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Damn, woman, get some MadLibs
I've always hated being in a situation where I know more than my teacher. It makes me feel uncomfortable, confused, and frustrated. More than that, it scares me a little. If I know the teacher's wrong, that doesn't mean that the rest of the class does. Do I correct the teacher for their sake, or do I let it slide and save the teacher from embarrassment and myself from a potential argument? Using the word "stealthy" to reply to my dad's daughter-swapping comments brought back a memory of one of these situations.
She was one of my stupider teachers, and that's saying a lot. I'm not sure if she had any pedagogical training, but if she did, she must have figured they were just suggestions. Not only was she not a good teacher of English, she was not a good student of English. At thirteen years old, we recognized that we knew more about English than she did. It scares me.
The moment that sticks out in my mind (and unfortunately pops up every time I hear any word based on the root "stealth"), was when we went to the U-M ROTC's ropes course as a class. I remember nothing of the outing, but I do remember coming back to class and having to write a summary of what happened.
Jamie M. wrote in his paper something to the effect of, "The ROTC members snuck up on us stealthily." When he asked, she corrected him, saying that the word should be stealthy. I can see my eighth-grade self there, hearing this, a confused and disgusted look on my face.
"No it's not," I told Jamie, "it's stealthily. Stealthy is an adjective."
"That's what I thought," Jamie replied, writing stealthily back in. Then this horror-teacher took the example and actually wrote "The ROTC members snuck up on us stealthy" on the board. I raised my hand and corrected her, and she tried to claim that stealthy was the correct word in this situation. She argued and I argued and finally I had to give in because she was the teacher and I was the student.
She's no longer teaching at my middle school. Surprisingly, I think she left to be a stay-at-home mom, rather than being fired for incompetence. Every once in a while I see a flyer around town where she's offering English tutoring, and I never know whether to deface it or tear it down.
srah - Friday, 20 June 2003 - 10:40 AM
Tags: ann arbor
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Comments (5)
Cheryl - June 20, 2003 - 12:53 PM - ℓ
I remember when she wrote that Robin was insulty me. I didn't know she tutored. I want to see her putting those flyers up and I want to laugh and point at them while she's there.
You should have offered to open up the dictionary and read to her.
Since she probably didn't know how to read, either.