By Anonymous - 22/01/2014 21:41 - Canada - Saskatoon

Today, after I took my first set of exams, my professor posted on Twitter, scoffing at how stupid one student's answer was. The answer he quoted was one that I wrote. FML
I agree, your life sucks 51 004
You deserved it 10 245

Same thing different taste

Top comments

At least he didn't name you specifically.

That's not right, he shouldn't post that kind of stuff about his students online.

Comments

At least he didn't name you specifically.

I still think it's a violation. The professor could get into big trouble posting answers of his current students and poking fun at them. It's terribly unprofessional and makes the University look bad.

That's the problem these days. People are over sensitive, as well as it being incredibly easy to access large groups of people. Say one thing and somebody is bound to get upset and over react. I think what the professor did was fine, as long as he didn't name the person. Maybe OP will eventually realize his answer was stupid, laugh at it himself, and learn from it. Then do better next time.

I've worked with and for various professors. While I engaged in banter with them, their students were given respect and never gossiped about. This was public humiliation directed at the "stupidity" of a current student. What's worse is that it was a direct quote. I'm not terribly over sensitive about a lot of things, but this would be unacceptable in almost every professional environment.

Unless the professor is constantly targeting a person to put them down, it's not a huge deal. Everybody does stupid things from time to time, and when people do, there are usually others there to poke fun. The professor wasn't doing it to humiliate OP, otherwise his name would be included in the post. So, OP shouldn't get caught up with this. Just needs to shrug it off and continue with the course.

I appreciate people's honest opinion about me, even that might hurt my feelings a bit, so long as I can remain anonymous. It's better than no or less honest feedback on my performance.

#28 for once I actually agree with a Boston fan!

Atleast now OP has low expectations and won't be as disappointed if they fail.

#28, I don't know if you were good at every subject (I know that some people are), but when you get made fun of after trying your very best, it feels horrible.

90- I guess some people's skin is thicker than other's.

That's something you should have known already.

92- whether or not the person can take a joke doesn't matter. This isn't another student poking fun, it's the teacher who they are supposed to be able to come to when they've made a mistake so that they can learn from it.

102- Profs aren't there to hold your hand. They prepare you for the real world.

KB616 11

I don't completely understand how Twitter works *gasp*, so PLEASE refrain from jumping down my throat if I don't get something quite right about it. That said, if you have your account public, or have it that THAT student can see your "tweets", it's even more inappropriate that he quoted the exact answer & then called it stupid. The whole thing's uncalled for.

I agree with That Ginger. When you're in school or studying, you're preparing for the real world and you just need to have a thicker skin. Learn to take a joke. It's much harsher out there, you may get a boss that publicly ridicules you every day in a job you can't quit cause you desperately need the money, or something worse. Man up, people.

I agree with #1. What students never seem to understand is the frustration of marking. As a lecturer I put in a lot of effort to help my students, but in tests they sometimes made it look like I was talking to myself. Or it was clear they haven't done their work. I usually shared bloopers with colleagues, but I can understand the temptation of Twitter.

Melodija 19

I don't understand why op would have access to his professors twitter account anyway? In the UK, teachers / professors etc aren't allowed to have their students on social networking sites and vice versa.

no what he did was wrong however it might not have been him someone else could have written the same answer

MichellinMan 20

Regardless of the fact that the professor is preparing you for the "real world" you aren't supposed to do that and are probably in some violation. He's also not joking when he publicly called someone stupid whether being anonymous or not. Especially as a professor, the guy who is supposed to help you learn, not laugh at their mistakes. The way I saw this FML was not the fact that the answer was posted on Twitter, but OP being disappointed in said professor and that he/she was incorrect on that question in the first place. That being said, I'm sure he's seen worse answers and I just wonder what he did with those. That professor is a prick, enough said.

UofLCardFan08 6

@104 That doesn't mean they should act unprofessionally with students' grades.

Gearden 8

Whether it's your college professor or your boss in "the real world" this is extremely inappropriate and unprofessional. This professor does need to be reported because I doubt it's his first or last time doing this.

