muffins

Well anyway, I just got the sense that she found the whole post hard to believe, and yeah the prof REALLY DID SAY WHAT THEY SAID. If I came across as confrontation or "troll-ish," ... it's because I'm a little bit sensitive about the fact that I'm a black female in a predominantly white-male academic field (another reason I didn't mention the event in the intro), as well as the whole situation in general.

She didn't make clear what "BS detector is off the charts here" and "I find this hard to believe" were in reference to.

First of all, the way she said it was neutral; she even cited a scientific journal or some author, and her freedom of speech does let her say such things. Yes, there IS scientific literature that supports what she said, so it's not like she's pulling this out of thin air. I just found it VERY INSENSITIVE that she would mention the intellectual inferiority of my race when there was an african-american person (visibly) in her class. Second, for personal reasons and for reasons of anonymity, no i didn't want to reveal this event... but I don't really care anymore (result of frustration i'm sure) and I think it's crucial to mention this fact in order to get relevant, good feedback. and honestly... the fact that you, of all people, are saying that i'm lying about my race is kind of silly and offensive. why would i lie? i know we had a misunderstanding and i might have (inadvertently) offended your feminist sensibilities, but maybe you shouldn't let your personal prejudices get in the way of being objective.

well, i haven't mentioned this yet, because it's pretty personal: i'm black and she did sort of say that "black people are less intelligent because their skull sizes are smaller, which is supported by scientific evidence" to the class. this completely alienated me from her.

Thanks for the input and help, guys... I actually think I've figured out why she dislikes me now based on a new revelation. And it makes so much sense. We had a make-up class this morning (yes, Saturday). I got a mark back, and the comments were pretty off and easily refutable. It seemed like she was looking for an excuse, any excuse, to peg the mark down... So it really seems like the better I do, the lower my marks drops. How frustrating ugh

ktel, i think you're wrong here. what i said was tempered so that it was professional and vague enough, but under any polite circumstances, the addressee would have replied with an understanding at least or maybe even sympathy...

Actually, it seems like she DOESN'T care enough to write back, because the comments are usually approximately one sentence. She gives other students checkmarks and positive comments, but I guess my work has been pretty mediocre enough that I haven't earned a single one of these... Again, I think this could just be her narrow mind set on finding something specific, and completely dismissing other perspectives, because I do tend to think differently from other people -- as many professors have told me.

I didn't mention that I changed topics completely when going from draft to final version. The comment for the draft was basically "more clear," with absolutely zero response to the content. I got the writing part down pretty solidly for the final version, but this time it was the argument that was problematic. No, she hasn't done anything "wrong," but I kind of suspect that there is an underlying reason...

and in regards to "feminists," I'm talking about women who will do and say anything to justify their position of victimization in a -- so they want to emphasize -- "patriarchal society". so they jump on the bandwagon when cases like this leak, as they get to suspect a man for being oh-so-evil! they tend to disregard the fact that men 1) have their unique feelings and insecurities and 2) women can make up stories precisely to take advantage of a "victim" position. these "feminists" make me ashamed to be one myself.

Wow... take a chill pill, dude and read his text. He said: "And knowing the nature of rumors, it will probably turn into 'he was accused of rape' rather than 'he was a victim of a false accusation.' Doesn't this support what I'm saying about society's tendency to villainize men? See, the truth is clearly that "he was a victim of false accusation," but because (along the lines of my conjecture) some people automatically assume men are in the wrong in these matters, the case will be spun to "he was accused of rape omg let's stay away from him." People will more than possibly not be able to view the case objectively, jump to judgments and shun him -- unfortunately. Thus, this shows how we're dehumanizing men by not being able to view cases such as this one objectively but are rather inclined towards our pre-conceived notions of what men are like -- which equals rapists in this case.

