My Latin instructor doesn't know anything?

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Earthling

Oh, this kind of teacher behavior always annoyed and annoys me. But if I were you, I would just tell her she is wrong. I did that many times. No harm. Tell her politely that she might have been mistaken...that your father is Turkish and he told you the capital is Ankara. And maybe show the capital of Turkey in the encynclopedia to her.

When I was in high school, I was good at English you know, and from a test of 100 questions I got 98. I was furious because I was expecting 100. I was sure all my answers were correct. Then, I went to my teacher, told her I wanted to see my incorrect answers. She showed me but I knew that my answers were correct. I told her she misevaluated my paper. She insisted that my answers were not correct but damn I was so sure. What drives me crazy is people insisting on their mistakes. So, anyway I thought she won't believe me without showing her some proof that my answers were correct. Next time I went to her, I brought my grammar book and showed her. She had to admit she was wrong and she then made a very lame excuse that since all of the students answered it that way (in the incorrect way) they decided to accept the wrong answer. Whaaa, what a lame excuse. So, everyone gets the points with the wrong answer but I don't get any for the correct answer! Well, in the end I won, hahah.

anlarm

As a teacher myself I felt embarassed about her behavior. Unfortunately we do have teachers who don't know the correct information. What is worse is that they believe they are right.
I am afraid that this lady has no manners (shouldn't be a teacher then) and that if you try to correct her mistakes in class, she will most probably turn against you. It would be more proper to talk to her after class and suggest that she might have had a 'slip of the tongue'. Show her some documents too (cyclopedia, web sources etc.). If she insists on giving wrong information and insulting students then there is nothing else to do but put the case to the principal of the school. To err is human, but to insist on it is sheer stupidity. No teacher has the right to feed wrong information to students and to insult them. She better find another job.

Tanju

Dear Candy,

Esra's example is very nice ...
Everybody does not know everything even can be Instructor ...

Take Care

istanbul bogazi

Ok Red Candy:) My first year in France i had to learn French so i had to go to school.
The proffessor asked me questions you can not even imagine. For example:
Are there cinemas in Turkey?
Are Turkish women allowed to tell jokes? and many more...
You understand me right?:)))))

aera

What is the question? I'm not sure I am answering what you asked, but I'm going to give it a shot.

It sounds like she made a mistake about Turkey. So, good thing, now you know she is human. Depending on what you do with that, you could turn it into a positive experience for all concerned, and make sure that she doesn't make that mistake in future classes. It will all depend on the finesse you use to handle the situation, you know?

Maybe you can ask her during her office hours about Ankara Turkey being the capital. Maybe she meant the financial center? I think people believe that New York City is the capital of America for the same kind of reason, no it's not the capital, but it's the principal city people from outside America think of.

Italy is where they spoke Latin, so she was right on the money with having you draw that. What form did the criticism take? If you were not drawing it properly, it would seem that it is her job to correct you. But not yell at you. What kind of criticism are you referring to?

I can see why you were upset.

Try to work with her, not against her, is all I am urging, for your sake.

ithinkiatetoomuch

Her class must be fascinating, everyday you learn new things!
Lately I have been in a bad mood and I found I want to write, 'We call that kind of person a Dip-chit" substitute s. But that would be ugly.
I am a jeweller, I have said before, and when I was getting training for my job my instructor informs me that 'Pearls are alive!' I said, 'You mean, 'Organic'' she says 'No, they are living creatures.' I said, "so, what do they eat, and will they die if I seal them in this baggy and cut off they air, will they cry out?" I know I shouldn't have made fun of her but what was she teaching us????
What does the capital of Turkey and geography have to do with Latin classes anyway?

MORTÄ°CÄ°A

I once had a fight with my geography teacher too . Mr Djobo when I was in grade 9 . The argument was about Cyprus. He kept on saying that there is no Northern Cyprus and he only knows one Cyprus.

So I totally understand how you feel. But Alea yakta est ( means in Latin '' The dices have been thrown '' ) there is nothing to be done , always a narrow point of view.

hanibal

Unbelievable

Joannah

I agree with Earthling's opinion. You somehow have to find a diplomatic way to tell her that she has "erred". Granted she might not accept it and judging by how you describe it, your correction will be a bitter pill for her to swallow. Correction also makes those who are unaware aware. Misinformation is scary. When I sent my son to Istanbul, a lot of people thought that Istanbul was a backward country like Afghanistan all because of one vain "self-serving" actress (she isn't even Filipino) who married a Turkish mafia boss' son. The way she portrayed Turkey to the Philippine press made people conjure up images of deserts and women in burqas. One even argued that there wasn't a Philippine embassy there just because that woman said so. I had to show him hard proof via the internet.

Question, don't you have suggestion boxes? You could probably write an anonymous letter that states her "finer points" ^_^. It might work or if her pride is bigger than her heart then, she probably won't admit it but I assume, being the teacher in her, would correct herself come her next batch of students.

Hurricane

it's nice to hear that Turkey is not the only country whose teachers are not talented enough :P

By the way are the schools open in USA now? you know Turkey's schools are still in holiday.Mine will be opened in 24 September.

Slick Rick

Well I suppose at least she didn't call it Constantinople.

Alot of people get confused with the capital same with Australia, but its not acceptable if your teaching the subject.

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