In A Class Of Their Own

(I work in a math tutoring center at my local community college. The way it works is that students start on their homework, and ask the tutors on duty for help when needed. We try to spend only about five to ten minutes at a time with a student so that we have time to help as many students as possible.)

Student: “I know most of [chapter] is on the final, but I don’t know if the stuff in this section is on the final. I was wondering if you could explain it to me?”

(As a tutor, I’ve had no formal training, and while I know how to clarify certain aspects, it’s the teacher’s job to give them the initial explanation. I start getting annoyed with the teacher, because he clearly didn’t explain this very well at all. After a frustrating 30 minutes…)

Student: “Oh, that’s my teacher over there! Mr. [Teacher], is the stuff in [section] going to be on the final?”

Teacher: *comes over to look at what section we’re talking about* “Well, it’s not on the syllabus, and we didn’t go over it in class, so, no…”