That's not right, he shouldn't post that kind of stuff about his students online.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that is illegal in several places. You should confront him about that.

I would not confront the professor as he would deny doing that. Get a screenshot and take it up with the school.

SuperMew 22

It could have been an essay question?

Also, he probably posted it online without giving OP a chance to defend their answer.

KB616 11

Yes! Screen shot! What an obvious answer, but you're the genius this time for thinking of it.

deviking 10

If it's not illegal most schools have a rule against that

tompou6 19

It does not matter if he studied or not, the professor still does not have the right to post something like that. FYL OP.

Just don't respond to it then everyone will know it was you

I think they're telling OP not to respond to the tweet, or else everyone will know that it was him the professor was quoting. If that's not it, I have no idea either.

arandomusernameaa 20

Replace everybody with nobody... Oh and then punctuate it.

That's pretty cool that your professor has twitter. I don't think if be following if it were mine though. Lol. I assume he didn't say that it was you though.

immunetoinsanity 23

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway

And you're telling me you've never had a bad test before?

You didn't quite understand the ethic violation part of the FML did you? Regardless of OPs intellect, what the professor did was wrong for so many reasons.

#20 what's the ethic argument here? Bullying? Slander? I'm not seeing it. OP said something stupid and got made fun of, OH NOES let's get some lawyers and special rights activists all up in this!! Oh wait no he didn't even get called out for being dumb it was an anonymous dumb quote.

39- The ethical argument here is that it's not okay for a professor to ridicule a student publicly. In no way is that okay. Whether it's "anonymous" or not is not the point, the OP doesn't deserve to be made fun of by the person who is being paid to educate them. End of story.

Wow teachers have gotten soft. My teachers would write the stupidest answer from a test on the board and say "don't be one of these people and if you are fix yourself." But I forget we live in a fantasy world where we coddle little Timmy and never make him feel uncomfortable and give him trophies for last place. But please continue, its a nice job market when most of the competition cries, moans, and quits the first time they are told they suck at their job.

A job and school are two entirely different things. By all means let my boss tell me I suck, I'll work harder since he pays me to work harder. I highly doubt ridicule and public embarrassment are part of what OP had in mind when he paid his tuition bill. And trust me, no lawyers / activists are necessary, every college / university has a ethics board to handle things like this.

It's not "giving someone a trophy for last place," it's simply not being an gigantic asshole to them because you think their answer is stupid. Your comment was off topic. This is a university, where you are PAYING a huge amount each semester to be educated, and instead of explaining WHY the answer was wrong, this teacher decides to post on social media about how "stupid" this student is. That isn't appropriate, no matter how many condescending comments you post, it's not going to justify this professor bullying a student.

There it is! Bullying lol. Please explain how an anonymous quote is bullying? As with what the original comment said. Study harder so you don't feel so dumb next time. Problem -> solution.

immunetoinsanity 23

I didn't say that it was right what the professor did. I was just saying, if the answer was really THAT bad, then OP obviously didn't study for the exam. He would have had at least a vague idea of what the question was asking for. Sorry I didn't explain myself fully. And yes, I have had tests that were bad, but even if I only looked over my notes, I would have some idea if what to bs on a question.

SuperMew 22

I love when people say "oh ha you are saying bullying obviously Op deserved to be humiliated" or "don't be stupid next time." It is not a matter of Op being smart or it being an anonymous quote. As a professor you have to be professional and this means on Social media. You don't share your students work, call them stupid, especially when they are in your class. Wait a few years then put it up if you must. But when you become a teacher, then you have to be above pettiness. I am paying for university, I sure as hell better not be mocked in any way for things. Stupid or not, in an education setting you talk to the person about what was wrong with the answer and move on. Talk to your fellow teachers, seek therapy to deal with it, but don't be a smug asshole about everything.

