Who believes instructors can be out to get you?

mariedoreen · Jul 2, 2004

:imbar ok, i have to come back and eat my words. i had a horrible experience today and it was a first for me. i am the studious type, actively participate in all classes..make good grades, do all assignments....yadda yadda yadda. today in anatomy we got our bone tests back and i made a 100!!! however this guy that sits next to me had a question about one of his and asks me what i put down. i told him and he says i put the same thing and they counted it wrong. he raises his hand to ask the instructor about his grade and tells the instructor that he put the same as me and i got it right but that they marked his wrong. the instructor angrily takes my paper out of my hand, even though i didn't say a word and says well little miss smartie pants will lose her point then and he marks a point off on my paper, and take my paper to his desk with him. the class was all laughing because we thought he was joking. but he never gave my paper back. so after our lab was over 2 hours later, i asked him for my paper back and he says i'm not gonna deduct the point this time but let this be a lesson to you. i'm thinking what did i do, your beef was with the other student. the instructor says that the other student needed to learn a lesson and grow up. how on earth was punishing me gonna teach the other guy a lesson, not to mention the embarrassment in class from the miss smartie pants remark. sheesh what a day!:uhoh21:

what a jerk!!! is this guy new or something? i can't tell you how many times this has happened in my classes, where one person is marked wrong and one right for the same answer. they're only human for crying out loud, it's nothing personal. the guy who asked for your answer should have said tho, "what's the answer for question... oh, that's what i got." and left you out of it. but in any case, the instructor handled that very badly!

blkdawn · Jul 2, 2004

Let's not forget that instructors who have tenure don't have to have a high passing rate to make themselves look good. They're secure in their jobs no matter what.

That being said, I just squeezed (and I mean squeezed) by my Pediatric rotation b/c of a personality difference between my instructor and myself. And I wasn't even the first person to notice it; my class mates were. They couldn't understand why she was so hard on me and not hard on people who did less work (or even the same amount of work).

I have a Master's degree (and I think that was the beginning of my problems) and I'm a vocal person (problem number 2! :rotfl: ) and although I was expecting to learn a lot out of her, she was rude and abrasive to everyone and I wouldn't tolerate it. I politely and professionally gave her a piece of my mind one day during clinicals and she backed off verbally, but at the end of the semester, I could see she was disappointed that I didn't do anything during clinicals or lecture that would cause myself to fail.

Even if you don't want to believe my side of the story, I've watched another instructor almost fail two of my classmates (one of them being a straight A student), because she just didn't like them. Period.

So, yes. IMHO, There are some instructors after some students.

blkdawn · Jul 2, 2004

Let's not forget that instructors who have tenure don't have to have a high passing rate to make themselves look good. They're secure in their jobs no matter what.

That being said, I just squeezed (and I mean squeezed) by my Pediatric rotation b/c of a personality difference between my instructor and myself. And I wasn't even the first person to notice it; my class mates were. They couldn't understand why she was so hard on me and not hard on people who did less work (or even the same amount of work).

I have a Master's degree (and I think that was the beginning of my problems) and I'm a vocal person (problem number 2! :rotfl: ) and although I was expecting to learn a lot out of her, she was rude and abrasive to everyone and I wouldn't tolerate it. I politely and professionally gave her a piece of my mind one day during clinicals and she backed off verbally, but at the end of the semester, I could see she was disappointed that I didn't do anything during clinicals or lecture that would cause myself to fail.

Even if you don't want to believe my side of the story, I've watched another instructor almost fail two of my classmates (one of them being a straight A student), because she just didn't like them. Period.

