Oh For the Love of God...

So I totally forgot I had this blog, which is why it has been two years, I've gotten an MA, and I've gotten married in between. Anywaaaaaaaay.

So for the love of God, sometimes my job gets on my nerves. I'm TAing for the WW2 Class for the third time this semester, and loving every minute of it. Except some. I have a student that needs extra help. Not normally an issue, except she doesn't apply themself. The student misses class (missing one class in a 3 week course is akin to missing 4 days of a 16 week course), doesn't study, looks up stuff on wikipedia, and does poorly on the exams. I've stayed late every day trying to help, but the student only meets me part of the way. The frustrating thing is that instead of working hard, or trying to apply themself, as I have many students do, the student does not put forth the effort and expects to jump from a failing grade to a quite literally perfect grade overnight. Instead of improving, the student has actually done worse, but has convinced themselves that "the next time" will be better. The student needs to drop the course, but they can't lest their financial aid get yanked for the fall. Then the student talked to a Poly Sci academic adviser (NOT her major, and we aren't Poly Sci, obviously), instead of me (forgetting, or not being in class, the day Dr. Moses and I said we would show documentaries in the classroom after class, and thus would be there, not in our offices), who apparently convinced the student that it WAS possible to ace everything remaining in the class (like, perfect scores) and pull out the grade they need. Now I'm stuck in the position of breaking the students forlorn hope and explaining that "sorry, based on your previous performance, you are most likely NOT going to get perfect scores, and beyond that, I highly doubt you can pass the class at all. You need to withdraw, but you can't, so now you have to ride the class down in a fiery inferno like a kamikaze into the side of a carrier, which we'll talk about Thursday."

I've really tried to help the student, but the effort is just not there. I know it isn't my fault, but it's frustrating when you see someone who needs help and you realize that no matter what you do, you can't change the situation. You can do everything possible on your end, but if the student won't even take the time (it's the third week and the student STILL does not have all the required texts) then there is not much you can do. I love being a TA, and still enjoy my job, but it's frustrating when you see the people who want help but don't want to put in the legwork to do it. It's like me being fat, wanting to be thinner doesn't count for a damn, even if people help me. I have to chose and then actively work towards losing weight before it happens. But I don't think that's how our society works anymore: people expect other people to do things for them, and don't want to put in the hardwork themselves to make things happen.