[mulan]

Maybe this hasn't much pertinence to this forum, but I want other people to hear this.

I had this discipline and this horrible teacher (a doctor, in fact). I had the bad luck to get him as my tutor on this discipline...basically a pratical class, without any assays, just showing up and learning from his work and helping him. And he was suposse to evaluate us based on our interest, and our knowledge...and so on.
So it was me and two other students with him, one was a foreign student that barely could speak the language... We three hated him, he would make us feel really bad. One day I was presenting him the clinical case of a patient, while speaking in english because of the foreign student and I was mocked all the time. He had this intern that start mocking me because I was speaking slowly (as you can tell I do not speak english as my first language), she showed a video on youtube of someone I reminde her of. She was laughing, the other interns and the doctor giggle. And he continue to torture me, making me question I wasn't supose to know and talking to me in this very passive agressive tone, criticising me. Instead of teaching us what we didn't know (he was supose to do that) he would ask us it and wouldn't stop until we gave him the right answer (that we weren't supose to know). He would ask us over and over and over while staring at us and making long silence pauses. We made guess, say what we knew about the subject and his response was repiting the question and staring at us, nithing more. Pure torture. And he made us stay with him much more hours than we should... He was never nice to us. It was as we didn't exist until a question popped out in his mind and he decided to torture us.
But we did what we should do. We were there everyday, we did all the little things they didn't want to...we worked, but no one care about what we did.

Then the three of us choose to enroll in a two week course, that was an option at this discipline. And leave him in the last couple of weeks. It is a very good course indeed, but few students can do it. And the three of us got in.

So, he toke it as a personal offense. While he gave a very good grade to the foreing student giving her top evaluations at things as contact with the patients (she didn't even speak the language!!!!) to me and the other classmate he got his revenge and gaves us the worst grade. And had the guts to make excuses, play dumb at what he did, lye at us. We spoke with him, we spoke with the headteacher. But the system works very well as it is and no one wanted to compromise themselves.

And then I ended up with this very very very very unfair grade. The lowest passing grade. I may not be the best and I am shy, what usually goes against my favor...but this had nothing to do about what me and my classmate deserved, this was a very obvious personal vendetta. We leave is class to have other classes, but no one here gave us an evaluation, and we were very interested.
Everyone else in the class got good evaluations and that makes it even more awfull, because the comparation between my grade and the other classmates grade is abysmal. And I don't know if I should be sad or angry or actually feel pitty for him (how can a bitter person like him feel happy).

I could say many horrible things about him. He also was passive agressive with the patients and their families and he was mean to them. But what it leads me to? Nothing.

I am just so mad at this whole situation, at how powerless I am and how he can do everything he wants and no one ask a question. How does he sleep at night.

Maybe in the long term this won't so awfull and hopefully this won't have consequences on my future professional life (what I am not sure about, because this is the most important from the whole course).
But I wanted the world to know how bad some people out there can be.
I told my psychiatrist about this and she had the opposite impression about him, she thought he was very humane. I felt good about changing my doctor's opinion about him from a good opinion to a bad one...as if it could have the impact he had on me.

I know I am not a good story teller. And maybe a story about a mad student that didn't get the grade she thinks she deserved seems stupid. I myself have heard some stories about students blaming their bad grades on the teachers that didn't like them, that are very stupid... But in this case I can't stop seing unfair written every were. Sorry, if you don't care just leave it.

[Rohag]

Hello, Mulan!

Wow. I deeply regret you had to study with this doctor/professor. I've met a few of these people in my life. They feed off the misery of others over whom they have some control.

Does your university or institution of learning have a special administrator for student affairs, a "dean of students" perhaps? Could you and the other student tell your whole experience with this teacher to someone at the university? You may not be the first students to have these problems with him.

[Clara22]

Indeed, you may feel better if you try to get some justice regarding this. There should be rules or something the professor violated. If the university does not have a mechanism to address this situation you may be able to approach the ombudsman office and get some orientation, I don't know
Provedor de Justiça - Na Defesa do Cidadão: Perceber para prover

[Fuzzybear]

[TheOriginalMe]

Is there any way of appealing against the grade? It does seem very unfair that you were assessed in a foreign language while being undermined by the intern. Sometimes it is best to walk away from unfair situations but sometimes you have to fight your corner. Unfortunately the only person who can decide what is best is you. I hope you find a way to move forward.

I have great respect for your ability to communicate in English when it isn't your first language, you manage really well, don't let bullies like that teacher affect your confidence.

[mulan]

Thank you.

We tried to talk with people in charge but all of them dismissed us.
There's nothing I can do to change the teachers evaluation...who can prove that he gaves us the grade based on a very subjective opinion? And he won't quit.

And there's nothing I can do to punish him. So every discipline has to give students a second oportunity to be evaluated, if we want to improve the grade. How I can't repeat the practice, all that left is an oral evaluation... Now I just want to prove myself that I can be good and his evaluation doesn't have an effect on me. So, guess I will have to find some time on my busy schedule to study for this, my grade can't be worst.

I think the best way to get my revenge is to show him I am good and his opinions are ******. And after that I will left bad opinions about him everywhere I can. After all I am a better person than him.

[Ceara1010]

Hi Mulan,

I used to be a graduate student and also worked for years in academic research, so I have a lot of empathy with how powerless students often feel. Grading can be done soooooo subjectively.

Also, I understand from a German graduate student that professors and other types of instructors at European universities are far less supportive than their counterparts in the United States. She told me some real horror stories, a long the same lines as your story.

I have no magic words for you. Academia is a f**ked up culture pretty much everywhere. It's just worse in some places than others.

--Ceara1010

[elevatedsoul]