Dishonesty = Disappointment

Today's post courtesy of Writing Prompts by Mama Kat.


allfreevectors.com



No one ever escapes from life unscathed by a teacher.



deadhomersociety.wordpress.org



No one - I hope - ever escapes from life untouched by a teacher, as well.  In a POSITIVE way, people, a POSITIVE way.

But - let's return to the first idea.

I can't say that I've ever been damaged by a teacher in any serious long-lasting way, but there have been a few times that I've been severely annoyed, or "sorely vexed," as a 6th grade science teacher used to say. 



Back in the college days, I had to take a Debate class.  All of us were stunned senseless as the professor entered the room, talking a mile a minute, as though he were involved in a timed debate - but we recovered after he hit about the 50th sentence in 2 minutes, and started scribbling notes furiously in our notebooks.  This would be the pace for taking notes for the rest of the semester, we learned. But it was good practice for our own classroom debates, because as all debaters know, you take notes on your opponent's presentation so that you can refute and poke major semi-truck holes in their arguments.



abriefhistoryofdisbelief.org

Our topic that year was about apartheid in Africa. Please don't ask me now what on earth we dug up to debate, but many of the arguments centered around so many American corporations who were contributing to the negativity of apartheid by selling their products on that continent.  I was fortunate enough to be teamed with a star debater - a beginner, like myself, but Lily really  knew her stuff, and she just sparkled.  With thanks to Lily, both of us received good marks for our part in the debate process in the classroom.  I had scads of notes, but apparently wasn't too organized because one student in the class approached my partner, rather than me, to ask if she could borrow Lily's notes.

Lily was gracious, outgoing, and helpful. She and another student, and I, had many study sessions so we could get through our class tests and exams.  I think, without those study groups, my final grade in the class would have suffered greatly!  So, Lily was helpful and loaned her notes to this other student.

The next class session, the Other Student and her partner were scheduled to debate.  The professor was absent, and there was no substitute on hand to take his place.  Instead, he sent a video camera to record the debate so that he could grade it in that manner.



flickr.com
Sparks shot from Lily's eyes



Other Student and her partner fired up the debate with the other team.  Soon, amidst the scribbling of my notes (all of us were required to take notes) I noticed many classmates looking astonished. They looked from me, to my partner, Lily, and back again.  Their pencils and pens went down on the paper. Almost everyone stopped writing.  Someone next to me said, "That's YOUR debate Other Student is giving."  I looked up.  I actually listened instead of writing.  My partner, Lily, was shooting sparks from her eyes - but no one dared interrupt the debate.



123nonstop.com
Other Student stole Lily's work



Class ended, and a cluster of students surrounded Lily and me, talking angrily about the stolen debate.  Other Student was quick to defend herself, with some such remark as, "Well, we're all talking about the same thing - I just borrowed Lily's notes, I didn't use them word for word," which was patently untrue.  There were enough upset people in the class, including my now, noteless, partner, that obviously something was wrong. 

We were dependent on the video tape providing the proof needed - which one student had been enlisted to return to the professor's office that day.

Reluctantly, we vacated the classroom, which was needed for the next group of students.  The weekend passed with my partner and I in a state of untold tension as we waited for the next Debate class. The professor could barely enter the room before the majority of the students erupted, demanding justice for Lily and me - but primarily Lily - it had been her debate that had been stolen by Other Student.



photos.com
Nyah, nyah.
Other Student



The professor calmly asked for each side to be presented.  Of course - it's a debate class, right?  We explained about the loaning of the notes.  A loan.  Many classmates supported this, stating that the words and phrases used by Other Student had first been gloriously and devastatingly presented by Lily, just the previous week.  Other Student stated she had only borrowed the notes, but had since misplaced them ("So sorry," was her half-assed apology) - but that her portion of the debate had, indeed, been her own.

Lily couldn't prove the debate had been stolen, she had loaned her notes - and the borrower had lost them.  Other Student couldn't prove that she had used her own work, because her notes - along with Lily's - had been conveniently "misplaced."

We said, "What about the video tape?"  Professor could watch Other Student's debate and compare it with the tape of Lily's presentation.

And then the bad news came.

The professor said that the tape had never reached his office.



commons.wikimedia.org



We sat in stunned silence.  All the proof we needed to show that Other Student had defied college rules and committed the gravest academic dishonesty were all out the window. Who was responsible for this tape's delivery?  We looked around the room.  Another student, who sat in a cluster usually surrounding Other Student, raised his hand and said he had, indeed, delivered that video tape to the office.

Given the company he kept, the majority of us were skeptical.  "Well, have them present the debate again," we clamored.  The other team was willing, they didn't mind re-stating their side of this debate topic, as well as helping to prove that Other Student was a liar.



en.wikipedia.org
the irate posse



The professor demurred.  "We don't have the luxury of time," he stated.  The rest of that session was a wasted effort on his part. After hearing those words, no one could concentrate.  A posse of irate students followed the professor to his office after class, demanding a do-over, and a failing grade for Other Student for her blatant theft of my partner's words.  The professor stopped at his office door long enough to tell us he would be taking into account all the information he had, and closed his door.

My partner and I, for the remainder of the semester, did our best to complete the requirements of the class.  Lily went on to enter many Forensic competitions and came away with many awards.  She aced the class.  My grade was less than her stellar example, but I still did all right.  Other Student continued to attend class, looking smug and secure in the front row, Video Tape Delivery Boy sitting right alongside her.  Classmates who were assigned to debate Other Student and her partner were absolutely ruthless.

It was very disappointing and an extremely difficult lesson to absorb that in a university setting such dishonesty would be allowed.  Many of us lost respect for the professor after that incident, and I wonder if he ever depended on a video tape to monitor his classes when he had to be absent. 

Was there a time when you were disappointed by a teacher? Was there a time when you were inspired by a teacher?