I'm with you on this one #5... Yes, OP may have simply had a bad test, but it is the professors prerogative to choose to make an example of someone. If he were to have quoted the best possible answer for said question instead of the worst, would all of you be getting upset over it? No you would not. I recognize that one is humiliation and the other is congratulatory, but it was done anonymously, so the humiliation factor would not be a consideration. I can guarantee that the OP is going to remember the moment when he was called out for every single one of his next tests, and if by doing this the professor got him to try harder then I see nothing wrong with it.

But but but 94 you singled out Timmy and made him feel bad and that's not nice it's so mean... Wah wah wah. Seriously if sports were coached like you guys assume teachers should teach no one would improve because you couldn't look at a single person and go "hey dumbass you're screwing up. Fix yourself." In sports you do it and name the player. This professor just did it anonymously and you guys are up in arms. It's hilariously sad. Like I said I had a few teachers write a stupid answer segment on the board. They wouldn't name anyone but I'm sure it made the people who knew their answers were up there work harder. Just like in sports, you get told you suck you work harder. It isn't bullying. Cup o' concrete anyone?

Junkman6- Although you may be pushed to work harder by being singled out, everyone is different, everyone learns differently, and not everyone takes being called stupid as an incentive to try harder next time. For some people it may make them want to try even less and just disappear or even drop the class. Also everybody has the subject that they are passionate about and then the subject that no matter how hard they study they never really get it. I for one absolutely love Art and English but I'm terrible at math; even thought I have to try twice as hard when studying for math doesn't mean that when I get something wrong I want to be called an idiot. It would be a better learning environment if the teacher just wrote a little note telling me what I did wrong and that alone would motivate me to work harder. When you are at work you need to act professional and the professer did not, I for one would never want you as a teacher or boss because I do not see you acting professional in the work place.

I'll start by saying the guys who work for me have no issues with my professionalism because everyone knows where they stand. I also tell them to light me up if I'm screwing up. Also the big boss man of the company gets his best production out of our crews. Also as has been stated over and over it was anonymous. The professor didn't go " hey Timmy over there is a moron because he wrote this answer." He put up a tweet about a stupid answer without the name. I know it's oh so wrong to be honest in our culture. Even to someone who is legally a man and in college.

If someone is the kind of person to drop the class or do worse because they were called out anonymously then they're probably wasting your money on a university education. It tells me that the first time the have a setback at a real job they'll do the same thing.

Stop comparing college to a job. The point has already been made that you are paid to do the best you can at a job, but you pay a huge tuition to go to school, and I sure as hell don't pay my tuition so that my professor can act childish on twitter and be disrespectful to me. Nobody ever said OP was dropping the class, but if the professor was constantly more concerned with making students feel stupid and I was consistently not learning anything, I would probably withdraw from the class. We don't even know what the answer was, it could be just a difference of opinion. I had a professor who gave better marks to people who agreed with him, no matter how well spoken their argument was. It could have been just a simple mistake on OP's part, just because it was the "stupidest answer" to the professor, doesn't mean it's that stupid. Some people just like the power trip their ego gets from belittling other people. And comparing this to sports? All of your comparisons are terrible. I've never seen someone be so moronic and, yet SO condescending in my life. Every time you say "little timmy," your argument sounds even dumber than before.

Oh, there's been much lower. Edit: That sounds sexier than I meant, but it's still appropriate.

That's pretty unprofessional of him. You should report him to your institution.

Via an anonymous tip.. Otherwise There'll be more embarrassment.. LOL

Reports like that are generally confidential. He wouldn't even be able to 'tweet' that op reported him since that's considered retaliation and his job would be in jeopardy.

Doesn't make it any less insulting to the OP.

hahatofunny 20

Don't worry dude... It's happened to me as well. My advise report it.

rdenkewicz 11

Really? What would you say? "Hi I'm the idiot who wrote that really dumb answer on professor so and so's test. Can you punish him for exercising his freedom of speech because it hurt my feelings?!" No you just shut up and don't post on fml so no one finds out!

freedom of speech? freedom of speech does not apply. if you want to get technical, that text is copyrighted by OP so the professor has no right to publish it. really though, the professor cannot get much more unprofessional than this.