I'm so sorry to hear about this! I think this story shows how our society (especially self-righteous "feminists") is so willing to villainize men to the point that men are dehumanized. i really think men have feelings equally as women do. i don't know what to tell you except to keep insisting on your innocence and tell them that you'd be in jail, instead of in academia, had you really been guilty?

yeah you're right in many respects. speaking to the chair could just lead to really awkward situations and no she hasn't done anything that's reprimand-able... although i have to wonder if my grades have been delegated to me fairly i submitted a *really* rough proposal to be critiqued (not for marks) and it was an A-, and then i submitted a much more polished proposal (for marks) and it was still an A-. frustrating. i honestly thought i made some really good points in it, but she basically just dismissed the argument again lol and seemed pretty pissed off in the comments. so i'm basically tailoring my final paper to be an argument she will approve of. this woman has no concept of being objective.

so most of you will probably think i'm being oversensitive, but i'm actually quite certain i've met the first professor actively dislikes me. here's evidence 1. her dislike started to show (or was formed) when i submitted my first piece of written work. she appraised it and put it down in class, and praised my partner's work, while pretty much saying that she liked my partner's work a lot more. (i don't resent my partner at all, but the prof's attitude is what gets me.) i made a post about this incident a while ago. everything else below follows this incident 2. pretends that i exist in the class... when i was doing a presentation in class (along with two other students), she kind of did this forgetting act where she called out the two other people and asked, "who else is presenting?" like really? it seemed like she wanted to say that i was completely forgettable that she couldn't even remember i existed in her class haha - on another occasion, she printed out the paper presentation schedules and ommitted the title of my paper... and told me in class that she'd forgotten the title. i'm pretty sure she could have found it pretty easily by searching for my email, which is how i submitted the proposal and which is how, i'm sure, others did as well 3. addresses me in very curt manner that literally almost borders on rude. 4. hasn't said a single positive thing about my work. this prob. sounds like my ego just needs verification, but i think it's the job of any teacher to start off critique by saying something/ANYTHING positive about student's work, unless there is absolutely none (and even then, you can say "good effort"). i'm quite certain that something positive could easily have been spun from my work 5. i'm pretty sure she's pegged my grade at an A- already and that no matter what i do or say, she will find a way to keep it here. 6. completely dismissed the main point i was making one of my short papers by saying, "i don't see the relevance of your main point," which is LITERALLY ALL SHE SAID about the paper LOL. i still maintain, objectively and having had time to dwell on the paper, that my main point is valid and an interesting addition to the article to which i was responding. 7. because i initially really wanted to like her, i told her some difficulty i was going through in my personal life via email... no answer. i've pretty much resigned myself to getting an A- in the course, and possibly something even lower. she is the least understanding and approachable person i've ever met. she also needs to get off her ideological high-horse and see academic work objectively. should i present what i've written here to the chair of my dept or just pretend nothing's happening?

Hi guys, so I just started my MA in a humanities subject... Long story short, I was in class the other day and we were supposed to critique each other's proposals in pairs, and then as a class. I tried my best to come up with potentially helpful things to say to my partner, even though I thought her proposal was already good. I was basically doing everything I thought the exercise entailed. It's also relevant to note that I wrote about a topic (classical music from the perspective of a classically trained pianist) that wasn't really accessible to other people in the class , but it's sth that interests me deeply. (I know it sounds all wannabe highbrow and probably pretentious but this is legitimately a topic that's interested me since I was a child and in which i have formal training.) I don't think the professor liked the topic. Her comments were critical of the writing, which was kind of to be expected since I wrote it in 2 hours; I wanted some feedback about specific ideas. She also didn't say a single positive or encouraging thing about my proposal lol. I'm used to getting and giving constructive feedback where the commenter starts with something positive, and then moves into the problematic. After the prof critiqued my work in front of the class and praised my partner's observations of my proposal, prof asked me to critique my partner's proposal. So I tried my best to form something coherent and said something about a few words in the proposal I found to be possibly unclear, making sure that I ended on an extremely positive note. The prof reacted a bit sarcastically (in her tone), "Does anyone else have a problem with this word?" Then when no one answered, she said bitingly, "I think it's perfect." Would anyone else have found this situation humiliating and hurtful...? In short, I was put on the spot to say something constructively critical of a perfect proposal -- and shot down rather harshly for trying my best to do this impossible exercise lol. I felt like I was set up-- on purpose -- to fail. I do kind of feel like prof was targeting me -- kind of passive aggressively. At this point, I feel like dropping the class at this point, because I'm scared I'll get targeted and staked further by her.