Teacher falsley accused me

[tallystudentnurse]

I am in my second semester of nursing school and am over 40 white female. I have 2 instructors this semester, one for maternity and one for basic med surg. All of my instructors up to this point have praised me and gave me good grades for clinicals. My maternity instructor said I am going to be a great nurse and I currently have an A in her class. My basic med surg instructor is another story. She is a black female and we are about the same age. Up until recently, she has treated me fairly well in class although she makes it obvious that she has favorites. There are 2 black females in the class who can do no wrong in her eyes even when they blatantly ignore policy. There is also a hispanic male who gets a way with murder, so to speak. Tuesday I was 7 min. late to clinicals at the hospital so she told me I had to go to the campus for the day. I have never been later for clinicals before. I had no idea what I was supposed to do at school so I went to the library and caught up on all my work. Yesterday at clinicals she was almost spitting venom at me and I could do nothing right. The hispanic male was absent from clinicals on Tuesday also and didn't even call in. The policy is no show no call are grounds for dismissal from the program. At clinicals yesterday she told him everything was fine with his absence and not to worry. She almost doted on him during the day.

Sorry this is so long but I am so distraught. We had maternity class today and my med surg teacher came in and said she needed to see me after class. I went to her office and she said follow me and took me to the nursing director's office. They had paperwork in their hands so I knew this wasn't going to be good. She started out by stating that I had missed clinicals and was told to go to the school and didn't show up. I explained that I most certainly had been at the school and I had been in the library. They said no one saw me so I rattled off a list of names. Then the director asked me why I had gone to the library and I told her I just assumed that was where I was supposed to go. She then said didn't you think to come and ask one of us. Well no because they weren't my teachers. Then my teacher went on to say I am defiant in the clinical setting and don't listen to her. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I try very hard and always say yes maam to her. She stated that she told me I couldn't do anything with out her but that I tried to do things without her anyway. This was all lies and I don't understand why I have been singled out. I was made to write a paragraph in front of them explaining in my own words my understanding of what they were saying and that I would respect her authority and do what I was told from now on. When I got to my car, I broke down and cried. I have never been accused of anything like this before and just don't know what to do.

[StrawberryBanana]

True, the OP has to make sure to keep themself out of the spotlight and follow all rules, but racism IS a HUGE deal. It shouldn't be brushed under the rug just because it's considered "reverse" racism.

My friend is white and is being harassed/abused daily by the Africans in his class. He is so quiet and nice. But he DARE not bring that up right? Sorry, racism plays a factor into it....but it's your reaction that makes the difference.

Document EVERYTHING..and in a few weeks..send it to the state board and your DON..as well as the college dean.

[sharpeimom]

i wasn't arguing that racism isn't alive and well today, because it certainly is. i was trying to point out that sometimes there can be extenuating circumstances students aren't privvy to. my husband is a senior faculty member who had a student about a decade ago who was undergoing tx for breast ca during the semester. no students knew about her illness. she chose only to tell her professors and the dean. she was given extra absences from class, latitude with assignment dates, and some freedom with test taking.

nobody else knew because she didn't want to have to deal with the inevitable questions, pity, the looks, etc.

another student had a son who had leukemia and she had to miss once something once in a while. she handed in assignments and took exams via email when she needed to. she dropped of a project at our house once, so it would be in on time.

one student was caucasian, while the other was aa, but rumors flew about both getting special consideration due to their race. they were taught by caucasians, aas, a native american, an

hispanic, and an asian. in my husband's case, he -- caucasian -- was assumed to have given the woman with the ill little boy special tx because she was aa and he had to. actually, he also knew because she had taken another of his classes before, that she lived far far from any family, had a fulltime job, and was a single mother.

i am in no way saying racism has gone away. it hasn't. i'm just saying don't leap to conclusions. there may well be more to the story. the op's instructor may well have been fanatic about students being on time.

that isn't necessarily a bad thing because employers will demand it down the road.

[StrawberryBanana]

Kathy, true and fair enough. It just wasn't that way for my program. I am already aware of some people needing special considerations and how that can be for them. There is a girl in our program who is always late and absent. The students gripe about her. I am not bothered by it. I figured that it must be something important for them to let her off the hook, and not us.

