Every once in a while, you, a struggling student, realizes that the end is coming. At that point you typically have two options: give up because you are doomed, or study for every waking moment that you have before you are met by the ultimate fate of your midterm. Though both are plausible, sometimes students ask for help.
In the middle of last semester, like many, I experienced moments of desperation that prompted me to make an appointment with a tutor. Within the first couple minutes, I knew I had made a mistake.
After my first question was asked, the regret sunk in.
"Why are you in this class? Do you realize your exam is tomorrow? You shouldn't be in this class," he said, while shaking his head with a smirk on his face.
Every time I asked him a question about a concept I didn't understand, I kept hearing, "You should know this already," accompanied by his eye roll and head shake. Hmm, I don't know if you noticed, Mr. Tutor Man, but students get tutored when they don't understand the material. I wouldn't be here if I already knew everything. Unfortunately, I lasted 17 minutes before I realized that being there was nothing but a waste of time. If I wanted to be degraded for things I didn't understand, maybe I would have stayed longer.
But the point of this isn't to openly roast the person that made me feel stupid, when all I asked for was to be helped. It's actually a thank you. Thanks for showing your true colors, thanks for not being helpful, thanks for making me realize that biology was not for me. Through being an asshole, you truly showed me that biology was the last thing I wanted to study and that I needed to save myself from it as soon as possible. The follow day, I officially dropped the class.
Now that I've switched majors and am actually studying something that doesn't make me feel like every day is another day to fail, it's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Maybe its the biology and chemistry textbooks that I no longer carry around, or just the realization that studying something you love doesn't feel like ordinary work.
If it was not for your transparency, I'd probably be dissecting worms and grasshoppers right now, instead of learning political theories and reading piles and piles of case law. So Mr. Tutor Man, because of your condescending attitude an inability to help other students succeed with open arms and a kind heart, I'm glad I met you.
