awkward/embarrassing situation help

[muffins]

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.

[Eigen]

I think you're overthinking things, and likely reading intonation and intent that isn't there.

Give it a few more weeks, try to keep an open mind, and see how things develop.

[victor.s.andrei]

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.

That sounds passive-aggressive to me.

Stay in the class, though. The semester is almost over - just drag yourself over the finish line and then run.

[crazygirl2012]

I would have been caught off-guard too, but I think that dropping the class would be a bit of an overreaction. Who knows, maybe the professor was having a bad day and now feels bad about being so harsh. Or maybe not. Regardless, I understand why you're bothered by it, but I would advise you to stick it out.

[TropicalCharlie]

As others have said, stick it out and see it through. Everyone has or will cross paths with people like that at some point in our lives, and we can't just quit and run every time we are made to feel foolish (intentionally or not).

[TMP]

Ignore it. Move on. That's one of the hardest things about being in academia- learning to push criticisms like that aside and move forward. Not everybody is going to be nice.

What are you going to do with yourself at a conference when you're presenting a paper in front of 20+ strangers?