In part 1, it was just about pushing my head into an earthen pot. But this time, the following made me break it against a wall, i.e., thalaila paanaya kavuththufying and muttifying on an adjacent wall. And guys, don't forget the sound effect,"aiyo, Aiyo, AIYO!!".
Scene : All of us are sitting in the class and a lec comes to distribute our exam papers. And only some 10 odd students had passed in a class of 66. After distributing the papers, the lec called each student individually to confirm and enter their marks into her register. Mostly during this time students tend to ask for some more marks in specific questions or point out if no marks has been awarded for a question or that there is a totaling error. This time since most of them flunked, there was like a big uproar in the class. Some students took nearly half an hour of strategic talking and negotiations to get 2 more marks, others who had written a little better almost fought with the lec for 5 mins to get the same 2 marks, and the rest literally threw their paper onto the lecturer's face and went back. I was the first student to start the negotiations. The students before me didn't want to even try talking to her as they hated her so much. But me, I was only interested in marks, so I spent nearly half an hour negotiating.
Well.... Its not like I totally hate her or something... So I was OK doing that. But it was since then that I started noticing (exactly) the punishments we got for not performing well in internal exams. So here's the list :
- It always starts with impositions. They say 10 times. We do nothing. They come down to 5. We negotiate for 2. They agree to 3. We write 1. They are happy we did at least that. But this is the general case when it is only the lec is involved. But some lecs don't really follow this. I mean imagine somebody getting "Incomplete" signed in their imposition papers?! Believe it or not I got that! Along with an instruction to finish it and submit it after the weekend. And of course, if the impositions are given during the semester, it has to be written at home, but if it is given in the end of the semester, it has to be written in the college itself. What's the difference? - Study holidays.
- Retests - Sometimes, rarely retests are encouraged. The reason why we can't try again is "What do you think? I should set a paper specially for you? Do I look jobless? To waste time while you write the exam? Do I have no other work? If you really wanted to write exams why didn't you just pass the exam?" All this for a 25 to 50 marks test! Please somebody leave a comment suggesting a counter to this argument!
- This is the most outrageous. In one of the exams, I had misinterpreted a question and had written a completely different answer. I was the only person in the class to think that way. I knew I had made a mistake the moment I stepped out of the examination hall. And the most tragic thing - I know the correct answer from A to Z! Anyhow, when the lecturer called me to ask why i had made that mistake [i.e. mostly to scold at how completely dumb I was and how all her hard work to teach me had failed and how she felt betrayed(ya! she actually said that!) and how is it that I was the only person in the class to think differently and so on], I explained to her how I misinterpreted the question(it was incomplete - I didn't mention that...) and how I actually knew the right answer fully. That day I thought she was OK with the explanation. After a few days I wanted to participate in some collegiate event and so wanted an OD letter signed from her. She refused to sign it. Reason - I had failed to prove myself in that test and that I had no rights to ask for an OD while I think differently as compared to her and the rest of my classmates and I must first prove myself in my academics and should only then think about extra-curriculars and that she does not want to see the face of someone who could make such a mistake(she means - thinking differently). And to top it all she made me beg for 2 days and still never signed quoting my supposed incapability to read and understand a question written in English(Oh come on!!) as the reason! In short, my offence - I misinterpreted a question because 1. it was incomplete and 2. I thought about the question instead of simply jumping to the conventional answer, my punishment - I wrote an imposition twice, never got any ODs signed, and was insulted and accused of being dunce!
