AshRandom wrote:



This might be a bit late, but I love you for saying it, believing it and acting the way you do.

In the course of my career I've learned to lay into students who ask off-topic questions. I verbally berate them tersely on the subject matter and then outright attack them on a personal level. Though it is never wise to resort to ad hominem attacks in a debate, I slip past that hook without being caught since I have absolutely no fucking intention of debating morons in the middle of a lecture.

I didn't start out thinking that way, but after having an extremely detrimental experience -- namely failing to get through all of the material required for the first half-semester of a course as a direct result of assholes asking off topic tangential nonsense -- I realized I had no choice but to go on the offensive. I started throwing people out. Literally, I'd just ask them for their name, find them in the list and draw a line through it. Then I'd say: "I've drawn a line through your name, if you do not leave I'm going to fail you, so head to the registry office and get a withdrawal slip, or suffer the devastating impact an F will have on your grade point average."

I threw out thirty people from a class that started with less than three hundred. Another hundred people withdrew on their own. And I had enough of those unreasonable assholes go complain about me, that I was pressured by administration to change tactics.

Now, like I said, I just verbally abuse the shit out of them and scare everyone else into obedience. I don't actually know if the morons who ask stupid, off-topic questions are doing it to intentionally screw with the curriculum, my agenda, me personally, or just to screw with my ability to teach, but they are whether they know it, or not, and I act accordingly.

I simply can't afford to waste time with idiots asking philosophical questions in the middle of class because they think their head full of religious mumbojumbo is being threatened. Fuck mumbojumbo. And fuck students who sign up for classes which conflict with their religious brainwashing. Fuck them right in their fucking faces. That's exactly what I'm thinking every single time and I unleash a torrent of caustic acid on anyone and everyone like that. They're the most horrible examples of human beings I can think of and have no understanding whatsoever of how poisoned their minds are. It's not my job to spend half an hour explaining the philosophical truth of the universe in the middle of a lesson on molecular chemistry. Especially when their knee-jerk reaction is to just refuse to accept it anyway and then turn hostile and start taking everything I teach as a verbal challenge. Like I'm targeting them personally, or some such nonsense.

The level of anger and frustration I've built up over the years is.... hard to describe. There have been times where I actually broke down into tears. Thinking about how insane it is to be EXPECTED to reason with people, who are hostile to every method and approach to reason, just makes my whole body shake. I tremble with terror and morbid fear at the prospect even now, I'd rather jump off a bridge. Like, I'm going to have to fight them, but they won't allow me to win with words and by law I can't physically attack them. What the fuck is that? The invisible force field of dogma?

Ugh.... I can't do it. I won't do it. I refuse to even debate, or discuss, or nod my head and play along. No. No fucking way. Ad hominem is the only way to go. Just blast the morons directly out of their fucking seats and scare everyone else shitless. I didn't break my back to get tenured just to have to compromise my lesson plans. Displaying an angry face is the only logical thing to do with people who are unmoved by logic and unpersuaded by evidence. Full-on, hostile, primate styled displays of body language. Show them an angrier face than an angry bird. I haven't quite gotten to the point of pantomiming defecating in my hand and pretending to throw it, but I've thought about it!

Ugh... I wish I had that perspective gun from Hitchhiker's guide, blast them in the brain and make them see reason instantly. As it is now, I have to give up on them. But, I don't want to give up on them! I want them to learn! I want them to grow! I want them to think clearly! UGH!!!! Fucking world full of fucking asshole parents abusing their own kids critical thinking faculties until their minds are worn out and left looking like bruised bleeding nubs.... Why not just hit the kid in the head with a hammer and make it obvious you brain damaged them? Disgusting people.

:(