There are many instances which I would like to go back in time and re-enact, but there is one in particular which goes all through me as I reminisce about the situation. I was a second semester freshman at the University of Southern Indiana about to indulge in a taste of Humanities 211. I had heard the teacher wasn’t the best to take, but I was taking it with my best friend and figured we could stick together. The first few weeks of class were not as bad as I had expected and I almost enjoyed attending the class. I kept up with my readings as well as paid attention, and spoke up during the lectures which were usually run by the students. The class seemed to be going just fine and I was starting to actually develop an interest in the assigned reading material.
Everything was great in the course up until the month of September. My grandpa was very ill throughout August and into the beginning of September. A few weeks in, he passed away. I told all my teachers I would be missing a few classes because he lived in Oklahoma and we would be driving down to attend the funeral. I asked my friend to keep track of the assignments which were due until I returned thinking I would not miss much, and the professor would surely understand if they were not completed to exact perfection. Unfortunately, the make-up situation did not occur as I had expected.
As I returned to class the following week, I sat down in my normal seat as always and awaited class to start. The professor walked to the front of the room, put his books down and proceeded to tell the class we were having a pop quiz over notes taken the days I was absent. I had asked my friend if we had homework due, but she hadn’t told me about the notes they took while I was gone. With a puzzled look on my face, he got the message and slowly made his way to my desk as I proceeded to explain my situation.
“I’m sorry I was out of town when you went over the material…is there any way I could take it during the next class period so I have time to prepare?” I said hoping he would consider.
“Oh Chelsea…I do not care that you were not in class. What would you like me to do pull out my violin and play you a song?” he said.
As shocked as I was at his response I did the polite thing by breaking eye contact and biting my lip to keep from jumping back at him with a not-so-professional remark. Until this day I regret letting my eyes do the talking instead of my mouth. I wish I could go back and re-do the situation with a little more backbone. In re-enacting this certain situation I would have taken it a little further to explain the rude aspects of his heartless joke and that I was saying goodbye to one of the men I will always cherish, and a veteran at that. If he had not allowed me to retake the quiz after that I would have proceeded to address someone over him. I would have then told him how unhappy I was with the treatment of the professor. I would not only do this to embarrass the professor as he embarrassed me in the classroom, but to also ensure this type of situation would never happen again. Although his end-of-the-year evaluation which we completed revealed much of what I thought about him as my feelings boiled throughout the entire semester.
I think taking initiative and “being tough” shows that you have confidence in yourself that you will not let people push you around. It also shows that you have a planted foot in the situation and nobody has the ability to move your opinion.
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