When I excitedly signed up for this college algebra course I forgot about the other students. All I was thinking about was getting rid of some of my General Ed. requirements, you know? It was all about me...until I got to the classroom. Then I remembered I'd be sharing my teacher's time and attention with archetypal student personalities. I'm now remembering in vivid detail how each of these drives me up the wall in their own special way.
There's the Person Who Suggests We Skip The Quiz/Go Home Early/Cancel Class at every session. She doesn't care that she won't learn anything, she just wants to get out of class because it's ruining her social life. There's the Person Who Asks The Professor Personal Questions, either out of misplaced hope that it will distract him or pure, shameless nosiness. There's the Person Who Shares Too Much Information About Why She's Late/Doesn't Have Her Homework Done. And there's the Person Who Cannot Resist Showing Off Extraneous Non-Germane Knowledge as if we'd suddenly all turn to him and say, "You should teach this class! You're so smart and stuff!" instead of "Shut the fuck up, you're wasting everyone's time!"
Luckily, it's not usually too bad. I mean, how much showing off can anyone do in a remedial algebra class? But boy, I'm ready to smack the Let's Go Home Early woman already and I still have 14 weeks to go. It's going to be a long, long semester.
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