Posted on 10/24/2014 8:09:13 AM PDT by Kaslin
Dear Kyle F. Student (not real name):
I am in receipt of your email request for extra credit. First of all, I would like to thank you for writing to ask for extra credit rather than wasting precious class time with your request. This will also spare you from being humiliated in front of your peers. Unfortunately, though, it will probably result in your being humiliated in front of numerous members of our community - some of whom will probably be members of our university community as well. Please allow me to explain.
Your extra credit assignment will be completed in five basic steps. In order to get full credit, you must complete each one of the following steps in order:
1. Buy a cardboard box and tear off a square piece approximately 12 inches wide and eight inches tall.
2. Purchase one black magic marker.
3. Using the black magic marker, write the following words on the piece of cardboard
ABLE-BODIED MAN REFUSES TO WORK
PLEASE GIVE ME SOMETHING I DID NOT EARN
4. Go to the Walmart on Market Street and College Road and hold up the sign at the entrance to the parking lot. Just blend right in with all the able-bodied men who are holding up signs begging for money instead of working. Stay there for approximately one hour.
5. Go home and write a 500 word description of what it felt like to ask people who work for a living to give you something you did not earn. I am especially interested in how it felt for you as a man to beg from women - especially those with small children in need of cheap food and modest clothing. Share your feelings with me, Kyle. And don’t hold back one bit. Pretend like you’re writing a Women’s Studies paper.
I predict that your reaction to this little assignment will take one of two forms. Each reaction requires a separate course of action and, therefore, must be discussed separately.
This would not be terribly surprising to me given your behavior this semester. Recall that you once asked the following question during a test review session: “Dr. Adams, what particular cases should we focus on (emphasis mine) as we prepare for the next exam?” In other words, you actually asked me which cases would be on the exam so that you could just read those – as opposed to all the cases you were assigned this semester.
Also, recall that after I specifically told you not to disclose personal medical information to me you came into my office and announced that you were “bi-polar.” In fact, you began your sentence by saying “I know we’re not supposed to tell you this, but …”
In other words, you seem to be more than just comfortable trying to get special treatment by making people feel sorry for you. In fact, you seem to feel entitled to beg for sympathy. And you would not do it unless you thought you could get something in the process.
In short, if you decide that you feel comfortable hanging out at Walmart with the other beggars then I would suggest that you drop out of college immediately. You don’t need a degree to hold a sign and look pathetic. Save yourself the debt, Kyle.
In fact, you might feel rightfully ashamed – knowing that you are able-bodied and can do much better with your God-given potential.
If your reaction is indeed one of shame then congratulations! The good news is that you will have earned ten points on your final average. The bad news is that it will have to be credited towards the ten points I just deducted from your average for asking me to give you something you did not earn.
Put simply, Kyle, there are two types of men in this world. There are those who spend their lives begging for things they don’t deserve. And then there are the rest of us who spend our lives working to subsidize their dependency. You simply need to decide what kind of man you are going to be.
Good luck on your assignment, Kyle. I look forward to reading your paper.
Did this actually happen?
One other warning not included could have been, “...and you might get your ass kicked by the other guys hanging out in front of Walmart when they see your sign...”
If a teacher actually did this they are a first rate jerk. Presumably the student wanted to do extra work to get extra credit, not just have extra credit given to him.
I suspect it did. From what I know of Mike Adams, he does not suffer leeches gladly. If this guy was really in one of Adams’ classes, failed to do the work, then came to him asking special treatment because of some imaginary malady, I can see this being the good doctor’s reaction.
LMAO! Brilliant!
God Bless Mike Adams.
If our colleges and universities had more like him; they would not be the hell holes of cultural perversity churning out functional illiterates.
What the heck?
If this was really written by a teacher/professor, then that person really needs to move on and find another line of work.
The student, “Kyle”, did not ask for extra points. He asked for extra credit. That’s sort of like asked your boss for extra hours. There is nothing wrong with that.
This bothers me because I have taught for many years. Quite often I am asked for extra credit. And I always answer in one of two ways. In most cases, the answer is a polite no, followed by suggestions on how to do better on the next test.
But sometimes I will give extra credit (for one and all), if conditions warrant it.
No, I’m not a super teacher. I just try to behave in a decent manner, quite unlike the teacher in the above article.
But you never know. I once had a student of mine miss a final exam. She simply never showed up for it. Automatic zero, right? That would teach her to be more organized next time.
So when she asked for a make-up, I asked for details (which I later verified). Her drunken mother had locked her out of the house late on the night before the exam. She roamed the neighborhood until she found a friend who would take her in.
Teachers are not drill sergeants. We are supposed to be firm, and fair. Not push-overs. But not drill sergeants.
It seems obvious that he knew the student’s habits — he pointed out two things the student had done that demonstrated so — and was not willing to give a slacker an extra chance to pull up from an F to a D. But I also know Adams’ writing style, which is often sarcastic and humorous and frequently uses paper tiger Everymen to make his point.
He could have just said no.
What the world needs is more “first rate jerks” who will define and defend a standard instead of riding the wave of whatever idiotic trend is popular at the moment.
The kid wanted something for nothing and the teacher instead offered him a learning opportunity (or as they say today, a “teachable moment”).
The fact of the matter is that some students just don't take tests well. Others will do well on tests but are totally shiftless and lazy when it comes to papers, projects, homework and the like.
A good teacher cuts their student a little slack when they are willing to do extra work in one area to make up for a deficiency in another. Over time, such extra work has the amazing effect of improving that deficiency.
Even if it creates a little extra work for the teacher.
The remainder should be replaced by on-line instructors and computerized testing just as soon as it becomes technologically feasible.
What a douche! This teacher is taking his personal hostilities out on a student. Isn’t part of teaching being able to handle situations where someone is failing? I guess this teacher never failed at anything their entire life. Perfect one, he is.
I’d take that note straight to the Dean/Principal/Attorney’s office. People who fail in class aren’t always slackers in life.
Mike should be a liberal, if he isn’t already. Disgusting.
Just a suggestion here. Get a teaching degree, enter the classroom and at the end of the year re-read this column. Then tell me if he is a jerk, or just completely in touch with reality.
It is NEVER a teacher's job to humiliate a student. It is a teacher's job to teach, period. If Kyle did something wrong, it is the teacher's job to explain why it was wrong. The explanation can be done with kindness, or it can be done very sternly. Depends on the situation.
But humiliating "explanations" never work. All they do is make the student confused, then angry. Humiliation is a tactic used by weak teachers.
Please note I'm discussing civilian teachers here, when no crime was involved. And I am not including military instructors. That's a different situation entirely.
And Albion, this rant was not directed at you. It was directed at Adams.
I wish more teachers were like this.
His excuse was he’s “bipolar.” That’s a psychological diagnosis and can be treated. If it’s so severe that this student couldn’t get his work done, then by definition he can’t pass the course. Bending the rules to accommodate his situation simply lowers the bar.
No, what he wanted was a way to avoid the consequences of his actions by demanding he be given another opportunity, that wasn’t going to be available to the other students.
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