Help, I am at risk of being out of the nursing program because I am a smoker.
I really could use some advise on how to deal with a very unfair instructor. I am a first year PN student and we just started clinicals in Nov. I have an instructor that is absloutely against smoking. Of 18 students in the class only about 6 are not smokers. We were informed that if we as much as smelled of smoke during clinicals we would be docked in our grade.
One day another student and I got busted for smoking. Please no lectures on smoking and how bad it is. I really would like to quit. Anyway, our grade for the day was docked in every area it could. I would be fine with that. What I dont feel is fair is the way the instructor handled it after that.
A few days after the incident the instructor pulled me into her office when no one was around. She flat out asked me if I had smoked, and I said I will not lie, I did. She asked why after knowing her clear views on smoking I would do that, was I just that addicted? I told her yes, it is an addiction. This teacher than asked me about the other student and if she had smoked also. I felt uncomfortable about her asking me about another student, but I admitted she did also. I told her that I was sorry and would make sure it didnt happen again during clinicals. In fact I had just done another clinical the day before and told her in no way did I smoke before or during that clinical. This lovely woman told me that I need to think about what my punishment should be for disobeying her rules. Now remember my grade got docked for smelling of smoke. She also threatened to tell my mother about the incident. My mom works at the college but in a totally unrelated department.
A few days later she pulled me and the other student aside in a public hallway to lecture us and give us our punishment. She stated that we would write a 2 page paper with 2 references on how to quit smoking. Also we would write a 2 page paper on lying. Now I never did lie to her, she asked me if I smoked and I told her yes I did. If I wouldnt have confessed she wouldnt be able to punish us at all. Then to top it off she wants a 3 page paper on patient abandonment. She informed us, this is on the very last day of class before Christmas break, that we will have an incomplete in her class until she recieves these. I feel she is out of line and that she did this in a public hallway is just aweful. She wanted to make an example of us in front of the other students and I feel she handled this poorly.
I am furious. I have read the policies and procedures for the program I am in and nowhere does it say anything about smoking. In fact I dont think she can even assign extra papers because of it. My grade was docked as we were warned would happen. How can she make up extra punishment when I was punished by my grade? How can she make up extra assignments when we were told our grade would be docked. I earned a very hard A in her class. I got a 98% on her final.
Also this woman is a constant overeater and is constantly snacking on candy and other fattening treats. She flat out admits she cant live without candy. Yet she has the balls to judge anyone that smokes. She actually will pick out little things to dock grades on just because someone is a smoker when a nonsmoker can do clearly worse and recieve a better grade. I wrote in a letter to her that her behavior toward me and the other student was rude. In public to degrade us and ask us to write about effects of smoking and lying. How would she like it if she was asked to write about her eating habits and lack of exercise and how her fat butt is bad for her health? She can walk around with a jelly donut in her fat hand, but god forbid she smells smoke on a student.
She called me at home tonight to inform me that if she does not have these papers in hand by Weds of this week she will not let me continue in the program. I am considering taking her actions to her superiors and filing a greivance with the college regarding my grade.
Is it fair for a teacher to withhold your grade because of something like this? I have wrote her a letter pointing out how unfair it is and that I will not write extra papers for being a smoker. I admited to her I was wrong to smoke during a clinical, and said it will not happen again. My grade for that day was lowered because of it. I expect the grade I earned for the semester. I completed her course and than on the last day she throws 3 papers at me as a punishment!!!
I wrote her a letter that I expect the grade I earned and will not be treated like a child and will go to the board if she follows through on her threat. I feel I should add I am a president and deans list student. I have a print out of the points in her class and have earned a 96% fair and square. The class is over and I have an incomplete at the time deans and presidents list are being made, so she has taken that from me.
Please no lectures about smoking, if i could just quit I would. I want to know if her behavior is even justifiable? What are my legal options in this?
