Was I discriminated against because of my LACK of religion?

[cbg]

The fact that only one person got an A is going to make it harder, not easier, for you to claim any form of discrimination.

I'm not quite sure where you got the idea that she is supposed to give you the grade that you want, as opposed to the grade that you earned. Or, for that matter, where you got the idea that she was required to justify her assignments to you. Or justify her refusal to accept the topic you wanted to do. Or give you the participation points you think you earned, instead of the ones she thinks you earned.

SHE is the one in charge. Not you.

If the essay is on the syllabus, then you are expected to do it. Whether your friends in class told you about it or not.

Bottom line: There is nothing in your post that even SUGGESTS any form of illegal discrimination. What your post suggests is an entitlement mentality that someone needs to knock out of you, very soon, before you end up shooting yourself in the foot even worse than you've already done so.

 

[davidmcbeth3]

I think you are living in the right state -- the land of fruits and nuts; you posting shows why.

 

[Isis1]

That is SOOOOO unfair, david!!!

 

[Isis1]

OP, if any discrimination is being done, it's because she doesn't like you. Now i see why. Which is perfectly legal. Which means your complaint is aeministrative and is only punishable by school policy. Which they can disregard at anytime. Which means, your complaint, is no good on a legal forum. You're wasting everyone's time with this particular question.

 

[Humusluvr]

Well she gave me a grade lower than I earned in the class, and is being unethical to try to show that I didn't earn an "A". She is not only lying about the argument, as I already mentioned, but she has produced more than one document to "prove" what I earned, and both documents calculate my grade differently, show different missing assignments, and don't include points for class participation that were promised in her initial syllabus. All of the ignoring of e-mails started after her e-mail about my religious choice of paper topic, and we had no other arguments during the semester. Stands to reason that if she DOES have something against me, that would be it.

What do I want? I want the grade that I earned in the class, an A. I'm not trying to sue or anything, trust me.

Just imagine this situation turned around a bit and tell me if you are still so cynical. Imagine I was a christian and she was not religious. I write her an e-mail saying that I want to do a paper on the harm that not being religious has caused society, she says it's an unsuitable topic even though it meets the requirements she gave the class. She then assigns me a topic that doesn't have anything to do with her original instructions and proceeds to ignore all e-mails from me for the remainder of and after the end of the semester, then refuses to give me points that I earned so that I can't get an "A" in the class.

Did you use interviews or books to write your paper. Its seems she told you it was a "research paper," which implies books, not people. If you used people, the essay would be subjective and not a research paper.

I am a college professor also. When a student wants to argue, I will politely answer their emails, always directing them to my syllabus. If a student keeps arguing, or is so dense that they don't get it, I stop responding. At that point, I tell them to see me in my office for a face to face meeting, and don't answer any more emails. It seems to me that your prof got so fed up with your badgering, that she stopped answering your emails.

Not everything demands a lawyer. A lot of people dislike being badgered. You need to learn to stop arguing, and get your work done.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

The fact that only one person got an A is going to make it harder, not easier, for you to claim any form of discrimination.

I'm not quite sure where you got the idea that she is supposed to give you the grade that you want, as opposed to the grade that you earned. Or, for that matter, where you got the idea that she was required to justify her assignments to you. Or justify her refusal to accept the topic you wanted to do. Or give you the participation points you think you earned, instead of the ones she thinks you earned.

SHE is the one in charge. Not you.

If the essay is on the syllabus, then you are expected to do it. Whether your friends in class told you about it or not.

Bottom line: There is nothing in your post that even SUGGESTS any form of illegal discrimination. What your post suggests is an entitlement mentality that someone needs to knock out of you, very soon, before you end up shooting yourself in the foot even worse than you've already done so.

I don't know if that essay was ever even administered. It's just her word, and no students ever told me I missed an essay.

I just compared her syllabus (the work that she said we'd be doing) to the actual work that she assigned to the class and included in our detailed grade reports. There are 18 assignments that are listed in the syllabus, but that we were never actually assigned to us. Is it still your stance that I am supposed to do everything in the syllabus just because it is there? In that case, everyone in class is 600 points short of where they were, because that's how many of those 18 assignments are 100 point essays. I guess we all failed. I thought she had only skipped one or two assignments. Oh, and the essay she says I missed....an essay about the Communist Manifesto...is not listed on the syllabus. Fun stuff. Yup, guess I'm just some "youngin" looking to fight the world and be a brat...or maybe my 80 year old teacher needs to retire.

Also when did I say my "wants" are why I deserve an A? Where did I say that she needs to justify assignments? When did I say she needed to justify her reason for denying my topic? And I THINK I earned class participation points? The syllabus says they are 15% of my grade, and they aren't even listed as a category on my actual grade sheet.

I'm curious why someone at your level of reading comprehension would be in such strong defense of an English teacher. Just sayin...

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

I think you are living in the right state -- the land of fruits and nuts; you posting shows why.

lol, oh. well thanks for that.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

OP, if any discrimination is being done, it's because she doesn't like you. Now i see why. Which is perfectly legal. Which means your complaint is aeministrative and is only punishable by school policy. Which they can disregard at anytime. Which means, your complaint, is no good on a legal forum. You're wasting everyone's time with this particular question.

*shrug* you're wasting your own time. Nobody's forcing your responses in here =P.

Anyway...already have my school code argument. Faculty code says that teachers must clearly communicate any changes to the syllabus to students. Syllabus was drastically rearranged. My previous post points out how chaotic it was. It doesn't even include the essay that she says I missed. Ridiculous.

