Our submitter, a college student in Wisconsin, passes along this “debackle” of an e-mail a girl in her art history class recently sent to all the other students in the class — and, in a particularly gutsy/idiotic move — to the professor, too.
Adds our submitter: “The funny thing is that the class is actually very enjoyable, the instructor has never changed a test date/format, and the lectures are always well organized and engaging. Judging from all the spelling errors, she might want to drop art history and pick up an English class instead.”
![Hi. I'm a classmate forced to suffer with you on this painful road of the history of art. I am reaching out to anyone who is struggling to keep up with the changing tests, the lack of pertanant [sic] information, and the hair pulling debackle [sic] of lecture. I'm looking for people who are up for study groups and that are willing to share the load when figuring out where the hell we're going. Feel free to contact me if your [sic] interested in hooking up and NEVER TAKING THIS CLASS AGAIN! I'm willing to work and desprate [sic] not to do this again. All my info is listed below, texting or e-mail is best.](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1421/5183997894_9aa6fd90f2.jpg "Hi. I'm a classmate forced to suffer with you on this painful road of the history of art. I am reaching out to anyone who is struggling to keep up with the changing tests, the lack of pertanant [sic] information, and the hair pulling debackle [sic] of lecture. I'm looking for people who are up for study groups and that are willing to share the load when figuring out where the hell we're going. Feel free to contact me if your [sic] interested in hooking up and NEVER TAKING THIS CLASS AGAIN! I'm willing to work and desprate [sic] not to do this again. All my info is listed below, texting or e-mail is best.")
related: One final critique — put the damned phone away!
116 responses so far ↓
#1
Jonathan
Um, cue the porn music? (frist!)
Nov 21, 2010 at 8:09 pm rating: 7
#2
john
Uhhhh… art history is the easiest class in the universe.
Nov 21, 2010 at 8:19 pm rating: 22
#3
LainTexas
Back when I was in college, professors had these things called “office hours,” when they would be available to answer student questions. Lab instructors/TAs also offered them.
If she is having so much trouble — and is desperate enough to include the professor as a recipient — why doesn’t she just ask the professor for help?
Nov 21, 2010 at 8:26 pm rating: 34
#4
not gen anything
Seriously, sending it to the instructor? That’s not gutsy–just suicidal.
Nov 21, 2010 at 8:27 pm rating: 11
#5
Canthz_B
Remember when we used to have to “get into” college instead of just having our financial aid in place?
College students could spell back then.
Nov 21, 2010 at 10:05 pm rating: 47
#6
Resident Grammarian esq
Ack this email is a debackle.
The text of the email suggests that she isn’t a Humanities major, sending it to the teacher means no critical thinking so she isn’t a Natural Science major, choosing to do Art History in the first place suggests laziness which suggests that she isn’t an engineer.
This girl will be in your MBA class in 3 years.
Nov 21, 2010 at 10:37 pm rating: 94
#7
wright1
Back in my college days, she woulda had me at “Feel free to contact me if your interested in hooking up”
In fact, that’s probably all I would have actually seen, like the dog in that classic Gary Larson cartoon: only hearing his name as his owner rants about tipping over the garbage… ah, youth.
Nov 21, 2010 at 10:49 pm rating: 25
#8
AuntyBron
She wouldn’t do any better in English class. I’ve got a friend who teaches English at a university. She posts the term schedule – when papers are due, what kind of papers, how to properly construct bibliographies, outlines, etc and still half of her students have no clue on when their papers are due, or any of the rest of it. That girl isn’t going to hear anything that she doesn’t like in any class…or life either, I suppose.
Nov 21, 2010 at 11:23 pm rating: 24
#9
thrall
The only PA part of this is sending it to her prof. The rest is pure WHINING. She should be prepared to discover that the rest of her little life is going to be disappointing.
Nov 22, 2010 at 12:43 am rating: 10
#10
Canthz_B
What kind of cretin doesn’t like Art History 101 class?
Mine was at 8:00 in the morning, and I’ve never had a more peaceful sleep in my life!
Low lights, droning professor’s voice…what could be a better place to be after a night spent in the campus pub than a freaking slide-show?
Talk about art appreciation…
Nov 22, 2010 at 1:27 am rating: 10
#11
Canthz_B
Changing tests?
Why, that’s totally unacceptable!
Students should be given the same test until they are able to post a passing grade!
Just imagine, you’ve studied long and hard for the questions you saw the last time you saw “the test”, only to find all of the questions are different now and address new material!
How can that be fair?!
Nov 22, 2010 at 1:51 am rating: 23
#12
matt
Unfortunately, this just proves the old saying true: Better to close your mouth and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.
Nov 22, 2010 at 4:49 am rating: 29
#13
GhostWriter
If you’re wondering where her beef with “the changing tests” comes from , it’s based on her cheat sheets- and they’re based on last year’s tests, which the Professor has since changed to foil her.
You may be wondering, “How did she get ahold of last year’s answer keys?” That’s simple- this is (at least) her 2nd attempt at Art History 101; she failed the class last year. She’s probably using her old F-bomb tests as “study guides”.
Nov 22, 2010 at 9:15 am rating: 27
#14
divaandwriter
Are this student and others like her the hope of humanity’s future? If so, I think I’ll move to another planet.
Nov 22, 2010 at 9:52 am rating: 4
#15
aaa
Translation: I didn’t pay attention in class or take any notes because I’m too busy texting and doing the homework that’s due next class and I want somebody who will let me copy their notes and basically do my homework for me, maybe write me cheat sheets I can use during the tests. Also, what are all these red squiggly lines under all my words when I’m typing them? Is that a problem with Firefox or something?