So, yes. IMHO, There are some instructors after some students.

ksrnstudent · Jul 3, 2004

Yes, I do believe nursing instructors can be out to get you. I'm in an ADN program and the top student of my class. I have never missed a class nor have I missed a clinical day. I'm not one to sit in class and run my mouth, either. I was nominated by my class to be class president and also to be the president over the student nurses' association. However, the lead nursing instructor over first year has made my life a living hell. I loathe her as much as she does me. And the dean is just as bad! Here's an example of what they have done: As president I attend faculty meeting once a month. Back in April the nursing faculty was discussing how the president of the college and the board of trustees would be deciding the fate of the college health department within two weeks. The nursing staff was told they would be losing their health department due to budget cuts. The nursing department then asked if $1 per credit hour could be added as tuition for all students. The board denied their request. I had a couple of faculty nurses encourage me to get the word out to other students to help save the health department. The dean even gave me a list of board members with their home phone numbers and e-mails. So I put together a flyer and sent it out via e-mail to EVERYONE on campus, asked that each president of the class inform their fellow classmates, and sent information out to the local newspapers. Well the board members received a HUGE flood of calls and the president of the college was mad at the dean of nursing over the students contacting them. Soooo, the dean therefore was mad because her image was tarnished. So now the lead instructor is trying to get me to step down as president of the class. I have more issues than just this one and they always involve the same two people. However, I will say there are some really great nurses teaching there...just not those two!

Anyway, I have really been second guessing myself why I went into nursing. I honestly wanted to quit after second semester was over. My husband has talked me out of it reminding me I'm only 9 months away from becoming an RN. I've also discussed my feeling with another faculty member who was one of my clinical instructors. She and I have become great friends and I love her dearly! She told me as long as I'm doing well and remain president, it will be very difficult for them to get rid of me.

Sorry this was so long! Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the most important thing: the health department was saved!

ksrnstudent · Jul 3, 2004

Yes, I do believe nursing instructors can be out to get you. I'm in an ADN program and the top student of my class. I have never missed a class nor have I missed a clinical day. I'm not one to sit in class and run my mouth, either. I was nominated by my class to be class president and also to be the president over the student nurses' association. However, the lead nursing instructor over first year has made my life a living hell. I loathe her as much as she does me. And the dean is just as bad! Here's an example of what they have done: As president I attend faculty meeting once a month. Back in April the nursing faculty was discussing how the president of the college and the board of trustees would be deciding the fate of the college health department within two weeks. The nursing staff was told they would be losing their health department due to budget cuts. The nursing department then asked if $1 per credit hour could be added as tuition for all students. The board denied their request. I had a couple of faculty nurses encourage me to get the word out to other students to help save the health department. The dean even gave me a list of board members with their home phone numbers and e-mails. So I put together a flyer and sent it out via e-mail to EVERYONE on campus, asked that each president of the class inform their fellow classmates, and sent information out to the local newspapers. Well the board members received a HUGE flood of calls and the president of the college was mad at the dean of nursing over the students contacting them. Soooo, the dean therefore was mad because her image was tarnished. So now the lead instructor is trying to get me to step down as president of the class. I have more issues than just this one and they always involve the same two people. However, I will say there are some really great nurses teaching there...just not those two!

Anyway, I have really been second guessing myself why I went into nursing. I honestly wanted to quit after second semester was over. My husband has talked me out of it reminding me I'm only 9 months away from becoming an RN. I've also discussed my feeling with another faculty member who was one of my clinical instructors. She and I have become great friends and I love her dearly! She told me as long as I'm doing well and remain president, it will be very difficult for them to get rid of me.

Sorry this was so long! Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the most important thing: the health department was saved!

grnmtngirl · Oct 5, 2006

PM sent instead.

amybethf · Oct 5, 2006

So ... when I hear about students who refuse to believe that nursing might not be a good choice for them ... and those students who blame the instructors for "not like them" or "picking on them," etc. I can't help but wonder if maybe what's really happening is that some instructor is trying to save that student a lot of aggravation and pain down the road by encouraging you to seek another career. Rarely does an instructor have any motivation to "pick on" a student and try to get them quit other than to save them and profession trouble later on.

llg

I don't know if it's just me but how can an instructor know 'right away' that a student isn't the right fit?! If you are dedicated, motivated, trying your darnest to learn, doing everything you are supposed to, who is to say you should pick a different career?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Oct 6, 2006

By the way, I will be accepting hate mail for my unpopular opinion between the hours of 2359 and 2400 daily.

