the only student left in one class that I am teaching, which is new for me because I usually have twenty students per class. The other student in the class did not have a computer at home or Internet access. I never got a hold of him when the school closed. Which makes me sad.
I tried to get in touch with him and get him a loaner computer the school was offering and get him free Internet access but there is no way to get a hold of him, he doesn’t answer his telephone and his voicemail is full. He did not have the resources he needed for this situation.
I hate that he got lost like that in all of this.
But back to this particular little woman that I was speaking of who told me she was sick for two weeks, canceled all of our classes virtually and didn’t turn in any work until recently. And the entire time she was sick, I did not push her to turn in her assignments. When she got better, she told me she could no longer do classes over the telephone because she no longer had a telephone.
It's 2020 people, and she doesn't have a phone? We were talking on the phone, not video chatting, so what she is saying is that she has no access to a telephone of any kind. People don't have a lot of things in this world, but even beggars in India have a smartphone.
I told her that we needed to do video classes on the computer then. She said she was not available to do that. I told her she needed to do that in order to pass the class. That’s when it all started. She said that she did not have the ‘resources’ to do video conferencing, even though she emailed me all of her assignments on Word Documents. So she has a computer, the Internet and even Microsoft Word.
She said she would contact the board of the school if I tried to fail her because she 'can't' do virtual classes. I then told her that I could get her a loaner computer and free internet access. She said she was ready to contact the ‘head’ of the school. I sent my supervisor all her emails and my boss told me to let it go, and I was fine with that. I understand my higher up’s point of view, with all this insanity going on, we don’t need more trouble.
I told my little student that we could go on without video conferencing. Just to give you context this is the lowest level English class at the college. That is why I wanted to video conference with her, she needs extra guidance, but whatever.
The girl was fine just doing assignments, but she had said something in one of her emails along the lines of, "I will turn in my work when I can." So I sent her an email told her all her latest assignments were late and I would forgive that due to illness but moving forward according to the syllabus for every day that she is late, she will lose one letter grade.
I sent her another email with an assignment and asked her to email me back and tell me she received the assignment and that she understood it. She did not reply to me so I sent her another email stating that she needed to check her email every day and keep in contact with me. This was her reply:
“I check my email as I can. I don't mean to be rude but I understand what I have to do. As an adult I just ask if you could address me a little differently. I am not able to answer ever hour.You asked for writing assignment number 3 to be done in the writing center book. This assignment has already been completed. Did you mean another assignment?”
First of all, what? When people start a sentence by saying, "I don't mean to be rude," they always mean to be rude. What kind of idiot speaks to her college instructor like this? I am grading you, you fool. I am also determining how hard I make this semester on you. No college student of mine has ever disrespected me in such a blatant manner. I felt like a fool because I mistakenly sent her the wrong assignment number. But I was irate and she is the fool.
I talked to a friend of mine who works in administration at a University, she told me to not even acknowledge what she said. So that’s what I did. I just gave the right assignment number. But let’s just take a moment here…
Who does she even think she is? And at a time like this, using the excuse of illness and not having resources, when there are those who are really ill and don’t actually have resources, is disgusting. I know I have no way of knowing if she really was sick or even if she had the virus, but my gut tells me she is full of it.
You don’t like my tone? I don’t like your excuses and lies.
I was very upset by this until it occurred to me, I’m not going to let this ignorant kid disturb my balance. I’m not going to let her threaten me. I’m just going to do my work as her instructor and get through this difficult time. I don’t need this.
This is hard enough as it is.
I know what her excuse would be. She is a new mother, she just had a child before she started the class. That is not my concern. I’ve had students with five kids and two jobs turn in assignments on time. She signed up for this class, she needs to take responsibility for that and do the work. I also know that the student in question does not have a job at the moment and didn’t have one before the lockdown.
So come on, people. I am being overly considerate of all my students at this difficult time.
Don’t mess with me right now. Now is not the time to screw with people. Nature is screwing us all. Let’s take a minute and all try to act like human beings to one another. No one needs to be making things worse with stupidity.
This student is not stupid. She is doing really well in my class. She is in a developmental class, but I had high hopes for her. However, now I am not sure she will succeed at that same level if she does not understand how to communicate with others respectfully.
This is an issue of respect. She disrespected me.
But like I said, I’ve got bigger fish to fry. This is not important. Nothing but survival is important right now.
Let’s get our priorities straight. Let’s be kind to one another.
This class in question is a pass/fail class. This woman will probably pass my class, but will she pass the test of life? As cliche, as it sounds, disrespecting others, will usually lead to serious failure in every aspect of life.
She needs to grow up.
I'm usually in favor of challenging and questioning authority, however, only when it is for a good cause. Being too lazy to do your schoolwork is not a good cause.
As adults, we all need to act like actual adults right now. If maturity was ever called for, it is right now.
nina
I have been featured in a new blog called, Corona Chronicles, check it out here…