who said racism is just for high schoolers? apparently not vermont.

it really is so lovely to have college students say "it's not fair" to you when you explain to them that turning in a two page paper when the minimum requirement was three pages means they get a 50%. and that's being gracious. in my world, they would get a 0. "it's not fair." you know what's not fair? me having to listen to you. me having to explain to you, a 20-something person, that not following directions means you don't get an A. me having to play dream destroyer and tell you that "working hard" does not mean you're awesome. or exceptional. it's also not fair that i have to listen to you tell me that it's my fault you did poorly because i didn't tell you exactly how to fix your paper. i'm going to punch you in your stupid, whiny mouth. hard.

in other racist news, i learned of a fairly disconcerting situation at a college i work(ed) at. a female student of mine was absent from class a few weeks ago and i was told, both by her and college administration, that this absence was due to her being frightened of another student on campus. i explicitly asked the college admin person if this was a domestic violence-type situation, and was told yes. having had my own run-in with a violent ex-boyfriend in college, i was especially sympathetic to what happened to her. so sure, make up the quiz, take your time, i understand.

WELL.... today after a final exam a student of mine asked me if i was teaching at the college next semester, i said no, and this student asked whether it was because of what had happened there. hmm... no.... but please go on. turns out that this "domestic violence" situation is a bunch of hoo-hah. i'm working on finding out what i can, but from what i was told, "innocent" female student yelled racial slurs at nauseum at this male student, a black male student, until he grabbed her and told her to be quiet. THAT incident was reported to the college admin and as a result...... the black male student was kicked out. THE BLACK MALE STUDENT WAS KICKED OUT. again, my investigative shoes are going to do what they can, but holy crap. the male student is absolutely gone now, and i'd like to know what sort of work the school did to figure out what happened. was there some sort of student court thing? or did they just err on the side of the white female student? as someone who was legitimately terrified to leave her own dorm room after her ex assaulted her, it's absolutely maddening to think this woman presented the situation as a domestic violence situation when it was nothing of the sort. beyond maddening. the good thing... it sounds like students are mad. really mad. hopefully mad enough to do something about it. in the meantime, it's time to do some investigating.