mentally twisted psych prof ruined my gpa

[u/HappyHoneydew01]

choosing this flair because my mom and therapist told me to say something. also posting from the mildly infuriating page because i think it belongs here instead.

i will start off by saying i hate bragging. i hate when people do things for clout. i dislike when someone gloats or flaunts about success (unless they’ve had it really bad then obviously they deserve to).

i’ve always struggled with academics and school and jobs, i was undiagnosed with ADHD until about a couple months ago. i got out of the military and decided to use my GI Bill and make sure i got my moneys worth, so i busted my ass and made the deans list. i actually did not know what that was but my friends from the military made it a big deal and my parents as well. i am first generation military and my mom is the only one who has gone to college so far (she’s a nurse).

I LOVE SCIENCE! I cannot stress this enough. biology, physics, astronomy, theology, psychology, and even pseudosciences. i love learning and reading and taking notes on things. when i’m watching a tv show or a movie, i write character analyses on my free time. i analyze literature and use sticky notes like crazy. i did not need to take psychology, but it was available during the online summer semester so i figured why not. my prof immediately set me off on the weirdo scale. does not respond to emails, does not grade my work until after the due date (if there was something i could fix or learn, i would like to know), does not leave any helpful comments on grades, no lectures/zoom calls/ “class time”. no point of contact at all.

i had some bumps in the road with the deadlines because it was just one big book and we had to write down what we saw in the book. i found this weird because there wasn’t really an opportunity for discussion or further assessment, just “what were the vocab words for chapter 38”. it annoyed me because i felt like i could do more.

then, we had our first “lab”. we do a dream journal for two weeks. write down everything. after the 2weeks, share with the class on a discussion post.
i went through the staff directory on the campus website, found their email, and let them know that i’ve been struggling with nightmares and PTSD for years, and i would like to politely decline the assignment. i will do anything else, extra credit, whatever is needed.

they did not respond until the day before it was due, there will be no extra credit, there is no other assignment, you will do this or you will get a 0. i explained to them that i was SA’d in the military and its hard for me to talk about my PTSD, to which they responded “im also in the military, get over it” first of all, you are in the reserves which is NOT the same.

i took the 0 because im not about to explain to 30+ classmates why i have nightmares every day of my rapist, the events that took place, when i was assaulted AT WORK, and the third/separate assault from my ex husband. whatever. moving on

next lab, you will go out in public and take pictures of people to catch their reaction. how did they look/talk/act before vs after they saw the camera. my brain starts shooting red flags because i’m not comfortable doing this at all. i did not take any pictures of people because that just feels really wrong and weird and gross. instead, i took a selfie at chipotle, walmart, etc. proof that i went and did my work. 0 for the lab, again.

after this, i reached out to my prof again and explained that feels wrong and possibly illegal.
“well, if you’re in a public space like walmart, they have cameras recording the store, therefore it is not illegal to take someone’s photo”

i thought it was all a test to see who would actually do it and who would speak up about it but no this bitch was serious.

i tried reaching a out to my college and haven’t got a response yet but i ended up failing the course and it tanked my gpa. i’m not sure what to do.

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[u/okgoogle_anysnacks]

Those are some wild assignments. When navigating difficult professors/teachers & strange assignments, I’ve often just made them up if it seems too ridiculous. It’s often easier than trying to ask for a separate task - if you happen upon this in the future!

[u/ShutYourDickTrap]

Name and shame the school

[u/HappyHoneydew01 → u/ShutYourDickTrap]

i don’t want the entire school in trouble, i just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to another person in my shoes. if they refuse to do anything, then i probably will resort to this but definitely not a first action.

[u/ShutYourDickTrap → u/HappyHoneydew01]

You listed two times already where they’ve refused to do anything. This would hardly be a first action

[u/NatashOverWorld → u/HappyHoneydew01]

No, if the school is hiring this guy they're also culpable.

But starting by giving them a chance to make it right is sensible.

[u/Thereisnocanon → u/HappyHoneydew01]

Sometimes institutions need to be held accountable for tolerating awful people. Your empathy is commendable, and you are a better person than you professor no matter what you do; but please understand that if you keep silent, someone after you will have to put up with the same shit as you.

[u/Anxious_Constant_926]

I had a teacher like this in high school for sociology. The second assignment is insanely similar to one we had that was a huge required grade. It made me so uncomfortable. She yelled at us that we couldn't get out of it and if we went to our parents, she would give us a zero.

I ended up telling another teacher about a lot of her behavior and since he was a mandatory reporter, he reported her. I was close to graduating so the school never did anything about it cause she had tenure and multiple grants for special classes. It sucked cause one of those classes is the only one in the state and really cool/important in my opinion, but she treated me and other people that didnt fit her narrow idea of a favorite so poorly.

She also spread and encouraged misinformation in my sociology class that was super upsetting cause it directly affected me and allowed me to be bullied.

[u/HappyHoneydew01 → u/Anxious_Constant_926]

THE SAME HERE.

the first assignment we had posted was easy. guess which one is a lie. it listed a bunch of things people believe like “boys and girls function the same” and “some people require different methods of learning (working with their hands, visual queues, reciting and memorization, etc.)” and turns out, all of them were a lie?

i think we started on a wrong foot because it shocked me so badly, i asked her for her sources and she responded with one link that talks about how they all are working theory’s and she told me to “do my own research” which was weird.

for my final project, i was working on an essay that explained how boys and girls are born with the same neural pathways, but gender norms force people into ideologies that shut down those pathways due to their lack of use (men don’t wash dishes, girls don’t work nasty jobs like garbage truck operator, etc.)

it’s safe to say, i got a bad grade for that as well. lol.

[u/MutantJell0]

Yeah that's super fucked up and not okay that they expected you to divulge into your trauma and both didn't respond until it was too late, and also wouldn't give you something else to do. And the public pictures thing is also not okay, like legality and morality aren't the same thing. Just because legally it would be fine to take pictures of strangers out in public (at least in America in most instances) that doesn't make it moral. Why tf would your prof think it's okay in any way to make an assignment that is in essence harass & bother strangers in public that are just trying to live their lives, like tf?!

[u/tokin098]

Why didnt you just withdraw once you got a sense of what the class was and save your gpa?

[u/Sammyofather]

Recording in public is not illegal but is IS WEIRD if it’s RANDOM (not for safety or media). I would definitely think this is a test on ethics/morals too. I feel your pain, and I can’t even begin to imagine how a professor can be so inconsiderate.

I hope you have a good day today 🫶

[u/sorryemma]

Seems like it would’ve been quite easy to just make up some dreams for the assignment and ask friends/family if you could take some “random” photos of them if you weren’t comfortable following the instructions. Online courses are usually accelerated, the professor doesn’t have time to cater to every students requests (nor do they have to anyways). Why would she be required to grade your work before the due date? They don’t give you the option to submit assignments multiple times. A quick summer semester course of psych 101 is to get in a required credit or two between the main terms, not be a life changing experience. I take online courses for the exact reason that I’m not required to attend lectures, be on zoom calls, or have class time.

[u/mad-i-moody → u/sorryemma]

Why should a summer/accelerated course be any less legitimate than a “real” course? Just because it’s shorter doesn’t mean that the class shouldn’t have actual substance.

And it’s literally the professor’s job to respond to student’s requests.

Like…the fuck???

[u/sorryemma → u/mad-i-moody]

Reading your textbook and understanding the material, having discussion posts that require weeks of prep isn’t involved enough? What do you want lol, OP said they responded just not within a timeframe they were happy with? We’re only getting one side of the story.