I'm taking a class this semester called The Vietnam Wars, emphasis on the s, which is essentially Vietnamese history summarized from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, where it turns into a class more on the domestic politics of the U.S. war with Vietnam than the war itself. The class has been brutal being such a reading/writing intensive class, so needless to way when I had the midterm for the class the week before spring break I was anxious to see how I did because 1, it's one of the only grades we get in the class so I needed to do well, and 2, because according to another professor most of the students who take this professors classes fail the first test/exam because they're killer (so it's somewhat confusing why he's regarded as the best history professor at the school but w/e). I had the class today and at the end of the class he handed back our exams and asked me and two other guys to stay after class so he could talk to us. After everyone left he waited a minute and told the three of us, "YOU GUYS CRUSHED THE EXAM! WHAT HAPPENED I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE HARDER BUT YOU GUYS GOT MASSIVE A's!" He talked with us for a few minutes and told us how he was grateful that we were doing so well because he likes teaching the class but since it's such a small class he's never sure if it will be taught next semester, and that because of this he will probably keep with it if people hear about the class. He also told us that he looks forward to reading our papers next time because it's nice to know that we are genuinely understanding the material and not simply regurgitating what we heard in class for a grade. This was all very flattering and I was so relieved that I did will on the exam, but what really made my day was that after telling us how he was grateful for us doing well he turned to me and said "ESPECIALLY YOU, YOU'RE ALWAYS SO DAMN QUIET I CAN NEVER TELL IF YOU GET THE MATERIAL OR NOT BUT APPARENTLY YOU DO BECAUSE YOU DID AMAZING." This made me smile/laugh (which I was already doing) because, well, it's nice to be appreciated/recognized, but also because whenever someone tells me I'm quiet it's usually done through a borderline offensive snide remark. And this couldn't have come at a better time because this morning was one of those "fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck school I just want to wrap myself in a blanket and wake up in nine hours" mornings, but this gave me a much-needed motivation boost. coming back from spring break it's hard to care about anything school-related. and the caps are not for emphasis he was literally shouting down-side is that now I need to maintain this quality of work or else disappoint him and look bad
Woo! That is brilliant : D well done, confidence boosts like that are always amazing and you should be super proud of yourself. Also, the quiet ones are always the sneaky ones in terms of how well they do >:3
I was one of the quiet ones too. Well, depends who was sitting next to me. XD The last physics teacher I got said in front of the whole class that it was great to have me around because when I don' t understand something it' s written all over my face. ^^'' But yeah, congratulations. It' s indeed a huge confidence boost to ace an exam when you' ve worked hard for it.
