I Was Pleasantly Surprised

I work very hard for my grades. My goal is to go from 3.0 to 4.0.
Some people tell me that it won't matter when I get my degree. Well it matters to me.
When I was younger I did not have a lot of support when it came to my studies. In fact I was told that I was not college material and not to bother studying because I was just going to fail.
When I went to college I was away from home and negativity and I could focus better on my studies. I unfortunately took a break that turned into 20 years and here I am.
I am very grateful to God that I was able to resume my studies 3 years ago and I try to put forth 110%.
What I don't appreciate is when I get an instructor who thinks he is preparing me for the real world by being a dickhead and an arrogant bastard whose favorite weapon is a red pen. I am 45 years old and I don't need any more toughening up by someone who has not lived as hard as I have.
Well I got an F on one of my assignments. I followed the directions to the t. I thought to myself, "great another instructor who can do as he pleases!" I did not feel my words would make much of a difference but I was still going to speak my mind and let it be in writing.
Well today, I looked at my grades. I saw that the F had been replaced by a B.
Yeahhhh baby!

Mikkifine, good for you standing up for yourself! It's a shame but, regardless of what age one is or the situation, there are always people who are more than willing to latch onto whatever negatives are available and beat anyone who's around with them. As you probably know, it has to be fought and at 45 you now have better tools with which to do so than when you were 18-21. The Bible, and other wise writings, says that "the poor will always be with us." The same is unfortunately true with asswholes. I'm glad you took up for yourself and it's always a good plan when you can rightly point to the facts and accomplishments of the situation.

This just goes to show us that asshole-ness, like rust, never sleeps and the continued pursuit of improvement will put one at odds with the defenders of the status quo who can't bear other people's striving that might allow them to equal or surpass those who have already got "theirs." While it may anger you, you have probably lived enough to realize that there are ways to cooly deal with these occurrances. It's one of those "what doesn't kill me will make me stronger" moments. And, bargaining from a position of strength doesn't hurt, either.

Good for you!!! Keep up the great work.

I recall having an English professor that graded one of my papers down because of my typing.
At the time I was working a full time job and going to class at night. Anyway, I took the paper to him and told him I was in the class for English and not for typing. Mind you this was done on a manual typewriter without the ability to spell check or make corrections easily. the awesome thing was he agreed with me and took the cut for my typing away from the grade.We had a much better understanding of each other and I ended up with an A in the class.

Thanks Randy4Candy, When I was 18 to early 20's, I used to be more tolerant of arrogant instructors and took whatever they gave me. I guess that is the good thing about going back to college after 20 years. I brought some survival skills that this professor is probably clueless about.

Thank you Speed Racer.

The2Dogs-Now they have what is known as APA. That stands for American Psychological Association. This is the group that makes the rules on what type of font I use, double spacing, citations etc. I have had to stay on top of that because it changes often and I don't want to lose any points over typing skills either.

certainly a goal worth working very hard for. I wish you the best.

Kudos.

I recall having an English professor that graded one of my papers down because of my typing.
At the time I was working a full time job and going to class at night. Anyway, I took the paper to him and told him I was in the class for English and not for typing. Mind you this was done on a manual typewriter without the ability to spell check or make corrections easily. the awesome thing was he agreed with me and took the cut for my typing away from the grade.We had a much better understanding of each other and I ended up with an A in the class. Originally Posted by The2Dogs

Yeah, but you should have understood which century in which you lived.

Please teach, cut me a break. I only know MORSE CODE!

It's easy to shame a teacher into cutting you a break. But it's hard to try and force a steam engine to run on electricity.

Good for you 2Dogs. You're truly a Renaissance man!

I was on the design team for Stonehenge but was sworn to secrecy.

I work very hard for my grades. My goal is to go from 3.0 to 4.0.
Some people tell me that it won't matter when I get my degree. Well it matters to me.
When I was younger I did not have a lot of support when it came to my studies. In fact I was told that I was not college material and not to bother studying because I was just going to fail.
When I went to college I was away from home and negativity and I could focus better on my studies. I unfortunately took a break that turned into 20 years and here I am.
I am very grateful to God that I was able to resume my studies 3 years ago and I try to put forth 110%.
What I don't appreciate is when I get an instructor who thinks he is preparing me for the real world by being a dickhead and an arrogant bastard whose favorite weapon is a red pen. I am 45 years old and I don't need any more toughening up by someone who has not lived as hard as I have.
Well I got an F on one of my assignments. I followed the directions to the t. I thought to myself, "great another instructor who can do as he pleases!" I did not feel my words would make much of a difference but I was still going to speak my mind and let it be in writing.
Well today, I looked at my grades. I saw that the F had been replaced by a B.
Yeahhhh baby! Originally Posted by mikkifine

Good for you, Mikki!! I finished my degree late in life, as well. One thing I came to realize is that the younger crowd, who generally make up the bulk of you classmates, will hardly ever speak up for themselves, they will simply drop the class. Thus the professor never has to look at his own work introspectively. Holding that professor accountable was absolutely the right thing to do!!

BTW, I graduated Summa cum laude with a 3.94. If I can do it, you can too!!!!

Good luck.

Cool Etxoilman--Good for you! I get upset when women my age say they are too old to go to school. I am thinking, "so you think I am too old to go to school too?" Phooey that kind of attitude won't get you far.