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My worst grade was an "F" in a class called "America Since 1945."
This class was as much about writing skills as it was about history. Those are two of my strongest talents so I figured this class would be so much 'cake' that it would satiate a room full of sugar-obsessed children for an entire semester.
But no. This professor hated reading any essay or paper that wasn't written at the 3rd grade level. He handed out a long sheet of paper at the start of the semester detailing what he didn't want - which primarily eliminated intelligent writing. We were reduced the "See Jane. See Jane throw the ball to Dick" level, most likely because he himself didn't want to read an articulate paper.
But I can't do that. My writing style and vocabulary usage are as natural to me as walking. Trying to change it to a 3rd grade level for a 6-9 page paper just couldn't be done. I would always lapse into my normal style. The result was having my assignments so completely covered with red markings by the professor that I wondered if he had used my paper as a tourniquet for a severed limb.
Fortunately, we were allowed a "do-over" for anyone not satisfied with their grades. But when I re-did my assignment, I received a lower score than the first one!
I broke down and went to him, hauling with me the three C-, D+, and D- papers I had written so far. I was all but trembling with frustration because I know where my talents lie and writing was, and still is, perhaps my strongest gift. If I'm barely passing, how on earth could anyone else in that class be passing at all?
And ... despite my papers verily floating in red ink, he could only point out three mistakes. Yeah, Mr. Professor, because when you're grading live in front of the student, you can't get away with nitpicking. Besides, he's essentially telling me by his actions that each mistake costs a letter grade. Oops, missed a comma. There goes your 'A'.
I gave it one last shot, this time writing a paper on the Cold War. This guy docked me points for things like - well, for instance, I had written "President Truman stated ..." and he had crossed out the word "stated" and substituted it with the word "commented." Uh, really? I'm supposed to guess what word the professor would like us to use? An impossible task to be certain. He went through and crossed out each usage of the word 'Russia' and replaced it with 'Soviet Union' then docked even more points when I wrote, "When Russia marched into Germany in 1945 ..." changing the word "Russia" to ... wait for it, wait for it ...No! He didn't change it to "Soviet Union" this time. Now it was the "Red Army." Never mind the fact that I was using the exact same terminology the peer reviewed journal articles were using. Well, that was the last straw for me. I just stopped going to class and took the 'F'. I simply had no desire to do any work for that professor and his weird need to constantly hamstring my efforts.
I got an F in calculus in college. I was a great student, and graduated with honors, but math was the bane of my existence. It didn't help matters any that way back then, I took the special test that allowed me to jump all the prerequsites, so I took it right after college algebra, without trigonometry or finite math under my belt first.
I was completely drowning in the class and accidently missed the last day to drop. My instructor was a very nice, laid back guy who always wore wrinkled khakis and loud Hawaiian print shirts that exposed part of his hairy chest. (Oddly enough, I was in college in Montana). He told me, "I'm sorry, but I have to give you an F. You don't know what the f___ you're doing." We had a chuckle. I didn't hold it against him. It was my fault. Fortunately, I made up for that dismal failure with all my other good grades, so it didn't affect my college career.
My worst grade was an "F" in a class called "America Since 1945."
This class was as much about writing skills as it was about history. Those are two of my strongest talents so I figured this class would be so much 'cake' that it would satiate a room full of sugar-obsessed children for an entire semester.
But no. This professor hated reading any essay or paper that wasn't written at the 3rd grade level. He handed out a long sheet of paper at the start of the semester detailing what he didn't want - which primarily eliminated intelligent writing. We were reduced the "See Jane. See Jane throw the ball to Dick" level, most likely because he himself didn't want to read an articulate paper.
But I can't do that. My writing style and vocabulary usage are as natural to me as walking. Trying to change it to a 3rd grade level for a 6-9 page paper just couldn't be done. I would always lapse into my normal style. The result was having my assignments so completely covered with red markings by the professor that I wondered if he had used my paper as a tourniquet for a severed limb.
Fortunately, we were allowed a "do-over" for anyone not satisfied with their grades. But when I re-did my assignment, I received a lower score than the first one!
I broke down and went to him, hauling with me the three C-, D+, and D- papers I had written so far. I was all but trembling with frustration because I know where my talents lie and writing was, and still is, perhaps my strongest gift. If I'm barely passing, how on earth could anyone else in that class be passing at all?
And ... despite my papers verily floating in red ink, he could only point out three mistakes. Yeah, Mr. Professor, because when you're grading live in front of the student, you can't get away with nitpicking. Besides, he's essentially telling me by his actions that each mistake costs a letter grade. Oops, missed a comma. There goes your 'A'.
I gave it one last shot, this time writing a paper on the Cold War. This guy docked me points for things like - well, for instance, I had written "President Truman stated ..." and he had crossed out the word "stated" and substituted it with the word "commented." Uh, really? I'm supposed to guess what word the professor would like us to use? An impossible task to be certain. He went through and crossed out each usage of the word 'Russia' and replaced it with 'Soviet Union' then docked even more points when I wrote, "When Russia marched into Germany in 1945 ..." changing the word "Russia" to ... wait for it, wait for it ...No! He didn't change it to "Soviet Union" this time. Now it was the "Red Army." Never mind the fact that I was using the exact same terminology the peer reviewed journal articles were using. Well, that was the last straw for me. I just stopped going to class and took the 'F'. I simply had no desire to do any work for that professor and his weird need to constantly hamstring my efforts.
I had a history professor the same way. She was awful! She had a history of being a ***** and by the end of each semester, about 80% of the class had dropped. I always did very well on any writing assignment given me. If fact, I even won an award on a paper that I had written a few semesters prior.
Not in her class. Every time we had to turn in a writing assignment, I got horrible grades and could not figure out why. It was so annoying.
Luckily we also had quizzes and tests so I managed to make it out with a B. The thing that annoyed me the most is that I only needed a C- on the final to get an A in the class but since it was entirely writing, I got a D-.
I was robbed in college, not physically, but my place was burglarized, and they stole my computer with all my work on it. I had to take a W in two classes, which means withdrawal, no penalty on your GPA, but you still paid for the classes.
I got a C in Intro to Music lol. I hated the class. HATED IT. HATED IT. It was more like a 300 level class passing off as a 100 level. It actually made me cry. I had all As until then.
It was an elective and I took it thinking it was going to be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong.
I got a W in 300 level 'math advanced mathematics for engineers'. People say F is the worst grade you can recieve. I disagree. W is the worst, it means you were too defeated to even finish the class. It was all the teacher though. Some teachers think they are cool by having a ridiculous cirriculum. I thought, meh I have been told this before and thrived, but this time it was different. It was tought by the nerdiest man alive, with no sense of humor who was not helpful. He gave us 125 problems every 2 weeks and they had to be typed....(which was horribly frustrating, back then word was not as good with equations.) The final test was 50 % of the grade.... So after a half semester, I determined it was impossible to pass with 75% without a 90+ on the final, which was not likely. I also noticed a class of 27 students had dwindled to 8 after the midterm. So I followed suit and withdrew. I tried again with another teacher and got a B, still hard work, but not impossible.
A few F's and many, many D's. Life went on and I went back to school...
Graduated with a 3.98 once I got my act together.
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