Have you ever managed to get stuck with a complete moron, that you don’t work for?

I have been just that misfortunate, and have landed myself dealing with an instructor that thinks he is God, and I am just some servant to please his desires to be amused. It’s not that big of a problem really, as long as I don’t have anything tying me to that ignorant prick.

Which brings me to something else that has been on my mind, and again, I’ll ask you a question. Have you ever denied being embarrassed or ashamed of something only to turn around and, daily, act on the shame and embarrassment that you actually do feel about something? That is how I feel about this higher education that I am working at, though I tell myself and others that I don’t.

Honestly, I don’t think I do; yet each time I have a reason to mention it, whether it is on this site, or to anyone else, like for the specific purpose of explaining why my Internet connection is so important, I shy away from the conversational path that leads in that direction. Which is to say, I refuse to tell anyone, that doesn’t already know, that I am earning a degree online.

I’ve done the research and found that the school has the same level of accreditation as some of the more prominent universities in our country, like Stanford, Harvard, Berkley etc. I also found that information in a document that was in no way affiliated with any particular school, so it should be trust worthy, and if not, then adding to it the accreditation listed on the accrediting organizations website should do it.

Perhaps it’s because when I went with my wife to visit her somewhat distant relatives, and she mentioned to one of them that I was going to school in the way that I am, I was instantly forced to defend my choice as though I was trying to buy a degree for a bill. I’ll admit it, at first, I had similar concerns, but very little research has shown me the light.

I am working toward an Information Technology and Networking degree through the University of Phoenix, and I’m not that ashamed of it. I just don’t enjoy seeing the looks, or hearing the instant sounds of amusement, ridicule, or condolences. It’s not like my dog just died or anything, I am trying to better myself with a with proven system of education, and just because one of you doesn’t agree on the merits of the choice doesn’t mean anything.

Hell, I don’t like the way half of you smell, but I don’t say anything to you about it, that’d just be cruel. Instead I run like Mike Vick from the ASPCA.

Okay, so I have this instructor, and he seems to like making up rules as he goes. I’ve argued with him almost non-stop for more than a week now about some very minor discrepancies in my grades, such as deducting points for doing exactly what I was asked to do, by his own admission. Even a village idiot might think what you could be thinking right now, that I pissed him off arguing with him and that’s why the grade was marked down. I suppose the critical piece of information that I started arguing with him only because of that grade might make more sense.

It did to me, and my academic advisor, and my wife, and my mother, and pretty much anyone else I’ve asked about it as well. It gets a bit thicker from there, but it’s pretty much the same thing. What really kills me is that he asked for me to feel open to come to him with questions, and then not only does he not answer them, but he takes everything personal as though me asking him those questions is me trying to tell him how to do his job. He told me as much.

I basically told him to fuck off, though in a way that is much more in line with the idea of keeping my ass enrolled. I’m just looking forward to seeing what else he can throw at me, I’ve already filed one complaint against him for neglecting to explain something as simple as a policy that he literally contradicts while telling me that I didn’t follow it. The problem is that I did follow it, and he told me that I did while he was taking points off my grade for not following it. Yeah, that one didn’t make sense to me either …

He’s getting away with it because he isn’t answering the very simple question of why, which leaves his responses much more cryptic than is necessary. I guess he forgot that he threatened me after the first time, and the second time could be construed as him following through on the threat, but what I’m banking on is that the third and fourth times can’t be construed as anything else.

In the meantime, I keep doing my work, and since I know the subject extremely well, I’m only being deducted points for these bullshit excuses that he keeps coming up with. I think I might actually enjoy this a little bit.