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School was good. Teachers were OK, and all of us were too busy growing up to care. Marks didn’t really matter, however much our parents shouted.
Then came college. Carefree attitude vanishes. Our career depends on it, and that’s why we care so much about it. Our college professors know that too.
Good professors help – they coach the weak, they nurture the strong.
Bad ones torture. They know the kind of power they hold over us and tear up assignments just because you are out of state and do not know the language. They humiliate you in front of the class just because. No one really stands up and speaks. Why will we? Our career can be destroyed.
And Rohan Joshi, one of the AIB comedians tweeted his experience which many of us will uncannily relate to –
1.
https://twitter.com/mojorojo/status/765469788898492416
2.
In my 2nd semester of engineering, I had an Engineering Drawing teacher who was a complete bastard and a turd of a human being
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
3.
For whatever reason, he decided he just didn’t like me. In an Indian college, this is pretty much a death sentence in the concerned subject
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
4.
He made me redo one particular assignment 20 times, I went to college four times during our scheduled study leave just to submit
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
5.
It got to a point where I’d be weeping in my room over the assignment and my mum would come in and draw for a bit, late at night
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
6.
I couldn’t tell if I was imagining the prejudice, so I borrowed a friend’s assignment, which the teacher had graded with a perfect score
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
7.
I got a gigantic piece of tracing paper and over several hours, traced his assignment out exactly. Submitted the next day. FAILED. “Redo.”
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
8.
Luckily I overheard him grumbling to his assistant about how he had to leave town the next day for a family thing. So I waited.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
9.
Two days later I went back to college and went to the HoD. Said “this teacher was supposed to correct my assignment but he’s left town”
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
10.
The HoD took my assignment, gave it a near perfect score and sent me on my way. I cried in the train, the whole way back
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
11.
There were a hundred factors I considered before I dropped out of college in the next semester, but this asshole was a key factor.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
12.
And I bet he’s still there, lording it over his fiefdom, wrecking careers, tearing apart kids’ interest in his subject.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
13.
I start shaking even today, just thinking about it. The humiliation, the helplessness. And the rage that follows.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
14.
I literally never went back to that college. I’d get anxiety attacks at the gate. I skipped the entire next term, voluntarily flunked out.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
15.
If you’re a student and you’re going through anything even remotely similar to this, please talk to someone. Because this is abuse
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
16.
And it took me entirely too long to recognise that. We brush it off as “tough love teaching methods” but it’s not. It’s soul-crushing.
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
17.
Also, the only reason I can stand here and talk about it today is because I had a support system that told me it was okay to fail
— Rohan (@mojorojo) August 16, 2016
This is a problem not just plaguing the backbenchers. We have all seen even the toppers getting victimized just because one of the professors “did not like the over-smartness”.
It is abuse. Not just of the students who face it, but also the position they hold. Professors and teachers should cultivate talent, and not crush it with cruel intentions.
They are the reason why only 90% of our college memories are fun.
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