Classmate Frustration

Laney2005 · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:34 pm Post subject:

I am exceptionally frustrated with most of my classmates (and school in general) right now and am hoping that someone here might be able to give me a little advice.

I am currently taking classes to be a Speech-Language Pathologist because I am some sort of masochist and want to spend the rest of my life confronted with my own problems. Actually, that just happens to be a result of studying this, not my reason for doing it. I really want to help open up the world of communication to people who do not have it. I know how it feels to not know what is going on, but I have been blessed with words and I want other people to have that (or something like it), too. One day I want to be a professor.

But dealing with myself is only part of the problem. I am very frustrated and angry at my classmates. They do not care to learn, they do not care to think, they just want to be spoon-fed pre-chewed information so they can regurgitate it on the tests. They do not speak up in class unless...

They are saying mean things to/about one of our professors. They whisper all through his classes. I can't hear their words, mostly because I am trying really hard to pay attention, but I know it's mean. They laugh at him when he leaves the room. They ask him questions that even I know are not questions to get information, they are questions to mock him. It is awful. It is particularly awful because he is... one of us.

Today I finally broke. I told one of my classes that I was tired of being the only person who said anything in class. I told them I was done with being the only one who answered questions. I didn't know what to say about them insulting our professor, because I was too angry for those words to come out. They probably would have been mostly adjectives and "four-letter words". They stared at me and then laughed. Of course, I did end up answering all the questions after I said I wouldn't because I really am uncapable of leaving a question unanswered. Plus, the class is interesting and I can see how it applies to my life and not just future clients.

After class (which got out early, praise the Lord), I hid in an empty hallway and cried. It was angry crying. Then I went to another professor and lodged a complaint against my classmates.

I really don't know what else to do. I want to talk to my classmates and tell them that it's not only rude to disrespect our professor, but that I take it really personally when they do it. But they don't like me anyway. I want to tell them that they should get out of a helping profession if they are going to be mean to people who are trying to teach them, let alone having to deal with people with special needs for their entire careers. But I don't know how. It's like my mouth shuts off and I lose all my words when I am around them.

I talked about this with a friend after class and he told me to give them a break. He told me that I run on a different operating system than most people. I don't know whose side he was taking, but in a way that doesn't matter. What matters is that if this continues, I am going to drop out of school because I can't handle being around these people. But I don't want to. What I am studying is really hard, and it's not something that I find natural, but I love it. I just don't know how to handle these people. The complaint has been lodged (to the head of the department, who is frankly not much better than my classmates), but what else can I do?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
_________________
"I don't get the facts wrong! It's everything else I screw up!"
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