Teaching in the South

So I think that one of the best things about teaching college (rather than teaching elementary or high school) is that I don't have to deal with parents. On the flip side, though, I have to deal with the students.

I had a student, whom we will call Student Z, who approached me toward the end of last semester. I was meeting with each of my students to talk about ther projects, and during my meeting with Student Z, he decided to bring us his issues with the class. He began by pulling out his midterm, on which he received a C, and told me that he had taken his midterm to the NAACP. He thought that the grade he received was unfair and that he received such a low grade was because I am racist. I explained at length how I graded the midterms and what I was looking for. The other students got A's and B's on the midterm.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from this conversation:

Me: Why do you think that I treated you unfairly on this test?

Student Z: I have gotten A's in all of my other classes. I know that the problem isn't me--it must be you.

(NOTE: One should never claim to have all A's in their classes when the person they are talking to has access to their academic transcript. When I checked later, I found out that Z did not have all A's.)

Me: One of the reasons that you got such a low grade on the midterm was because of the spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Student Z: Well, my other professors don't care about that stuff. They only care that their students learn something.

Me (out loud): Well, this is a professional degree program. We care about that stuff here.
Me (in my head): Why do you think we make students take English?

At first the situation disturbed me, and it really hurt my feelings that a student accused me of racism. But the situation fizzled out pretty quickly as the student had no proof. I talked to some other professors in our department and this kind of thing has happened before. Welcome to the South!