So awkward. (Vent inside!)

bethsmiles

Today has been interesting so far. My structural violence class pretty much exploded today. Students walked out of class, my professor ended up walking out of class and everyone who was left just argued. Our class on Thursday is going to be so awkward.

I'm not happy that people felt the need to push my professor over the edge today since she was supposed to finish the lecture that will help us with our final project today. Ugh...I'm so frustrated with the people in my class! It's one thing to ask questions and offer your own opinion, it's another to constantly question and undermine everything our professor says. She is an excellent teacher and has a ton of real world experience - I don't think her opinion is the final say on things but I feel like I'm not learning because people in my class spend so much time questioning everything instead of trying to understand the material.

end rant.

tuarceatha

I wanna know what the discussion was! Share?

csousa1

I obviously don't know your professor or what happened....but I think that she should not have allowed a bunch of students to run her out of her own classroom. If it was that much of an upheaval, she should have done whatever she could to gain control of her classroom again and tell the students who caused the issue to leave. If she needed time to regain compsure, that's fine, but she certainly should not have put the rest of you in the position that you seem to be in now. No one should be penalized for her leaving her class.

becunning2

One of the hardest things about teaching is classroom management--it sounds like that as much information and real-world experience as she has, she's letting her class get away from her! No good!  I understand why you're so frustrated.

Swazzle

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_awkward-vent-inside?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:e29bb7cb-00e7-4e92-8872-d29a281c4e8bPost:45bb5e9e-e90b-4fc3-acb5-e10cb88bc4eb">Re: So awkward. (Vent inside!)</a>:
[QUOTE]I wanna know what the discussion was! Share?
Posted by jenjenniferf[/QUOTE]

<div>I wanna know too!</div>

bethsmiles

It's not so much that the class was out of control as students pretty much made it clear that they weren't willing to learn the information she was providing us with so she was done teaching for the day.

It all started when some students tried to convince her to cancel class so they could go hear the ambassador from Israel to the U.S. speak. She said she wouldn't cancel class but they could go if they want but they would miss a lot of important information. They left. Then she started her lecture (which we have been trying to  get through for a week and a half). We have to do a project on an NGO that uses a human-rights based approach so this lecture was on what it means to have a human rights based approach. Half way through the lecture this girl who is super irritating every day in class and has this holier than thou attitude pretty much tells our professor that since capitalism is behind everything all of this is hypocritical and has evil motives behind it. My professor has addressed this sort of question on several occasions. So she told the girl that if she felt that she had the answers she was more than welcome to come up to the front and teach the class. The girl walked out of class and then our professor left class.

Those of us who were left got into an argument about how our professor was using the term "development". Basically it all boils down to a particular group of students being stuck on their conceptualization of certain terms and not being able to step back and reevaluate the way they are defining specific terms. All of this has been going on all semester and I think today it just reached the boiling point.

tuarceatha

1 month 1  week and 3 days until you graduate!

bethsmiles

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_awkward-vent-inside?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:e29bb7cb-00e7-4e92-8872-d29a281c4e8bPost:8b2bd358-0009-4e24-9cca-fe66b2117153">Re: So awkward. (Vent inside!)</a>:
[QUOTE]1 month 1  week and 3 days until you graduate! :D
Posted by jenjenniferf[/QUOTE]

and I can't wait! It will be so nice to be done with this class.

bethsmiles

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_awkward-vent-inside?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:e29bb7cb-00e7-4e92-8872-d29a281c4e8bPost:c7d2afc1-22fa-46c9-bf60-ea41bd00b6c5">Re: So awkward. (Vent inside!)</a>:
[QUOTE]If I were you I'd probably email the professor and say that you are disappointed that she left because you were among the students who were NOT being asshats and wanted to learn the material, and<strong> find out how you can get that time back</strong>, be it office hours or whatnot. I think that the student who spoke out in class was wrong, but I also think it was wrong of the professor to leave when it is her responsibility to teach you guys. 
Posted by LivLeighton[/QUOTE]

This is what another girl and I were thinking about doing. She went to our professor's office a little bit after the whole episode happened but she wasn't there. We are thinking she needs a little bit of time (at least the afternoon) to cool down.

I think the whole situation got out of hand and emotions were too high. Unfortunately, I think this will affect the rest of the semester.

doubleSS07

That's terrible!  I'd be frustrated too if I were there to learn and people who only wanted to push their own agenda interrupted the learning process.  Who the heck goes to class to "convince" their professor to cancel the class so you can go listen to someone speak.  If it were that importannt to me to hear the speaker I would have opted to NOT disrupt other people's class time and I would have just skipped class.

I agree with PP's though that the professor lost control of the class and should have asked the disruptive, capitalism is evil and it's all a big conspiracy student to shut her trap, since I'm assuming it was a lecture and not a discussion, or leave. As students you pay to sit in that class and learn and it's not fair that another or several others disrupt that.  I'd definitetly try to contact the professor and ask if there's any way to continue the lecture or at least get some notes so you have a clear understanding of the project.  Good luck!!