College, another big mistake... overwhelmed

Post Reply New Topic

I had this history teacher this semester who was being incompetent and offensive during class. It made me very anxious and I ended up leaving the room. I actually went and dropped the class, and the class cost me more than I make in a month. I was upset and didn't want to be in the situation again. My family got very angry at me so I tried to add a different class to replace it, but the school won't let me on account that I've passed the refund/add-class deadline. I didn't know it was past the deadline, I didn't see it posted, no one contacted me about it. I feel powerless now.
So now, my overall tuition has increased and I'm entrenched in so much worry. I might be able to pick the class up again, but I dread that because the professor is terrible and mean.
I'm told that I should have filed a complaint, but the process for that is insane. It calls for filing a complaint and sitting in a meeting one on one with the person you are complaining to and then they decide if it gets passed onto their supervisors.

Actually, I would file a complaint against the college in order to get a refund which will pay for a replacement course. The basis for your complaint should not be couched in terms such as the teacher is incompetent or offensive, because that puts the college on the defensive and if they have to decide between you and the teacher, they will come down on the side of the teacher. It is better to tell the college that the teacher has a teaching style that is incompatible with your ability to learn the subject matter and that there is no point continuing with the course because you will fail it. That way the college will assist you in finding alternatives.

And if you have an official diagnosis of Aspergers or Autism Spectrum, you can disclose it with the request for a refund. Even then, I'd say your odds are maybe 50-50. And you need to kind of be at peace with these odds and have zen-acceptance as it were.

And please turn this into a positive if at all possible. Arc ahead in your other classes if possible. Maybe even pre-study for next semester if that feels right. I mean, you'd like to have a doctor who had pre-studied, right? It would make him or her a better doctor.

In difficult times, try and add other free positives to your life, whether related to school or not. For example, have you thought about learning guitar from time to time, or maybe a hiking club?

At least you had a legitimate reason to be upset about the class.
Sometimes I can have a class with a teacher who is nice and I still get upset for no reason. This semester I had to drop two classes because I got depressed and anxious from sitting in class and couldn't get much out of it. I get a free grant to go however and it's not even past refund period anyway I don't think(?) I could learn fine if I wasn't forced to sit in the classroom, I can study on my own!

Ok, so I filed a complaint and to sum up...
The assistant coordinator at my college said, "f*ck off."
I tried to contact other higher people in the school, but my emails are being blocked by the school's server and calls aren't going through.

What exactly did the teacher do that made you leave and drop the class?

On the second class day, there was group discussion, I can't handle that. I contacted the teacher and told her that I can't handle group discussions, especially not without far greater warning and later on in the course.
In the next class we watch a documentary and that's all fine and good.
In the next class, she gives a two and a half hour lecture on "The Feminist Critique of the Sexuality of Nuns during the Reformation." The lecture is far out of place for an entry level world civilization course, and that bugs me and shows her incompetence. She didn't really give many specific facts or evidences, but went on a tirade. She mocked both Catholicism and Protestantism and vastly misrepresented the theologies of several groups. I'm neither Catholic or Protestant, but I am connected to both, my family can trace our history in a lot of detail to times prior to the reformation and it is a sensitive topic. On top of that, she then proceeds to initiate class discussion over the subject. I have trouble talking to people on more normal occasions, I can't talk about sex with strangers... She then went and targeted me in front of the class and said I was too arrogant to talk to people and too ignorant to have anything to say anyways...
I was already very worked up over all the sh*t she said and then she directly attacked me. I had to leave.