Stupid things you've overhead other students say....

[SLPosteriorCricoarytenoid]

Hahaha wow, holy mackerel! That almost sounds like a verbal harassment from your student. Did you actually end up responding to her via Facebook? 

 

I also had one student who turned in his assignment and his friend's assignment, but upon closer inspection I noticed that the handwriting between those two assignments were identical. I gave him a warning the first time, but I ended up catching him the second time doing that (and the other TA also caught him doing that too for another assignment). Unfortunately the professor was way too generous and just told me "oh, these kids are young, don't worry" instead of pursuing any disciplinary actions. Ridiculous...

I did respond very briefly! I told her that it was between her and the professor at that point and I was not getting involved further. I didn't want to risk going back and forth with the student and having her start problems with me over what she did. I also told her to not contact me over Facebook given that she had my email for anything class related. Very strange experience haha. 

[FoggyAnhinga]

I did respond very briefly! I told her that it was between her and the professor at that point and I was not getting involved further. I didn't want to risk going back and forth with the student and having her start problems with me over what she did. I also told her to not contact me over Facebook given that she had my email for anything class related. Very strange experience haha. 

Hahaha I hope she didn't respond to you after that... oh boy, the things undergrads do these days for a better grade... 

 

Another stupid thing I overheard was during a seminar by a guest speaker (the presentation was about ocean currents in northern Pacific), one undergrad student in the audience (who clearly wasn't paying attention, I'm guessing he was attending to fulfill his class requirement on attending these seminars) suddenly interrupted the speaker and asked in his loud obnoxious voice "Is that a mountain range in France or something??"

[1415dr]

He didn't say anything, but I once saw a student come to class 15 minutes late, sit in the front row, eat an entire McDonald's salad, throw the bowl in the trash, and leave.

In another class I saw a student eat an entire box of dry waffle ice cream cones. They are very crunchy.

[busybeinganxious]

"I hate JD Salinger cause it's his fault John Lennon is dead." 

"The environment will start to get better when all the old people are dead." 

"I know he's smart because he uses big words."

 

I've had one hell of a week.

[FoggyAnhinga]

He didn't say anything, but I once saw a student come to class 15 minutes late, sit in the front row, eat an entire McDonald's salad, throw the bowl in the trash, and leave.

In another class I saw a student eat an entire box of dry waffle ice cream cones. They are very crunchy.

Haha what the?!? It's amazing the lengths some students will go to be as disrespectful as possible...

 

"I hate JD Salinger cause it's his fault John Lennon is dead." 

"The environment will start to get better when all the old people are dead." 

"I know he's smart because he uses big words."

 

I've had one hell of a week.

What in the... I am seriously hoping whoever said these don't run for a presidential election in the years ahead... 

[rising_star]

In a class on environmental issues: "We don't need to study how it affects people. We just need to study the ecological effects."

[busybeinganxious]

busybeinganxious, on 05 Feb 2015 - 8:09 PM, said:

"I hate JD Salinger cause it's his fault John Lennon is dead." 

"The environment will start to get better when all the old people are dead." 

"I know he's smart because he uses big words."

 

I've had one hell of a week.

What in the... I am seriously hoping whoever said these don't run for a presidential election in the years ahead... 

 

Three different people, but I hope none of them runs for office.  One hell of a week was my take on listening to this stuff.

[mockturtle]

One time, one of my classmates approached me in the cafeteria with a petition to strongarm the professor into raising everyone's grades. This was a psych major in a neuro class (and *not* a difficult one), for perspective. And there was already a curve.

In retrospect think the look of sheer horror on my face scared him off.

 

 

I also once overheard a conversation in the library that went about like this:

 

"I'm just dying in this class, you know? I hate biology so much."

"So, wait, what are your future plans?"

"...Med school"

 

At least everyone else he was sitting with had the sense to laugh at him...

[BeatrizBear]

I've had jobs where I had to deal with students' parents and I can see where they get the attitude. One time I was an office assistant at one of the residence offices in a dorm. I'd get calls from parents telling me things like, "X thing is broken in my child's room. What are you doing to fix this?" These kids would sick their parents on me despite the fact that they literally lived in the same building I worked in and could have just walked down a flight of stairs to tell me their problem. And their parents would call to make the most obnoxious complaints. The curtains were too dusty. The furniture wasn't nice enough, could we replace it? Their child wasn't getting along with X person from across the hall, could we do something about that person?

 

I also worked in the library and I'd get extremely nosy parents that wanted to know things like what books their child checked out, when was the last time they checked out a book, did they have fines, etc. Or they'd give me a list of books and ask me to find them and hold the books until their child got there. That wasn't happening. Also, students at my university only had active accounts if they were registered. So sometimes parents tried to be sneaky to figure out if their child had registered yet by asking me about their library account.

[kimmibeans]

Overheard: "Why do I need to learn biology to be a nurse?"

