Nasty Professor Causing Me To Spiral.... I Need Advice, Please.

[IchBin]

I'm sorry to hear that you're treated in this way, that is crappy, and nobody deserves that. *hugs*

 

[Kintsugi]

I am considering legal action against her as the day she trapped me in her classroom and blocked me from leaving, exasterbating my claustrophobia from my trauma and causing me to break down in front of her crying and shaking, that night I ended up in the ER because of SI issues.

Holy crap! Sorry but that behavior is totally unacceptable. I'm lucky in that I go to a tiny, tiny school where that kind of behavior would have gotten through the entire school grapevine before I even took action, and would have at least been met would student outrage. Is she tenure or something? If a professor trapped me like that, I would tell them to get out of the way if they wanted to keep their job. I know that situations like this can cause extreme emotion and extreme anxiety--I wasn't even able to compose an email to a professor because of how badly he embarrassed me in front of the class and how angry I was, but maybe if you aren't going to do the independent study option you could just call her out right in class. It switches the power dynamic quite a bit when you say in front of the rest of the students, "Hi, I'm paying you to teach me, not to assault me. Could you please continue teaching the class we're paying you for instead of wasting my energy?"

I encourage you to embrace the independent study, though. She won't be winning anything. Pass the class and be satisfied that she couldn't take that money, time, or achievement away from you with her horrible behavior. It sounds like she has a serious power problem and needs to be taken down a notch, but you don't need to fight that battle with her, and certainly not at the risk of your stability and happiness. I'm taking two independent studies right now, and they really give you a lot of bang for the buck. You get individual treatment and don't 'miss' class when you're sick, because it just doesn't happen without you. It's a more relaxing setup in that regard, and then more rigorous in my experience because you're pulling a lot of the academic weight, so your time isn't wasted by anyone's incompetence, your professor's or that of other students.

Good luck, Jewel. I hope you get this resolved as painlessly as possible, and I'm sorry you have to deal with this BS.

 

[jewel]

Thank you so much for your words of support. It is very meaningful. :)

 

[caliaviator]

Kind of reminds me of grade school. I had a few teachers insult me in front of other students, and to be honest it was not fun. Makes me think whether these types of teachers do it to get on their student's good side or if they're just being jerks. In either case I feel that the quality of teachers has fallen as of late, and we need to tighten up the standards.