I have a teacher who before I had totally admired and respected. She is my A&P and Micro teacher therefore I have to have this woman. She is South African, I believe, so there are some culture clashes. She says things that she really shouldn't say because they are just plain rude. Anyway, here's my story:
I had to drop off my digital recorder to her on Monday because my 3 y.o. son was sick and couldn't go to day care. While I waited in her office with my son (she made me wait 30+ minutes while she phoned a friend, checked and sent emails, etc.)--all I had to do was show her the on button, the record button, and the stop button--she made a very rude comment to my son not once but 4 times in front of nursing students that I do not know and in front of my algebra instructor. She looked at my son and asked him 4 times "Is your mommy eating all the food and not giving you any?" She asked him so many times that he tugged on my pant leg and when I bent down to talk to him he asked me if I was eating all of his food. Granted I'm a chub--but I'm not morbidly obese--and my son is small but he's in the 50th percentile for his age or whatever. She's made comments before about me weight in class. We were talking about total blood volume and how women have less blood and body fat decreases the amount even more. So she points to me and says, "so someone like you would have much less blood than someone like her (another student) who is healthy and skinny." This teacher is not a small woman. She's actually quite large but tells us constantly about what great shape she is in.
A few weeks ago in micro lab she looked at another classmate and loudly in front of the whole class proceeds to tell this girl how she has let herself go and gained a ton of weight yet she was still trying to fit into her smaller clothes--how everything was hanging out and she looked awful.
I was so hurt by the fact that my son asked me if I eat his food and so mortified that she asked that 4 times in front of total strangers that I cried all evening. I didn't say a thing in her office--but as soon as I got in my car the waterworks started. I'm so very concious of my weight because I used to be VERY small--too small--until I had my son. I gained a lot then and was never able to breastfeed so 3 years later I'm still a big ol' chunk. And during school I've put on more weight since time to exercise and eat right are almost non-existent. So I know what I look like....do I really need a teacher reminding me constantly and embarrassing me in front of others?
My question is, what should I do? I thought of writing an annoymous (sp?) letter but then I think I should just drop it--blame it on the culture differences and survive the semester. I have to have her to be a nurse. She's the only instructor available that teaches these courses. If I approach her she's very argumentative and will make life miserable for me.
Anyway, there's my rant. I'm done crying now--I'm just angry at this point.