Other miscellaneous encounters
One day in class, one of my student’s cellphones went off — and he answered it! I walked up, took the phone from him, and said (in a very polite tone): “Mr. J*n*s can’t talk right now. He’s in the middle of class.”
The woman at the other end — I assume it was his GF — was scandalized. She apologized, and I told her, again in that very sweet, very polite voice, that it was fine, and he’d call her after class. I then hung up and handed the cell back to him.
Nobody ever answered a cell in that class again.
Or there was the day I was proctoring an exam, and one of the students suddenly stood up and started screaming about “imperialism” and “oppression” and just generally being insane. I never did find out what set him off — but then, I didn’t much care.
And speaking of exams, I had an interesting incident with a gang of three Saudis who thought I was a stupid American who didn’t know anything. They were taking an evening exam, and all three got up about halfway through the exam, and walked up to tell me they needed to go out into the hall to pray.
“Uhm, don’t think so,” I said. It was 8:30 pm. They started to argue, and I just told them I knew exactly when they had to pray, and this was not one of those times. (I suspect they had cheat notes they wanted to consult.)
Or the student whom I just never saw until after the midterm, which apparently he took. He came into my office, sat down, and said, “I had a cold.”
“Excuse me?” Maybe I was being dense, but I didn’t follow.
“At the midterm.” He just looked at me.
“And?” I asked.
“I want to take it over again.”
“Why?”
“I had a cold.”
Turns out when I asked him why he hadn’t been to class even once, that was the reason.
“I had a cold.”
I didn’t let him take it over, and I didn’t see him the rest of the semester. He didn’t drop, though. Oh well.
joubertconlon says:
I just read all your student stories. Most amusing. I always wanted to be a teacher but did not have the money to study for it. Now, I’m glad I didn’t. I would not have had the patience or tolerance.
November 21, 2005, 4:07 pmWyatt Earp says:
You should have asked her what she was wearing, or if she had any “pet names” for the student - which you would surely share with the class!
November 21, 2005, 7:26 pmrightwingprof says:
I didn’t think of that. I was pissed. Really pissed.
November 21, 2005, 7:50 pmAakash says:
Regarding your first story (the part of your entry on the front page)… That was mean.
Then again, I try to remember to put mine on vibrate in class…. Actually, most of the time, I don’t even think of that, but my phone just [typically] doesn’t ring during those times.
But perhaps that because now (as a graduate student) I have class only one day each week.
November 24, 2005, 4:17 am