LOL i still remember reading this 2 years ago.

vanurseny, MSN · Oct 6, 2006

absolutely some are definitly out to get students. some are not. but yes unfortunately in my opinion i believe SOME instructors do favor students with certain personalities and dislike those with personalities they dont like. I think my school tends to favor outspoken personalities..me being shy and quiet ..i always got a hard time in school because i was soft spoken but that was my personality and NO the teachers were not trying to make me tougher (trust me i was trying to tell myself this) but they saw my personality as a weakness when in fact i saw theirs as a major weakness. I think some nursing instructors are just bitter and old and single and going through menopause. some are not. some are VERY nice and actually want to help but others have a mere purpose of making a nursing students life miserable.

ylbourda · Oct 7, 2006

I have to add my two cents to this subject. I am in my 4th semester of a 5 semester ADN program at a community college. We started out last year with 30 students and by the third semester we were down to 14 of the originals. We, of course, picked up students each semester (others who went out before). When we started we had three men, one in his early 20's, one in his early 40's, and one in his late 40's. The two older men were targeted in clinicals. They had some of the highest tests in the classwork and good care plans at clinical, however they had personality conflicts with clinical instructors. One of them was told the first day of rotation that he was not going to pass- and he didn't. The other was told although he was knowledgable, he lacked a good bedside manner- FAIL. We also had a few women who were targeted. I've seen it first hand and it isn't pretty, neither is it professional- it is a disgrace to everything that they are supposed to be teaching us. Unfortunately, when someone takes any of their problems to the head of our nursing department, it goes right back to the instructor word for word what was said and who said it, making an even bigger bullseye on their back. I am keeping my mouth shut and observing it all, but after I'm done with school, pass my boards, and get a job then I and a few of my fellow students are going to see just what we can do about it to help the future students coming into our program.

SillyLilly · Oct 7, 2006

I beleive it and I have seen it. They are people too!

mystcnurse, MSN, APRN, NP · Oct 7, 2006

I'm not in nursing school yet, but it seems to me that an instructor is there to instruct, not to weed anyone out or pass judgement... I assume the dynamics are different for nursing school than other college programs, but it still doesn't make sense to me. It should be more objective than that.
Do nursing instructors really get close enough to their students to understand that student's personality? or close enough to know personal information about that student? (I'm not being sarcastic LOL)
Bethany -
The clinical setting becomes slightly intimate - not only amongst students, but also between the clinical instructor and the students. As an instructor, I do feel like I understand my students' personalities, their strengths, and weaknesses. I try to help them overcome their weaknesses, develop their strengths, and if they are going through something, that maybe made them late for clinical, or is keeping them from focusing on clinical, I encourage them to talk about it... to work it out... take time out, whatever is needed. BECAUSE -----> While in clinical, they are working under MY liscense. Therefore, I MUST pass judgement. I must judge whether or not the person/student is capable of independence, and to what degree... and honestly, if a student is somebody who I would not want to take care of my family member - at the end of the clinical rotation - then I can't pass that person.
It's funny.... there have been students who were very weak clinically and academically... but whom I felt could probably overcome their weaknesses with encouragement and perseverance. Those students, I focused on especially, in order to HELP them pass. But those same students are the ones who thought that I was "out to get them". I guess sometimes it is simply a matter of perspective. Having said all that, I think that there are some isolated cases where instructors may actually have personality conflicts with certain students to the detriment of that student's success. I believe this is true, because it is a human condition, and bound to happen statistically. However, the instructors that I work with question each other... it is a checks and balances system. This makes such behavior unlikely, at least in the setting where I teach.
MN