Who cares?

In class today, at one point Keri Ann mentioned if only these PHD holders knew what we go through to get them their twenty page papers on time maybe they would understand. I was just wondering why would they care what our reason was. If they did care would they understand or could they relate to what we were going through that prevented us from completing the task to the best of our ability. I believe that there are a few teachers out there that would give us the benefit of the doubt and try to understand why our paper would be late but I’ve never taken a chance or given anyone the benefit of the doubt. Whether or not I pass doesn’t affect the professor, that’s a situation that I would have to deal with by myself. If I fail I would be the one put on academic probation but the professor would still wake up in their bed, get in their car, go to school, and will still have their job. If the other forty students in the class can hand in their papers on time what makes me so special. Believe you and me there have been times when my life (Hard to believe I have one outside of school and work, right?) has prevented me from completing an assignment on time and I wished that someone would take mercy on me for the sake of my sanity but I’ve never felt comfortable enough to go to any teacher and ask for an extension. I wish more professors would take into account that life happens outside of class but I’ve heard too many professors already say that if it’s an emergency (a death in the family) I need a copy of the death certificate and that is the only way that you will get an extension.
Something that pushes my buttons is America’s view of itself in relation to other countries. The way that history is written is through the eyes and opinions of the victor. Once in my seventh grade class my social studies teacher said to the that class in reference to slavery, “Why would a master beat his slaves so badly? If he really believed that it was his property wouldn’t he take care of them? That’s why he feed, clothed, and sheltered them. History has just been exaggerated over time. It’s like buying a new car and driving it until you ruin the engine or pop all the tires. If it’s your property you wouldn’t that to it.” This was the opinion that my teacher had about slavery and at the age of 12 this is what I was exposed to. I don’t remember much of what I learnt in the seventh grade but that’s something I’ve never forgotten. No one said anything to her about it, no one questioned her, and no one contradicted her. The teacher said it so it must be true. This is how I thought in the seventh grade because I didn’t really know any other way to learn. If you asked too many questions you were obviously a trouble maker and you had to be moved to another class or transferred out of the school. This brings me to my next point about teachers. What makes a good teacher? A dipolma, a Bachelors, a Masters? On page 3 Kozol writes, “I had not credentials as a teacher, but I quickly learned that this did not matter…” It would be nice to have teachers that have graduated from college and that are qualified teaching in schools but does it really always work out like that. I’ve had teachers that have been teaching for more than ten years and that have gotten their masters but does that mean that they were good? A piece of paper doesn’t mean that they’ve actually learnt anything. They may have been able to memorize a certain amount of enough for a short period of time but does that mean that they can teach me what they’ve learnt. The one teacher that affected my education the most was the English teacher I had in high school my senior year. She was young and still going to school but her method of teaching was great. She made us sit in a U (kind of a circle), give endless presentations, write a thesis paper, and she graded harshly. She wasn’t afraid to shut us down or call us out on silly mistakes or BS papers. She had a horrible reputation and I wanted to transfer out of class but after spending a year with her I understand why she was so bad. She was bad because she made us work for our grade, she opened our eyes to different theories and point of views. I loved her. She didn’t have a masters but in my opinion she was the best teacher I’ve ever had.