Well hello, stranger
This post is just a rant. I'm not gonna bother making it look pretty because right now I don't give a damn about pretty. To say I'm pissed is an understatement. I'm beyond that. I'm "ready to invade a new planet" pissed.
I'm a lecturer, I go above and beyond for my students. I'm not saying this from my own biased opinion of "looky me, I'm so good at what I do", I'm saying this for if been told on many occasions, by many people, students, staff, campus board, that I do more than what is expected. I'm also a supervisor and a PDF student. I enjoy academics and teaching the students, guiding them, laughing with them, and showing them tricks on writing. I think my fellow lecturers/ teachers will get what I mean.
Well, today all that I've been giving to them was thrown back into my face.
SPLAT!!
How can someone be like this? Why? What do they get out of it? Is it just fun to go around and blame others for your mistakes? Do they feel empowered? Is it part of a life achievement badge thing that I missed? A side quest on how to be unprofessional? I'm confused and concerned at the same time.
One of my students felt it was necessary to inform me via text message, that she'll be finding a different supervisor. In this text, she attacked my teaching, my supervision and my compatibility with the academic world. Where in life does one send such a text? WHERE? It's beyond disrespectful.
And just before you think "Aa maybe they had a reason". The reason for this text was that I haven't returned her work, which she gave me on Monday... I'm sorry, no one is gonna read and comment on 80 pages in 2 days. No one. Especially not if you are supervising 4 other students who also submitted documents. If you want it back in 2 days, I'm giving you small useless comments. And if you are behind on your work, making it out on me ain't gonna help even the slightest.
Somehow it is also my responsibility to remind her about her due dates, and what needs to be done this week in each module and also assist in writing her work... I don't even know what is happening in the modules, I don't teach them, I'm supervising the thesis. That ain't the point of having a supervisor. You're the student, you need to pass, I'll guide you as best as I can, but it's your responsibility to DO THE WORK. There seems to be this mentality that supervisors are there to do the work, but we aren't. I can't comment on your work if the work doesn't exist. I can't guide you if you aren't willing to walk the path.
The student has been sending texts around our student group about me and someone was kind enough to report her. I don't have the capacity to deal with this.
At this point, I just feel like dropping her. If this is your attitude in your degree how will you manage in the workplace? Will she be one of those who fire her boss when he tells her the document should be PDF and not Word?
Please have a drink on my behalf 🍻. I should get back to the assignments I'm assessing, maybe there is hope for the students.
Thank you for allowing me to rant and get a bit of the frustration out. It's cheaper than a therapist and I can't afford to quit.
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