I Guess It’s Time To Quit

(Due to budget cuts, my high school has to cut the senior AP English program halfway through the year. I am one of the students who is placed into a regular English class for the second half of the year. The class has already been together for the beginning half of the year, so I’m the only new student for the second half. This teacher is favored by the rest of the students because she gives out easy work and treating students like elementary children. We have been given only the first chapter of a three-chapter story, and are taking a test on it. Since I’m an advanced student, I read a lot faster than my classmates and had requested the second chapter prior to the test because I had finished the first reading way ahead of my classmates. The test has page numbers and the number of the line that the answer is located on, and is open book.)

Question On The Test: “What does [Character] say when she finds out what is going on with [Main Character]?”

(I take the test up to the teacher.)

Me: “Excuse me, [Teacher]? I found a problem with this question…”

Teacher: “What is wrong?”

Me: “The answer isn’t in the book. [Character] doesn’t even come in until chapter two, which nobody else has read yet. Not only that, she doesn’t speak at all. She just runs away.”

Teacher: “Keep looking, the answer is there. Remember to use the page and line numbers I gave you.”

Me: “But… it’s not there. [Character] is not mentioned a single time until chapter two, and certainly not on the line you gave us.”

Teacher: “It’s there.”

(I give up and sit back down to complete my test. Frustrated, I put exactly what I told her as the answer to the question. The following week, we receive our tests back.)

Teacher: “So, I noticed that one of the questions wasn’t in this chapter. I gave everyone who guessed or left it blank a free point on that question.”

(Seeing that mine is marked wrong, I bring it up to the teacher once we are left on our own again.)

Me: “[Teacher], you marked this question wrong. Everyone else got a free point on it, but you marked mine wrong.”

Teacher: “You didn’t even try.”

Me: “I was the one who told you it was in the next chapter… I also told you she didn’t say anything, just ran off.”

Teacher: “Right. I gave everyone who made an attempt to guess what she said a point. You didn’t guess what she said, so you got it wrong.”

(At this point, I gave up and just took the wrong answer. I still received an A in the class, even after I didn’t even do the final. Apparently, if she liked you, you got an A, regardless of effort. I was definitely glad I was graduating that year!)