Teach me...

I have never wanted to teach, and now I know why.

Today I rolled up to my Issues class just in time to get an exam handed back. In this class, exams consist of a paper every few weeks. First paper wasn't too good--85%, well below what I'm used to for a paper, any paper. So i had high hopes for the second exam.

57%.

Fifty-seven percent. In 15 years of schooling, I have never. Ever. Done anywhere near this badly on a paper.

I used to pass well as an even-tempered person. Not anymore.

So, as soon as this class is out, I'm back to hash this out with the good professor and try and rescue my GPA from this nasty C I now have.

I am tired of fighting teachers. I am tired of trying to explain why I was right, and I am tired of being told, "Go ahead, try to convince me. Be creative and I might give you back your points." And they sit back and cross their arms, so confident in their control over the tenous grasp I have on my future, blithely asserting that "It's just one grade; in the long term it won't matter." They assert their right to take off 20% of a grade if you forget to sign your name, even though they're supposed to be intelligent and realize that sometimes life just happens. Instead of setting up obstacles, they should be knocking them down.

If this is what teachers are, I have no interest.