I am pretty sure this professor is satan incarnate. But then again people have been being dicks about this for awhile. So here is my super long rant.

It’s been an ongoing thing for about 3 years now, but this year was supposed to be the year it was all put behind us because we’re adults now going to university. High school drama and bullying usually ends when you graduate right?

Wrong. So fucking wrong.

So starting at the beginning, there was a family at my high school that regularly took in foster kids. And I don’t mean standard abuse and neglect cases, I mean kids who came from really fucked up home situations. Every now and then they would get one that had serious issues and would cause a lot of problems with other students. Think violent fights, stalking, etc. but they would also get kids that were actually pretty normal despite everything.

Well my junior year of high school they had two foster kids in this family. One of them had been in the family since half way through the previous year and he was just trouble. Got in fights, was regularly in detention or suspended. Basically everything but expelled. Nobody knew what his story was and they all sort of stayed out of his hair.

Well the beginning of junior year they got a new foster kid, also a boy, that was my age. He had major scars on his face and a speech impediment(bad lisp). But he was actually really nice, just extremely shy and nervous. Like full body flinch if you sneezed nearby nervous.

I had a few classes with him and got to know him over the first semester and we became friends. Never hung out outside of school at that time, but he was just a good person and I liked hanging out with him. Plus again he was really smart and pairing up with him on a project or lab guaranteed me a good grade.

*this is the trigger warning part*

Well his foster brother hated his guts. Ended up spilling Max’s history of abuse to the whole school. His mother apparently had untreated mental health issues and abused him for years before eventually having a breakdown when he was 12 and attempting murder-suicide. His facial scars were from her putting a gun to his chin and shooting, before taking her own life thinking he was dead. He obviously survived, but the lower part of his jaw and right cheek were pretty much blown off and he is profoundly deaf on the right side. Which is why the lower part of his face and right side is so badly scarred.

This information being told to the whole school devastated him. He was always nervous before but he was having full on panic attacks at school. It was horrible. This mess went on for most of the school year until finally the family was able to get the foster brother placed elsewhere.

For senior year things were a lot better. Max improved a lot and ended up being one of the top students in the school.

Now fast forward to college. Max had a good foster family so he wasn’t just out on his own as soon as he hit 18. They helped him apply for all the financial aid he qualified for and also scholarship programs both specifically for foster children and also separate academic ones.

We ended up being accepted into the same university, which is great because now we both know at least one friend on campus since we will be dorm students and home is an 8 hour drive away. All seems pretty ideal. He is going for a bachelors in science for biochemistry(he wants to eventually go into bioengineering) and I’m here a BS as well, but I want to become a nurse.

Which means we can take classes together for a lot of the beginning core curriculum. And that was the plan.

Seemed pretty ideal until we actually got there. My dorm roommate is fine, she is really nice and we became friends quickly. His roommate is probably one of the biggest assholes on the planet. He straight up mocks the way Max speaks and is an absolute ass about his facial scars.

First semester he deals with it, because he’s here to learn and (in his words) he’s dealt with way worse. He has to keep his grades up for his scholarship and he is on a tight budget, so he pretty much just lived in the library on campus when his room mate was in the dorm then in his dorm when his room mate was out partying on the weekend. His room mate was from old money so he blew through the “allowance” his parents put in his bank account every week and basically was only there to party.

First semester ends and we both decide to stick around for summer courses and have two classes together. His room mate goes home for the summer so at least that is going in his favor, but apparently at least one person around has to be an asshole. Which now brings us to the current mess.

One of these classes is with a professor who I will nicely describe as satan incarnate, which is the understatement of the century. From day one, he hated Max. No idea why, because Max is probably the smartest person in this biology course. He’s the type of person that just enjoys learning and studies everything before he even takes a class on it. But he isn’t a know it all either. He’s quiet in class and only answers questions if the professor asks the class to answer one.

We’re almost done with the summer course but it’s highly likely this professor will be teaching other classes we need. Next year a lot of my classes will start branching off into nursing related courses and Max will go into more advanced science courses like biochemistry and the such(which this professor also teaches).

It’s gotten so bad in this class that Max has to write down his questions for me to ask the teacher if he wants something off our homework or a lab explained in more detail. If Max asks the teacher will just berate him for not understanding the material. Which is bullshit. If Max is not getting it then you better believe everyone else is also having the same questions. Half the problem is this teacher doesn’t really teach. He just breezes through his lesson with minimal explaining and rarely gives opportunities to ask questions before the end of the class. But if anyone but Max asks a question, he will actually explain something pretty well. Honestly the only reason I’m doing so well in this class is because Max already understands the majority of the material and is tutoring me in his spare time to make up for how shitty of a teacher this professor is.

Beyond just the poor teaching abilities, this professor has also mocked Max’s speech on several occasions. While Max does have a bad lisp because of the injuries to his jaw, he really isn’t hard to understand. Especially when you’ve been around him for awhile. Even if he was hard to understand, there is no excuse for mocking him in front of a class full of people.

As I mentioned before, Max has hearing problems on his right side. He wears a hearing aid on that side and always sits as far to the right and close to the front as he can in a class, which is usually enough for him to not have problems hearing the lesson material. He’s gone through all the proper channels for this and has paperwork to give to teachers at the start of each semester to let them know about his hearing disability and what accommodations he is entitled too. Which isn’t really much and he rarely has to actually use them. It’s mainly that he has to sit at the front of the class.

Well this teacher tends to mumble or talk with his back turned to us. So at least once per lesson Max usually needs something repeated. We sit next to each other so usually I can tell him what was said, but sometimes I miss it too. So when he has to ask the teacher to repeat something, this asshole will be the biggest prick about it. He’ll basically come up to where Max is sitting, lean over to get in his face, and talk extremely loud and slow. Then ask if “that was clear enough for you?”. If looks could kill, I’d be a murderer when this happens...

Max has made several complaints about this teacher, but he has tenure and nothing is ever done about it besides a slap on the wrist. And guess who gets really pissed about the slap on the wrist? Yep the professor, who then takes it out on Max even more.

I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to bolt across this classroom and knock this asshole’s teeth out for how badly he treats Max. Honestly he’s the best friend I’ve ever had and he is nice to everyone, even this asshole. And he is so damn smart. He graduated highschool with a 3.9 GPA to give you an idea, despite having bounced around between foster families and schools through his high school career until he came to my school and his last family. He would be nothing but an asset as a bioengineer. Even with this teacher hating him, he still hasn’t made anything lower than a 90% on a test.

I just hate people sometimes. Which sounds weird because I want to be a nurse specifically to help people. But seriously? What did Max ever do to him? Most teachers love him because he is so smart and also sweet and quiet. But not this teacher. I’m pretty sure this dude would hate mother theresa given the chance.

Anyway, that’s my rant. Hopefully, there is a miracle and Max never deals with this professor again after this course. In the mean time, I’m just going to keep wishing for some sweet, sweet karma to come professor satan’s way 😈