I am sure most of us have been talked down to by a teacher. But I am here to tell you about a teacher I have had that has completely made me want to drop out of college.

I am a nursing major, and I plan to go on to become a nurse practitioner. So I am obviously going to be taking a lot of science classes. I have always been good in school, and never really had to study much; things simply came pretty natural for me. But I entered the horrifying world of college (it’s a trap, stay in high school), and I encountered a woman who completely changed my outlook on the word “study”.

My General Biology teacher, Mrs. Vaughn. This woman came in that class room like  witch on her broom stick. She was ready to destroy me. Biology has always been a subject that I enjoyed, but she made it seem like rocket science. I sat in the back of the room with my desk covered in notes and my lap top. I truly did try to succeed in this class, but that didn’t happen. She gave us a “study guide” but all it did was make me study the things that WERE NOT EVEN ON THE TEST! I knew the so called “study guide” like the back of my hand, but that didn’t help me in the slightest. I made a 42 on the first test. I was ruined.

My parents have never really had to worry about my grades,  I have always been a well behaved and structured student. So when they got the news that I had failed my first major college exam, they were pretty upset. I guess they thought that I simply had not studied (which was a lie, look at my color coded flash cards for example). I had tried, and I had failed. Well I promised myself that I would do good on the next test which would be our lab exam (HA!). Well as I did the first time, I studied. I had memorized every enzyme there was. I had this test in the bag! Nope. Not this time, LeAnn.

I made a 56 on this so called “easy” lab exam. I emailed Mrs. Vaughn as soon as I saw my test score. I needed a meeting with this woman A.S.A.P! I did not want to argue with her over my grade, I told her that I wanted to see the mistakes I had made so I wouldn’t make them again on a future test. I met with her in her office one day after my 2 hour long lab that I had spent with her. I walk in and sat down and explain to her how hard I had studied and she said “Oh I know you did!” (So remind me why I have a 56???). I had written out the definitions of every word and made side notes, so she knew that I had obviously studied. But this woman counted off for the simplest of things, such as misplacing a decimal or having a word spelled wrong. She was crazy.

In my opinion teachers are the people who are supposed to help build your self esteem, help you reach your goals, and most of all want you to succeed. As I sat in class the next day she discussed the grades on the test. The 2 people in there that actually passed were thrilled when she said that they would do great in there, then there were the people who made C’s but knew they could pull it up, and then there was the group I was in… the failing group. I could feel this woman’s eyes looking into my soul as she began to speak. She basically told us that we needed to get out of that class, that we wouldn’t be able to handle it. Keep in mind that this is a room full of science majors that skipped principals and came straight into general because we scored high on the science portion of our ACT’s; we were a pretty smart group. But for this woman to tell us that we wouldn’t be able to handle it and that we needed to decide if we thought we could really handle our career goals. I was furious. How dare this woman talk to us like this! Maybe if she actually took the time to explain things to us instead of telling us to go read it in our book, we might understand. But no, she was going to stand up at her board and ridicule us. We are all adults here and have decided on what we plan to do, and I will do it just to prove this woman wrong. I shortly went to my advisor and told her of the situation I was in and we came to the conclusion that if I wasn’t happy, there was no reason for me to stay in the class. I am now enrolled to take the class again next semester with a different teacher (Thank God!), whom actually sat down with me and helped me study one day because he saw how stressed out I was over one of Mrs.Vaughn’s test.

If you are a teacher and you happen to read this, please keep this in mind. We are simply students trying our hardest to make something of ourselves. I mean I am not paying this college tuition to come and fail. I am here for a reason. Students want to learn, and we want to do good. Don’t try to crush our dreams by telling us that we aren’t smart enough to fulfill them, help us become smarter so that we can. We need you to believe in us, and help us get there (that is your job after all). If you are going to be a teacher, please TEACH; we know we can look it up online or read it in a book, but most people need to hear the subject be explained in person. Were not all scientists and most of us don’t think it’s fun to talk about polyatomic ions, but we are willing to learn about them so that one day we can live out our dreams.

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”- Aristotle