Nov 22, 2010 at 10:20 am rating: 98
#16
Michelle
My husband is a professor and has won teaching awards in the past. A couple of years ago a few foreign students tried to get him fired because they said he talked about US current events too much and that they weren’t applicable to them because they aren’t citizens. They were unsuccessful, of course. The kicker is that a couple of years later, the “leader” of this attempted coup asked him for a recommendation. Needless to say he got a “no” and a hearty “welcome to the real world.”
Nov 22, 2010 at 10:26 am rating: 48
#17
sara ward
Maybe the classmates should get together and just eat her before she contaminates the gene pool.
Nov 22, 2010 at 10:33 am rating: 14
#18
Noelegy
In case you’ve ever wondered what the practice of giving awards for participation leads to, look no further.
Nov 22, 2010 at 10:44 am rating: 17
#19
GhostWriter
Classic unprepared student tactic.
“With two weeks to go in the fall semester, it has now become horribly apparent that I will not pass Art History (for the 2nd time). My 73% on our first test probably emboldened me too much- I mistakenly thought all the tests would be just as easy; well, I thought I could easily score a low “C” based on my recollections from last sememster.
Unfortunately, this is not the case; the professor has chosen to focus much of our work on some French artists who have totally inadequate Wikipedia pages. Where he expects us to gather pertinent information, I have no clue.
That is why I am reaching out to you, my fellow student. I will be very busy over our Thanksgiving break, and I am hoping that you might “share the load” of our newly-formed study group, by putting together a handy (palm-sized) summary of exactly what will be asked on the Final. In fact, if you could text me the info, I can just print it out myself. Thx! ~o.o*”
(OK, I noticed that this is a total rip-off of AAA’s comment, but did you see that I mentioned Wikipedia? )
Nov 22, 2010 at 10:53 am rating: 26
#20
HarryPotter
I’m so glad I decided to take History Of Magic instead!
Nov 22, 2010 at 10:57 am rating: 30
#21
Pagani
I had a prof that was just awful, too, so I understand the feeling. What happened with him was that lectures had nothing to do with the text for the course, the course text had nothing to do with the tests (nor lecture). It was just horrible.
Now the submitter says that this professor is not so bad. Perhaps so, but I know from personal experience that it happens.
Nov 22, 2010 at 11:02 am rating: 3
#22
GhostWriter
Hi, I’m a classmate who enjoys being forced to suffer (domination) on this painful road (anal). I am reaching out (bondage) to anyone struggling to keep it up (delayed O) with the hair-pulling (masocism). I am looking for groups (orgy) to share the load (snowball).
Feel free to contact me if you’re interested in hooking up.
Nov 22, 2010 at 11:05 am rating: 31
#23
wheezeew
Hi. I’m a Claesz Matisse Forrest to suffer with you on this Penfield Roualt of the history of art. I am reaching out to anyone who is Struycken to keep up with the Chang Jin Testa, the Lacour of Partington Ingres Masson, and the Harpignies De Backer of LeCour. I’m Van Loo King for people who are up for Sully Gruppe and that are Villion to share the load when Figura out where the Hals Werl Goines. Feel free to contact me if your [sic] interested in Hockney up and DE NEUVILLE TAKEI THIS CLOSE HAGEN! I’m Willink to Vort and Desprez not to do Thijs Haagen. All my info is listed below, Tietz Ingres or Elmore is Bastiani.
Nov 22, 2010 at 12:59 pm rating: 17
#24
Resident Grammarian esq
I got WORD!!! I’m going to bookmark this page and keep a screenshot. Now I feel like my years of on/off commenting have paid off!
Nov 22, 2010 at 8:32 pm rating: 6
#25
Graham
Used to get this sort of whinging all the time when I was a teacher. The satan’s spawn in the class would whine and moan anytime they actually had to do any thinking. Some would complain that they had to take notes and ‘can’t you just do some handouts’ was a common refrain.
My fav’s were the texters. Pretty obvious to spot: arm straight and eyes looking down and off to the side. When I confiscated the phone off one young lady she said: ‘what happens if I get raped on the way home and can’t call my mum – it’s going to be your fault’.
Anhother great game was to put the MP3 player ear bud down their sleeves and rest their head on their hands.
Sigh….
What fun we had.
And remember all you youngsters: teachers have been there already, there’s nothing you can do they haven’t seen before. A bit like forgetting your parents werre teenagers once.
Nov 23, 2010 at 4:13 am rating: 17
#26
Divvitar
Ah…nostalgia. The days of banging away on the IBM Selectric, trying to learn to type, while listening to Metallica or Judas Priest on my Walkman.
Nov 23, 2010 at 9:07 pm rating: 4
#27
easily distracted
By “never taking this class again” does she propose everyone should quit the class mid semester, or does she think she’s required to sit through the same class each and every semester?
I’m pretty sure even after she fails she doesn’t have to re-take an elective course.
Nov 24, 2010 at 12:37 am rating: 5
#28 Yes, this is from a college campus. | PassiveAggressiveNotes.com
[...] related: You say “debackle,” I say…who let you into college? [...]
Feb 7, 2011 at 9:00 pm rating: 0
#29
Maryann
never mind debackle…….
pertinent, NOT pertanant
you’re NOT your
desperate NOT desprate
the fact that a college student wrote this is frightening on many levels
Feb 20, 2011 at 7:37 pm rating: 1
#30 If you’re not going to pay attention in class, please do so in a way that doesn’t distract me from not paying attention either. | PassiveAggressiveNotes.com
[...] “The hair pulling debackle of lecture” [...]
Mar 23, 2011 at 8:42 am rating: 0
#31 So, you were hoping to get an A for “asshole-like entitlement”? | PassiveAggressiveNotes.com
[...] related: The “feeling of failing” debacle [...]
May 4, 2011 at 10:53 pm rating: 0
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