School’s Out

It’s all over but the marking.   

I’m very glad I led the Newswriting critique course at Fanshawe College this term but, truthfully, I’m also glad it’s over!   I enjoyed the one-on-ones with the students and the work itself, but fitting it into my week and getting there on time were frustrating endeavours.

Oh, I wish I could tell you about some of the students and the little bullshit manoeuvres they try to pull!  Most were pretty great though and there are a couple I will remember for many years to come. Instead I’ll tell you there are some with very bright futures in the broadcasting industry and I’ll relay a story about a student in one of my classes at Humber College north Toronto, many years ago.

It was exam day and – let’s call him Ben – didn’t show up for class. About twenty minutes into the exam, there was a little knock on the door and who stood there but Ben, his face bloodied, his clothes disheveled and his eyes, wild.  “I was in a car accident”, he said, prompting an understandably worried reaction from me. He refused to get medical attention.  He said he was rushing to get to school when he got hit by another car and, bottom line, could he write the exam another time?

So I scheduled an exam room for another day, skipped my nap and drove up to the college for the express purpose of supervising Ben as he wrote the exam. And I was furious.  In between the regular exam day and this day I received an email from another student who wanted to let me know that Ben was pulling a fast one on me.  Unprepared to write the exam, they claimed, he actually beat himself up so it would appear that he was in a car crash and could therefore get out of the exam.  The proof?  Ben was going around bragging about how he had convinced me he was hurt, what a sucker I was, and all of that. His car had no damage and he had explained in detail how he had created his “injuries”. I filed a complaint with the college but in the meantime, he was innocent until proven guilty so there I stood, on my own time, unpaid and unappreciated, watching over this kid as he wrote his exam right when he damn well pleased!

Ben was an unusual case. He was in a course that he was barely passing.  I vividly recall an exercise in that class where I paired them off into morning show teams. Ben’s “partner” was horrified when Ben embarked on a deep and unfunny discussion about disciplining cats.  I doubt he’s in broadcasting today. Perhaps he pulled the old fake-car-crash stunt to punish me for not seeing his true brilliance. I’ll never know.

There were no Bens in my Fanshawe class. There are a couple who think they are much more talented than they are. There are a couple who are more more talented than they think. It will be fun to watch the trades and see where they go.