Dr. Dutch - No Sympathy

I occasionally read Professor Dutch's online rants.  This particular page really hits home, especially for me and my science classes.

He has a very rational view of things which is comforting when you deal with a very irrational society.  I haven't come across this particular page before but I thought it would serve as an excellent list of things for students to avoid saying in any classroom environment.

Students often tell me that I have no sympathy for their situation - that is most likely true.  But regardless of whether or not I care, there is one certainty in life: the Regents exam you need to take prior to graduating from this institution also does not give a rat's ass about your life circumstances.  So get over it.

I tell students that there are 4 kinds of people in this world:

1. People who complain and do nothing.
2. People who complain but do everything.
3. People who don't complain and still do nothing.
4. People who don't complain and do everything.

It's evaluative measure like this that get students to think about what sort of person they are and how really the only reason they're held back from year to year in any given academic circumstance is because of their own behavior.