Teacher's Pet

The following is a text conversation held August 27, 2012.  It was the first day of school.

Jack:  I love you!! :)
Brian:  I love you too.  I'm kind of pissed at my first professor.
Jack:  I'm sorry.  What happened?
Brian:  Now I'm pissed at both my classes.
Jack:  Why?  What's going on?
Jack:  ?????????????
Jack:  Talk to me!!!
Jack:  Brian Christopher Kesler, don't make me beat it out of you!!

Brian's last attempt to go to college back in 2009 proved unsuccessful.  He was enrolled at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and midway through the semester he just kind of stopped going.  He hated it.  It started by missing a day here.  Then a day there.  And before long he hadn't been in weeks.  So when Brian announced that he wanted to attend Utah Valley University with me in the fall I was excited for him, but also a little worried that his enthusiasm might again fizzle out.

Well, hearing that his first day back to school had left him "pissed" wasn't exactly pointing towards a rosy future in academia.  So what had made him so upset?  Upset enough to go to his mother's house to vent?  So totally upset that he ignored all of my texts?

"I didn't get the opportunity to make an impression on my professors," was his response.  I raised an eyebrow and he went into more detail.

His first teacher that afternoon failed to call on him when he raised his hand, therefore denying him the opportunity to share his awesome rebuttal to another student's argument.  The second teacher had them split into pairs, learn a lot of "deep stuff" about each other, and then introduce their partner to the class.  Brian's partner didn't say any of the interesting stuff that Brian told him.  "So now the professor probably thinks that I didn't take the assignment seriously.  She probably thinks I didn't tell him anything at all," said Brian dejectedly.

I couldn't believe it.  That was Brian's idea of a bad day?  I do my very best to keep myself completely invisible in the classroom, and Brian's upset because he didn't get a chance to shine.  Go figure.  We're like complete opposites in the classroom.  I mean, who knew Brian was such a teacher's pet?

My first day back to school was quite a bit different.  I sat in the back of my first class silently praying that the professor wouldn't force us all to stand up and introduce ourselves.  I hate that.  I also hate when they want you to say something "cool" about yourself.  Some unique little fun fact.  I never know what to say.  I'm just not that interesting.

In fact, I'm so uninteresting and so invisible that professors I've had before don't even recognize me. It's true.  My second class of the day was Academic Writing for English Majors and the professor is the same German-American woman that taught my Literary Theory class in the spring.  I loved her class.  I think she's awesome.  But did she recognize me at all?  Nope.  She made a big deal recognizing other students that were in that class as well, gushing about how great it was to see them again.  And then it came to be my turn to stand up, say my name, and yada yada yada all that stuff I hate to say.  A blank stare and a "So nice to have you in this class" was all I got.

Was I upset?  Not necessarily.  The other students from Literary Theory all spoke more.  Their hands were constantly shooting up into the sky like Hermione Granger.  They were constantly waxing philosophical.  Me?  I'm just not that interested in vying for my teacher's attention.  Like I said, I try my best to stay anonymous.  I went to a small high school where my stepfather was one of my teachers, so anonymity wasn't a luxury bestowed upon me.  Now that I'm away from all that, I'm just not interested in the teacher's pet position.

But Brian sure wants it...