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Stories from school and college

Home Doesn’t Always Work

, , , , | Learning | September 24, 2012

(I am a year-five class teacher. I’m dismissing my class of nine- and ten-year-olds at the end of the day when a mother approaches me.)

Mother: “My son’s not been doing his homework!”

Me: “I know. He hasn’t handed his homework in for several weeks now.”

Mother: “Well, I’m not very happy about this!”

Me: “No, nor am I.”

Mother: “So, what are you going to do about it?”

Me: “I can’t make him do his homework. His homework is to be completed at home.”

Mother: “Why?”


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Relatively Misspeaking

, , , , , | Learning | May 4, 2012

Me: “Your next of kin is listed as your ‘cousin’s sister’?”

Student: “Yes.”

Me: “You do realise your cousin’s sister is still your cousin right?”

Student: “No, it’s my cousin’s sister.”

Me: “That’s still your cousin.”

Student: “No, it’s my first cousin’s sister!”

Someone Has Major Issues

, , , , | Learning | April 24, 2012

(I’m a peer advisor at my college, which includes figuring out what the student is looking for to best service them before we send them to an advisor. This conversation happens about 4-5 times a month.)

Me: “Hi, how can I help you?”

Student: “I want to talk to an advisor.”

Me: “Okay, about general education requirements or major requirements?”

Student: “Major requirements.”

Me: “Okay, for that you actually have to go to the major department and meet with an advisor there. We can only cover general education requirements here.”

Student: “But I want to speak to an advisor.”

Me: “Yeah, but for that you have to speak to someone in that department.”

Student: “Okay. Well, where is it?”

Me: “The department?”

Student: “That’s what I said.”

Me: “Well, what’s your major?”

Student: “Can I please just speak to an advisor?”

Me: “Well, I can’t help you figure out where that is until you tell me what your major is.”

Student: “I just want to talk to someone! Can’t I just see someone here?”

Me: “Well, like I said, we can only advise you on your general education requirements, so—”

Student: “Yes! That’s what I want to talk to someone about!”

Me: “Okay, let me sign you in. Someone will be with you in just a bit.”

(The student signs in and huffs off to a seat to wait. A coworker of mine takes the student after I’ve warned him about what happened. Less than a minute later, I see the student stomping out of our office. My coworker comes back to the front desk.)

Me: “Major requirements?”

Coworker: “Yup.”

Someone Needs To Tone It Down

, , | Learning | February 29, 2012

(I am a student teacher at a high school. A man I have dubbed “Lord of the Copy Room” is a pretty grumpy guy who has specific ways that “his” copy machines should be used. Unbeknownst to me, this particular machine is only for jobs up to thirty copies.)

Me: *makes thirty-five copies*

Him: “Excuse me! How many copies did you just make?!”

Me: “Uh, um, a class set, so thirty-five copies.”

Him: *taps the machine* “That copier is for thirty copies and below! Don’t you know that?!”

Me: “No, I’m sorry. I’ll use the other one.”

Him: “It’s all right. I can tell you’re new. Just remember! Copies make the world go round! Don’t you love the smell of toner?!” *scampers off*

Intellectual Stimulation: Not Self Perpetuating

, , , , | Learning | January 12, 2012

(I work in a market research call center. I carry out all kinds of surveys on behalf of various organizations. On this particular day, we are calling final-year undergraduate university students to ask them for some feedback on their university courses. Bear in mind this person has spent the past three years studying at university.)

Me: “On a scale of 1-10, 10 being very and 1 not at all, how intellectually stimulating would you say your course was?”

Student: “What does intellectually stimulating mean?”