Well, I Laughed

Would you like to hear about a funny practical joke that was played on me yesterday?

Well, we all know that this week I’ve been studying for my Stats Final. I was studying for it because I needed to pass it to graduate. I did what I needed to do, went and took the test, and felt really good about it! I was done! Home free! Woohoo!

Then, yesterday afternoon, just for fun, I decided to check to see if my grade had posted yet. Imagine my surprise to see a big fat “F” sitting there. I decided that wasn’t good, so I emailed Prof. Bruce Barrett to inquire as to what my final exam grade was. By my calculations, I would’ve needed to have failed the exam to fail the class.

At several points during the semester, the Professor made statements to the effect that he did not believe in punishing people for mistakes made during the semester if they learned the information. The he didn’t believe college should be about “jumping through hoops” but, instead, about learning. He explicitly stated that the final would be worth more than the percentage on the syllabus if it would help your final grade… and during all of these statements there was a strong implication that one’s final exam grade could the semester grade if it was better than the average. I was not the only one who interpreted his words this way.

When Prof. Barrett emailed back to say I had made a C on the exam, I found that curious… a) I thought I had done better than that and b) If I made a C on the exam, why the F for the class? So I wrote back. When he responded, the practical joke was pretty obvious… he never said that the final could count for your whole grade! Hahaha! Isn’t that funny? He never said it, and anyone who thought that’s what he meant was mistaken! In fact, he also “resented” my characterization of things like “going to class, doing homework, and taking tests” as “hoops” and with this resentment as fuel he got exceptionally bitchy.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anything else that might be considered a “hoop.” I mean, besides going to class, doing homework, and taking tests… what else is there in a class? What are the mysterious “hoops” that he was talking about?

At any rate… this is all a funny joke because… “Haha! You thought you were graduating!” But I’m not. Not until August, at least. I really suck at this graduating thing.

Now, I am going to file a grievance with the college, but I’m a bit of a cynic and don’t really believe that anyone is going to take this seriously… obviously this is not the whole, detail-laden story, either. At any rate, this will change my plans for the summer slightly: instead of starting in June, I’ll start in August, since GES 257 (an equivalent class) is not offered until Summer II.

So… that’s where things stand. I really am dragging this out as long as humanly possible.