I actually had a pre-med student ask me a similar question. Essentially he said "Why do I need to know bio and chem? I just need to know what to do, like when to intubate and stuff." I stared at him in disbelief. He apparently thinks being a doctor is just like being an EMT except with fewer limits.

[.letmeinplz//]

I actually had a pre-med student ask me a similar question. Essentially he said "Why do I need to know bio and chem? I just need to know what to do, like when to intubate and stuff." I stared at him in disbelief. He apparently thinks being a doctor is just like being an EMT except with fewer limits.

I know internal medicine and similar need chem and bio knowledge, but does a surgeon?

 

I mean the robots that do surgeries don't know what a mitochondria is and they do surgery pretty well.

[FoggyAnhinga]

I've had jobs where I had to deal with students' parents and I can see where they get the attitude. One time I was an office assistant at one of the residence offices in a dorm. I'd get calls from parents telling me things like, "X thing is broken in my child's room. What are you doing to fix this?" These kids would sick their parents on me despite the fact that they literally lived in the same building I worked in and could have just walked down a flight of stairs to tell me their problem. And their parents would call to make the most obnoxious complaints. The curtains were too dusty. The furniture wasn't nice enough, could we replace it? Their child wasn't getting along with X person from across the hall, could we do something about that person?

 

I also worked in the library and I'd get extremely nosy parents that wanted to know things like what books their child checked out, when was the last time they checked out a book, did they have fines, etc. Or they'd give me a list of books and ask me to find them and hold the books until their child got there. That wasn't happening. Also, students at my university only had active accounts if they were registered. So sometimes parents tried to be sneaky to figure out if their child had registered yet by asking me about their library account.

 

 

Sounds like a real hassle to deal with those stupid complaints... if I was making those petty complaints to my parents, their reaction would've been something like "you're not in a 5-star hotel. Suck it up and deal with it yourself."

 

I never worked at dorms but I've definitely seen some parents getting riled up over very minor things... one time outside my dorms, I saw a woman who was VERY upset that her daughter got a roommate. She was literally yelling and crying (because she could not believe this has happened) that her daughter must have a single, no matter what (I don't think her daughter had any social problems or anything... not sure why she was so hell-bent on her daughter getting a single room, which was not available to first-year undergrads except for very exceptional circumstances). I felt sorry for the RAs for having to take care of this.

[ERR_Alpha]

Sounds like a real hassle to deal with those stupid complaints... if I was making those petty complaints to my parents, their reaction would've been something like "you're not in a 5-star hotel. Suck it up and deal with it yourself."

I never worked at dorms but I've definitely seen some parents getting riled up over very minor things... one time outside my dorms, I saw a woman who was VERY upset that her daughter got a roommate. She was literally yelling and crying (because she could not believe this has happened) that her daughter must have a single, no matter what (I don't think her daughter had any social problems or anything... not sure why she was so hell-bent on her daughter getting a single room, which was not available to first-year undergrads except for very exceptional circumstances). I felt sorry for the RAs for having to take care of this.

My favorite thing being an RA would be parents calling the duty phone asking to talk to their child. No, the duty phone is for emergencies, not for you to helicopter parent. All we could do was go tell the student to please call their parents before they called UP. I also had parents who would pull me aside on move in day and list every single issue or potential issue their child may have. Poor kids never stood a chance.

[BeatrizBear]

Move-in day is when you really see the ugly side of these kids' parents. I had a hall mate whose mother took off every curtain in the room and decided to wash them in the laundry room for her child. They weren't even dirty but she insisted on basically sterilizing the room. There was this guy I'd see around campus a few times and he was always with his dad. I never questioned it but when it got to be the third week and his dad was still there, I did ask. Turns out his dad decided to spend the first three or so weeks of the semester near the university to make sure his child had settled in. The kid came from out of state.

 

There are kids who are babied all through college so it's easy to see why they get a certain kind of attitude. And honestly, some of the things they say to professors is embarrassing. Like, you're the adult now, please stop acting like this.

[attackonthedoctor]

I never will forget the cold shudder and utter horror that I experienced when I overheard this:

 

Girl 1: "...I'm only in college to find a good husband."

 

Girl 2: "Me too! Who needs a degree when I can have a man provide for me?"

[Page228]

I've heard of girls going to certain (...Catholic) universities "to get their MRS" but I've never heard anyone say that they personally were there for that. Wow.

[attackonthedoctor]

I was just as shocked. I went to a rather pricy, small liberal arts college so I was even more horrified by how much debt they are taking on for such a venture.

[BeatrizBear]

I've heard of girls going to certain (...Catholic) universities "to get their MRS" but I've never heard anyone say that they personally were there for that. Wow.