I just wanted to see if I had a discrimination argument to make to help clinch the deal when I go in.

 

[cbg]

Oh, please. Your entire post SCREAMS your belief that she has to justify herself to you, and not the other way around.

It is not the responsibility of other students in the class to tell you which assignments were administrated. It is your responsibility to BE IN CLASS and know yourself. If you choose not to do this, you run the risk of missing an assignment. If you were supposed to turn it in and did not, then you run the risk of losing points. And NO ONE but the instructor gets to decide on the level of participation that is required for each student, and it doesn't even have to be the same for each student.

My reading comprehension is just fine. I'm even able to read what you put between the lines. Your comprehension of what is illegal discrimination, however, is more than a little faulty.

I just wanted to see if I had a discrimination argument to make to help clinch the deal when I go in.

You don't. Not even close. You can't even SEE discrimination from where you are.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

Did you use interviews or books to write your paper. Its seems she told you it was a "research paper," which implies books, not people. If you used people, the essay would be subjective and not a research paper.

I am a college professor also. When a student wants to argue, I will politely answer their emails, always directing them to my syllabus. If a student keeps arguing, or is so dense that they don't get it, I stop responding. At that point, I tell them to see me in my office for a face to face meeting, and don't answer any more emails. It seems to me that your prof got so fed up with your badgering, that she stopped answering your emails.

Not everything demands a lawyer. A lot of people dislike being badgered. You need to learn to stop arguing, and get your work done.

I used books to write my paper. It was never my intention, nor did I ever suggest it was, that I was trying to avoid using books. I never even THOUGHT about using an interview as one of my sources. I just wanted to pick a topic where I had an excuse to interview people personally about the issue.

As far as badgering the teacher...no. In fact, I will as much as POST here how the conversation took place, and you can judge for yourself if I was badgering her.

----------------------

ME:

So the thing about this research paper...I am really the type of person who likes to get out there and do research by talking with people. I want to write new points of view that have not already been documented by someone else. I was having a hard time thinking what subject I could write about that would allow me to do that.

Would it be possible to write a research paper on the persecution that religion has caused? I could interview pastors and the like, and atheists who used to be religious and who are now not. Of course, there are plenty of books I could use as sources. I imagine I could use any history book, since so much of what has been done has been done in the name of religion. I could also find a lot of information in religious books themselves, like the Bible.

TEACHER:

No - find a more suitable topic - I gave you a list - you must do actual research - you must have 10 different sources -

ME:

Yikes...then I think I misunderstood the assignment. sorry! Could you clarify for me? I thought we were just researching a significant instance of persecution in history. Is religion too vague? I could pick something like the crusades or the Salem witch trials. I just wanted a reason to go out and actually talk to people and get modern day sources along with the required 10. Let me know. Thanks!

HER:

It needs to be a research paper 8-10 typed MLA format not including work cited page - a list was provided regarding civil rights issues across cultures, generation that you could choose from - maybe you would be intersted in doing a research paper on global warming, the oil spill in the gulf how it is impacting the people, the environment and the country. Those are my suggestions.

-----------------------

That's it. I picked the oil spill and got an A on it. Yeah, i was such a relentless jerk to her.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

Oh, please. Your entire post SCREAMS your belief that she has to justify herself to you, and not the other way around.

It is not the responsibility of other students in the class to tell you which assignments were administrated. It is your responsibility to BE IN CLASS and know yourself. If you choose not to do this, you run the risk of missing an assignment. If you were supposed to turn it in and did not, then you run the risk of losing points. And NO ONE but the instructor gets to decide on the level of participation that is required for each student, and it doesn't even have to be the same for each student.

My reading comprehension is just fine. I'm even able to read what you put between the lines. Your comprehension of what is illegal discrimination, however, is more than a little faulty.

I just wanted to see if I had a discrimination argument to make to help clinch the deal when I go in.

You don't. Not even close. You can't even SEE discrimination from where you are.

So basically you can't answer my question by quoting me at all. ok

I never said that I knew what legal discrimination was. If I did know, why would I even post here to ask people for input? But input about the legality of discrimination IS what I posted here for, not to be bashed like I'm a 12 year old who needs a spanking when I'm just having a hard time because I happened to have a class with a woman who seems to be nearing the end of her career at the ripe old age of 5000.

 

[cbg]

I did answer your question. No, you were not discriminated against because of your lack of religion. You have not posted anything to suggest that any illegal discrimination occurred. I hope that this is now clear enough for you. Talk about people with reading comprehension.

And if you don't want to be treated like a 6 year old who needs a spanking, don't behave like one. (The average 8 year old, let alone 12 year old, handles being told "no" better than you are.)

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

I did answer your question. No, you were not discriminated against because of your lack of religion. You have not posted anything to suggest that any illegal discrimination occurred. I hope that this is now clear enough for you. Talk about people with reading comprehension.

And if you don't want to be treated like a 6 year old who needs a spanking, don't behave like one. (The average 8 year old, let alone 12 year old, handles being told "no" better than you are.)

No, you DIDN'T answer my questions.

I handled "no" just fine, and I handled being insulted in the same breath just fine.

 

[cbg]

If you don't think I answered your questions, you just proved my point about reading comprehension far better than I ever hoped for.

 

[HerNameIsNicole]

If you don't think I answered your questions, you just proved my point about reading comprehension far better than I ever hoped for.

good for you