I just got off the phone with my daughter. She called because she needed a teacher's opinion.
Her teacher in grad school likes to use the overhead projector. He was busy lecturing and trying to finish up for an exam when she noticed the overhead was on fire. She interrupted him to point this out. He got agitated and angry at her for interrupting the class. He blamed her because he was not able to finish using the overhead in class. She called to ask if maybe she shouldn't have said anything (not really, she wanted her voice validated.)
I don't know this guy. I'm willing to bet he is a senior professor in no danger of being rated unsatisfactory or of being sent to the rubber room. Too bad he doesn't work for the NYC DOE. But, he probably would be an administrator or someone else with immunity from the system.
9 comments:
What a jerk!
Too bad he didn't catch on fire!
He sounds more than just a tad unhinged....your daughter is sensible, unlike him. He also is delinquent in his actions, endangering all those students in that class. If he were a NYC teacher, this is a prime example of someone who should be in a rubber room, as opposed to a rational someone just hated by administration. Prof. Firestarter should really be canned.
What a great story. It's remarkable how certain people can manage to remain pompous and pedantic, no matter what foolish nonsense they're to blame for.
It's inconceivable to such individuals that anything can be their fault.
Now seriously- why should a little thing like a fire stand in the way of higher education?
What a pompous ass - my mouth is hanging open reading this post.
Un freaking believable.
I think someone should sneak in there before class every time it meets and leave a big book of matches on the overhead for him, in case he wants to start a fire again and not be interrupted. What an ass.
I was listening to Bill Bryson on CD (Audio book: Notes from a small island) on my way into work this morning, and I have this great urge to rewrite this as though they were both British:
Student: Um, excuse me, I'm terribly sorry but your overhead appears to be on fire.
Teacher: Oh dear is it? [stamps out fire] Now look what's happened, I can't finish the problem on that overhead, now can I? I'm sure you needed to mention it, but I do wish you had waited until I was finished with this problem
Student: Oh, right. Sorry for the interruption
Teacher: Yes, quite all right, now then, where were we...
Still--I have a hard time understanding how one one would want to be left in ignorance of one's burning overhead. I can't imagine that the lecture would have gone any better if the professor had gotten burned, or if the fire alarm had gone off.
I thought about writing this as a story, but it is too unbelievable.
After all the news about fires lately, this guy is an idiot.
What about the other students?? Didn't they back her up. Don't tell me they are future teachers who keep their mouths shut about any injustice.
I would report him to the dean.
Not teahers, engineers. I don't know what the rest of the class said. I'll have to ask her.
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