[racquetmom]

I agree with RN2BDFW that focus on holding yourself to the highest standard possible. If others are not then that is certainly out of your control and one can't worry, dwell, or think favoritism about it. I do feel for the OP and some indicated that she is being jumped on. I don't think any of the written responses are meant to be negative or harsh, but just pointing out or redefining some areas that don't make sense. This would be upsetting to any of us if we were in the situation no doubt. I still find this odd that if I was going along smoothly, doing quite well as the OP says getting A's and then 7 minutes late not allowed to participate and told to go to the school......I think I would find someone in the nursing dept. and say I was seven minutes late and not allowed to clinicals. 7 minutes can happen very easily waiting for an elevator, parking the car, getting stopped and asked a question while entering the facility, stopping for the restroom etc. Again, maybe the teacher was fed up that day and wanted to make an example of the situation. To never have been tardy and one time with such little minutes doesn't make sense that I would be so upset that I wouldn't run to the library, I would go find the head of dept. or nursing secretary someone to say hey look. It also depends on what is the school policy with tardiness at clinicals. I worked for a company that gave you three minutes timeframe to punch in. If your start is 8am and you punch in at 8:04 you were marked tardy and they did keep track and there were consequences and even termination all to do with tardy. Oh, and you couldn't punch in too early- no earlier than 5 minutes as they didn't want to pay you extra everyday and this was a medical facility.

[sharpeimom]

strawberrybanana,

racism is certainly alive and well some places. have you spoken to the dept. head/chairman or to the dean about what's happened? please don't automatically assume that they already know, because frequently, they don't. it's considered proper form to go up the chain of command. in other words, if you have a problem, first try to resolve it with the instructor/professor. if that doesn't work, go up a step and make an appointment with the dept. head/chair and when s/he asks if you tried to resolve it with your teacher, you will have an advantage when you are able to say "yes." keep accurate and complete records at every step. if you're still unhappy, set up an appointment with the dean. take your records and notes with you.

if you still feel you have been treated unfairly, write a letter after you graduate and have passed the

nclex, detailing each and every step and meeting, complete with dates and names.

[wetzoo]

True, the OP has to make sure to keep themself out of the spotlight and follow all rules, but racism IS a HUGE deal. It shouldn't be brushed under the rug just because it's considered "reverse" racism.

My friend is white and is being harassed/abused daily by the Africans in his class. He is so quiet and nice. But he DARE not bring that up right? Sorry, racism plays a factor into it....but it's your reaction that makes the difference.

.

But the situation that the OP described doesn't sound anything like racism. favoritism? yes. Racism? no.

The OP wrote that she was treated fairly well by this same teacher before she showed up late to clinicals. You have to think to yourself, 'what changed?". Unless it was OP's race, one can deduce that it was her tardiness that caused the teacher to react in such a way.

I don't think anyone in this post has said anything about racism not being a big deal. It is. But so is being accused of it when that may not be the case. (Again, I'm making these judgments based on what the OP wrote. There could very well be more to the story, but I can only go off of what was written.)

[ILstudentnurse]

I don't understand how this turned into a race issue:uhoh3:. OP was late, with no excuse. The other students could have had medical issues or a death in the family. I'm sorry to hear about your friend Strawberry banana, but you can not make generalizations like you made in your post. Just because your friend was harassed by " the Africans" in his class does not mean that all the Africans around the world should be suspected of the same crime.

If you are going to use favoritism as your argument to prove racism...well...look up the percentages of minorities in the nursing field, advanced practices (crna, practioner, administrators ect)...let's not go there. :)

I am not making generalizations about the nursing industry above...some African American's do have to overcome disadvantages (substandard education, proverty etc) which contribute to them not obtaining certain positions. I'm just displaying how using favoritism as an argument to prove racism is and always will be ridiculous.

With that being said...OP...either give more evidence of racism or take responsibility for your own actions. Buy an alarm clock.

[latebloomer74, LPN]

Just a little PS. Just because favortism is everywhere doesn't make it right.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Of course it isn't right. The point here is control what you CAN. Favoritism is everywhere and there isn't a darn thing you can do about it other than decide what kind of person YOU are going to be. One can post about it and get all wadded up about it and complain about it, sure. All it does is look like whining. "I got held to the rules and she didn't!" Oh well. Those are the rules. Not unfair to be held to them, even if others aren't. Should everyone be held to them? Yes! Can anyone control that other than the person responsible for it? NO! Why waste time moaning and crying "unfair!" for something you ultimately cannot control, particularly when the moaning about it can affect your future career chances and when, if you got your way, it would mean you are worse at your job?

Control what you can. Hold yourself to high standards. Then when others do the same, it won't feel like such a surprise.