My pathetic university experience with a typical woke professor:
I have been thinking about this a lot. This my attempt to make sense of a pattern associated with the "Woke" mindset.
I took my first psychology class in high school. It was one of the most exciting times of my life in addition to a philosophy course later that year. My decision to start college classes actually stemmed from a few panic attacks I had in high school classes.
My academic counselor advised college courses so that I could leave campus for a bit and come back for any remaining credits. I think she had done this as a student as well. This surely was the antidote to my problems.
I was ready for college, academically, but maybe not emotionally. College stood for freedom. I could schedule my own classes and pick from various electives. Panic attacks were my physiological signal-it was time for an adventure. I had felt trapped.
My psychology professor, admittedly, was inspiring. She told me I had the highest grade in the class and that she hoped I would take more psychology classes in the future. This meant a lot, especially being the youngest student in the class. I was terrified, but in a good way.
My professor had previously taught at the University of Toronto and I believe she still does, at least, one of the various locations. I know she no longer teaches for the first university I attended. I recently looked up some of her research and almost vomited in my mouth-I see she is the typical woke professor now, which isn’t particularly surprising. She wasn’t so much that way twelve years ago.
A few years after my class with her, at a tennis match, my roommate casually mentioned that we should take social psychology, a requirement for both of our majors, so that we could study together. I realized quickly that my old professor taught this course and I signed up immediately.
The class was going relatively well until we were assigned an online quiz. I did notice a change in her attitude from a few years back, she seemed very concerned about cheating and plagiarism. I assumed she had recently caught some of her students cheating or plagiarizing. I find this understandable, her concern, it would frustrate me too.
This quiz she assigned was extremely difficult. I took it three times, the maximum amount we were allowed to take it. I finally received an 18/20 (which was one of the highest grades based on the class data), but I discussed with my roommate how discouraged I was while taking it. I sat in front of my computer for hours, looking through the book (it was open-book). An entire test bank of questions existed for this specific chapter-likely hundreds of questions. I mentioned, vaguely, a topic that I couldn’t find in the book after spending a ton of time looking for it, and my roommate (she is much higher in extroversion) emailed my professor, asking about this topic. I realize now that I made an error-I probably should have asked her myself about the topic.
Instead of responding to my roommate's request for information about the concept, we received emails first thing in the morning, threatening expulsion and giving us both zeros on the quiz. She mentioned that our IP address was the same according to the platform (because of our shared internet connection), and she was confident that I had cheated on the exam-that my roommate had taken the test for me. I think she arrived to this conclusion because the topic that my roommate mentioned was not a topic from her quiz, but my quiz. We were quickly able to clear everything up with the technology team and give her the paperwork confirming that we both had taken the quiz on separate computers. She backed down, but remained defensivel while we explained what had happened.
Not surprisingly, my roommate confided in me that she had been caught cheating by this professor before, and that it could be part of the reason she was so suspicious. I can empathize with the professor here, but I was still upset.
I went to her office hours to try and better understand the situation, but I ultimately dropped the class. I realize my decision was quite pathetic, and possibly emotionally immature, but I just didn’t see any empathy from my professor, possibly because she was in a defensive place. I’m not sure she understood at the time how much I valued her as a professor-that I looked up to her and felt somewhat betrayed.
My tears were only met with remarks, such as, “Some people appear as if they are good students but cheat their way through the system.”
I can understand this. She’s not wrong. I saw many people cheat in nursing school. MANY people that didn't need to cheat. It was upsetting. I’m no angel, I have participated in things I’m ashamed of in the past, but academic cheating isn’t something I consider worthwhile. I truly value the learning process. I don’t mind tests-in fact, helping with them is what I currently do for a living.
I am ashamed of the way I behaved, maybe I could have continued the course-I was clearly too sensitive. I did, however, end up taking social psychology with an equally interesting professor, and I’m grateful for that experience.
The dean contacted me later that year after the altercation and asked me to write about my experience after I had dropped the class. I did this and I honestly wish I hadn’t. I didn’t mean to hurt her standing, if I did. She temporarily left her position the following year and I hope that, in my emotional immaturity, I didn’t harm her career.
Despite my shame associated with this event, I see now though that I wasn’t the only one who was emotionally immature at the time. She too, made an error-she overshot. I think sometimes this is the problem with the “woke.” Their conversations are so emotionally-driven, impulsive. She knew my roommate had cheated, but she let one negative experience alter her worldview so much that she unintentionally sabotaged her relationship with a student who highly valued her. She acted as a cheating activist in that moment, but she failed to acknowledge the much larger picture. She “canceled” me, and likely others too when behaving similarly.
Neurotic defense mechanisms rather than rational discourse have become so prevalent, and the people in power are exploiting this. I still feel guilty about this situation. I know I didn’t do anything wrong in the academic sense, but that-like her, I couldn’t see the big picture in the heat of the moment. So I immaturely “canceled” her right back. If I could go back, I would finish the class and further prove her wrong.
I remember her, right before she left the university, stating to me in the hallway, “It’s all kind of humorous now.”
No, Dr. KB. It’s not humorous. Threatening expulsion, giving me a zero without further investigation, that’s not comedy. I was absolutely devastated. I forgive her, and I must forgive myself, but we need to confront the trend of activism.
Activists are emotionally driven, momentarily forgetting everything else in a sort of tunnel-vision like state for the “greater good.” The tunnel vision they acquire dehumanizes the opposition entirely. Then, when something else comes up equally emotionally activating, they drop it, like it never existed. No accountability exists.
“It all seems humorous now. We took your liberties, your rights, your degree, your credentials. Oops!”
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