Your blog is horrible. You are fat and offensive. The fact that your brother immaturely degrated his professor in front of his peers underminds the professor's authority. I would guess that your brother is overweight as well.....try to help him focus his attention toward weight loss, and less toward choosing story time. Sounds like he needs a bottle... a bottle of blended tofu and veggies preferably.

I've always wondered why stupid people always call people fat as a way to insult them. I didn't realize that being fat makes a person uneducated. You learn something new everyday.

Oh Laura, you should have seen the e-mail I got from a jackass the other day. The person's name was "YOU TOOK MY NAME FAT BITCH." Very mature person from Canada. People think they are hurting me when they make insults. Some days they hurt, but most days, I just shrug them off. People that resort to insults are just wimps.

Theron, you're offensive. Didn't you mother teach you manners? If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. Grow up! I guess the axiom that everything's bigger in Texas is true; even the jackasses are bigger there!

This is to Theron Meier---
WHO ASKED YOU, anyway?
Go away and mind your own business.
Looking at YOUR NAME, looks like you were probably named by someone who wrote one of those ghastly bad pieces of "Literature" mandated by shcools and colleges to be read. Or maybe you were named after Charlize THERON--
See? Anyone can make fun of anyone about anything.
I think that YOU are ignorant. If you don't like this site, then why the heck do you bother coming?
GO AWAY AND STAY AWAY.

I agree that insults shouldn't be thrown -- but there's some pretty major ones in this post. I teach Communication (and some would label this "English") and I don't fit some of the stereotypes thrown in this post or some of its comments.

Plagiarism is a major issue in all university environments, and if there's a problem, there are ways to be heard other than challenging a professor's credibility.

Becky, my brother has his issues and I have found out more about my brother's problems. One is issue is he has trouble communicating. He was wrong to act out in class. Seems he did when he shouldn't. However, plagiarism was never the issue with my brother. He knows that's a serious offense. Oh, and I wouldn't label you as one of those professors that have led to my sterotype. You understand that life influences everything.

I know I threw a few insults in this thread. I know I should be the better person and not use them. It's a weakness I know I need to work on.

Shawn, I read this post yesterday, and I too was a bit disturbed by it and the comments. I didn't comment at that time, and I don't often comment on blogs, but Becky's post empowered me (thanks Becky). Let me start by saying that the first commenter was way out of line. Even if he or she was offended by your post, it was still way out of line to hurl insults at you that are totally unrelated to the content. He or she should have addressed what exactly was upsetting in what you wrote.

That said, I am a professor. I don't teach English, but education. I enjoy your blog and often visit here because I like to get student perspectives. Yes, I admit, just like in any other profession, some are jerks. But many are not, and many of us truly feel called to teach - we could do, and have done many other things, but we choose to work in the field of higher learning because we feel we have something valuable to contribute.

In my opinion, the way for your brother to work out his concerns with his professor is by meeting privately and having a sincere discussion. That may resolve things, or it may not, but I don't think it is a good idea for a parent to get involved. At my university (and I assume at most if not all others) college students are considered adults, and due to federal confidentiality rules, professors are prohibited from discussing particular situations with anyone else without written consent from the student. Even then, professors are not required to meet with parents - they can refer the case to others whose job it is to deal with such matters. In my experience, the involvement of anyone else, besides the student, usually just aggravates the situation.

Occasionally, a parent contacts me over some issue. When this happens, if it has anything to do with grades, cheating, honor codes, or any other aspect of the student's work, I immediately refer the case to the judicial affairs office. I do not respond except to inform the parent that this is what I have done as a result of the attempted involvement. I then excuse myself. This generally never makes things better for the student (universities almost always back up the faculty, which is something very nice about working in higher ed), but it is necessary to protect the student's privacy, the university, and myself.

And that's why I have a disclaimer: "Welcome to my personal site. Everything is written as I'm feeling it. If it's offensive, I'm sorry in advance. Blame all the therapy I've been to for expressing how I feel when I feel it. I'll probably just regret it all later. After all, I'm human."

As I e-mailed Becky privately, my reasoning for not having a high opinion on English professors is that I have not had the luxury to have an English professor in a formative class that's passionate about the subject nor would they combine a passion of life with the passion of English. These professors were mainly "My way or the highway." I know there are people like that in real life, but life is all about experiences and I find "My way or the highway" people to be a drag on life. I try to avoid them at all costs. Thanks to a few bad English teachers, my outlook isn't too grand on English professors. However, ask me about the IT and CS staff and I will tell you I enjoy them because they have a passion and make me interested in the subject. The same can be said about my Calc professor. I personally do not enjoy Calculus, but my professor enjoys it and therefore, my class is something I don't mind spending 4 hours a week in it.

As for me, I'm at the point where most of the time, I don't want my mother's involvement. However, we are just not magically adults once we hit 18. My brother is not an adult. He still needs some guidance in life. My mother is just trying to provide him with some (and make sure her investment in his education pays off). Also, if this was a big problem, yes, my brother should have confered with his professor, but his professor should have handled the problem ASAP. The professor should not have let it boil to this point, after the drop date. It should have been addressed as soon as it reared its ugly head. They are both to blame for letting it get this ugly.

I'd say more but I've got a Calc quiz to study for.

OMG! That is funny about the defiant streak...McKelvy got into a fight at school this past Friday. Supposedly a boy took a little girls lunch money, and McKelvy said something to him. The other boy, Brandon, was mouthing off to Kelvy. He ended up hitting Kelvy in the arm, because Kelvy wouldn't fight him. SO, my precious little boy hauled off and knocked the piss out of him! I couldn't believe it. I do not want him to ever START a fight, but I do want him to stand up for himself. He ended up getting in a little bit of trouble, but nothing major. I just thought about this when I read about Matthew. GO LATTA BOYS! Hee Hee!