I go to a small, Catholic university and there are girls like this. I wouldn't say they make up the majority of the female population, but they do exist. They tend to drop out once they get engaged too. I think it'd be smart to stay and have a back-up in case something happens and they need to work, but I guess that's not a priority for them... I went to a Catholic, conservative school for grad school and very liberal school for undergrad and the attitude toward marriage is different too. At my Catholic school, even for girls who aren't there to meet a dude, marriage is a huge priority to the point where it seems that being married in itself is more important than the person they're married to. They take not being engaged as a personal failure and see getting married as a duty that they need to fulfill.

[FoggyAnhinga]

Move-in day is when you really see the ugly side of these kids' parents. I had a hall mate whose mother took off every curtain in the room and decided to wash them in the laundry room for her child. They weren't even dirty but she insisted on basically sterilizing the room. There was this guy I'd see around campus a few times and he was always with his dad. I never questioned it but when it got to be the third week and his dad was still there, I did ask. Turns out his dad decided to spend the first three or so weeks of the semester near the university to make sure his child had settled in. The kid came from out of state.

 

There are kids who are babied all through college so it's easy to see why they get a certain kind of attitude. And honestly, some of the things they say to professors is embarrassing. Like, you're the adult now, please stop acting like this.

Oh helicopter parents, haha (completely forgot that term until just now!)... wow, three weeks to make sure his son settles in?! That's some dedication... 

 

I often wonder how the kids who are babied through college survive in the real world (if they do survive that is)...

[BeatrizBear]

Oh helicopter parents, haha (completely forgot that term until just now!)... wow, three weeks to make sure his son settles in?! That's some dedication... 

 

I often wonder how the kids who are babied through college survive in the real world (if they do survive that is)...

 

I had a supervisor that told me that she knew a 35 year old man whose mother would come by his workplace often to make sure his coworkers were treating him right. And before, when he had job interviews and didn't get a call back, she'd call the work place to scold them for not hiring her son.

[dstock]

Move-in day is when you really see the ugly side of these kids' parents. I had a hall mate whose mother took off every curtain in the room and decided to wash them in the laundry room for her child. They weren't even dirty but she insisted on basically sterilizing the room.

 

My mother did this.  I was mortified.  It's hard as a 17-19 year old to know how to set boundaries with an insistent parent.

[.letmeinplz//]

I had a supervisor that told me that she knew a 35 year old man whose mother would come by his workplace often to make sure his coworkers were treating him right. And before, when he had job interviews and didn't get a call back, she'd call the work place to scold them for not hiring her son.

I don't even know what world these people live in that they would think that would ever be acceptable behavior. 

 

I know that parents think their children are the most special snowflakes ever, but there are 7 billion of us. Perhaps your individual isn't so special.

Edited February 7, 2015 by <ian>

[Kleene]

My parents did not helicopter AT ALL. Ever since I started middle school I have lived my own life, advocated for myself, got myself where I wanted to be without help from my parents (no opposition whatsoever either, though). That is why I was so surprised that when I moved away for grad school in another country, my mother sort of insisted that she and my father flew me over. They were there for three days while I moved into my room and explored town.

 

A couple of times on that trip my mother took charge (like asking someone for directions even though she had no idea where we were going) that in any other situation she would let me have handled. I let her do it, because I understand why she felt like she should take charge at that moment. I am her youngest child, moving out, leaving the country, and she has missed out on babying/pampering/helicoptering me because I grew up so fast. It was as if she 'needed' to see me off properly, so during those three days I let myself get pampered more than in the ten years before.

Love you, mom.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Kleene

[LittleMac]

I lived on campus for two years (first in dorms, second in apartment-style), and I was ASTOUNDED by the amount of kids who would bring their dirty laundry home to do it there, presumably so their moms/dads can do it. I wouldn't be so surprised if I had seen it once, but it was a relatively common thing, even once I moved to the upperclassmen apartment-style. I think we all hate doing laundry, but it's such a simple thing that you kind of need to learn to do when you live on your own...and the laundry machines were in the same building!

[BeatrizBear]

I lived on campus for two years (first in dorms, second in apartment-style), and I was ASTOUNDED by the amount of kids who would bring their dirty laundry home to do it there, presumably so their moms/dads can do it. I wouldn't be so surprised if I had seen it once, but it was a relatively common thing, even once I moved to the upperclassmen apartment-style. I think we all hate doing laundry, but it's such a simple thing that you kind of need to learn to do when you live on your own...and the laundry machines were in the same building!

 

Don't get me started on that. I'd see college kids on the metro with huge bags of laundry because they'd go home for the weekend and have their mom do a month's worth of laundry. Also, the first few times I went to my dorm's laundry room, I saw a lot of confused faces. A dude once asked me why I was separating my clothes into colors. They had to put up signs on how much detergent to use because someone used so much that it broke the machine and we had suds all over the floor. Someone I knew from my hall asked me why he saw me washing my sheets so often. I was lazy so I only did it once every two weeks. This person had washed their sheets once a semester. It was disgusting.