I should have pursued a degree in psychology. It would have made it much easier to deal with the number of unhinged students who gravitate to creative writing classes. I've had a paranoid schizophrenic, who explained the mind set of a Twinkie in a story in which said snack cake was not the main character but simply a snack cake (sometimes a Twinkie is just a Twinkie). I've had a terminally depressed student, who filled her journal with reflections on the effects of her medications and tales of women having psychotic breakdowns that ended in suicide. I never quite know what I'm supposed to do for them. Therapist is not part of my job description.
And now, early into this new semester, I have this to contend with from a student who's missed pretty well all the classes we've had so far:
Dear Professor,
I have a Dr. whom is retiring in conjunction with the closing of his clinic. As such I have been passed off, once again, to a clinc where I was told there wasn't Dr.'s familiar with my conditions and would have to wait for a GP, a famously long test of a patients, so to speak. I have 7 more days of med's and have to go to a ER to have them re-filled, by extension the Dr.'s can write me a note to confirm I have a mental illness but won't be able to excuse each individual absence in lack of familiarity etc. etc. It's an alarming way to excuse myself, but I have been through much in the way of sexual abuse, heroin addicted mother, placement in group homes, and the list goes on... I kind of had too much to deal with and became ill - not in any way, "mental" just very unable to cope. I'm trying to be a promising student but life has a funny way of throwing you curve balls. Thank you for your understanding, (sic)
All I understand from this note is that she is going to be a difficult student. She already is a difficult student, who does not come to class, for whatever reason, who has not handed in the homework online, and who has been outrageously unprepared when she has shown up for two half-classes. Truth is, I'd pegged her as someone with a drug problem based on her behavior, so I'm not entirely surprised by this fractured missive (which is just the latest in a string of excuse-laden missives from her). She'd possibly make a good character for a story, but as a student she is a nightmare who is wasting everyone's time, including her own.
Now, I know that the structure of a writing class might help her in unfathomable ways, might allow her to channel and contain her scattered thoughts and troubling experiences and turn them into something productive and workable outside herself from which she can get a new perspective. I do believe creativity can be healing. Being a part of the class might also bring her back into the fold of the regular world, make her part of a group that includes her as one of its own. But she's simply not up to it. Furthermore, the main activity of such a class is to provide constructive criticism of submitted writing, which is tough on everyone no matter how well-adjusted, but even more so for someone who is already finding it hard to cope with life in general. When all is said and done, she may actually be creating more stress and problems for herself. She's certainly creating problems for me.
I am not an unsympathetic person--I am the person my friends call when they are having personal crises, when they need to talk it out and be helped or simply listened to. Perhaps this student's list of ailments and injustices is true, and she is doing her best under difficult circumstances. But dealing with mental breakdowns of students I don't even know, who want me to make exceptions for their miserable history and their messed-up present is above and beyond the call of duty as far as I'm concerned. Creative writing class is not group therapy, and I am not trained for such interventions and judgment calls.
Plus I have 20 other students to consider. My job is to pass on what I know about writing within a structured and reliable environment where our mutual expectations are clear and fulfilled. The less touchy-feely the whole process is, the better. And in the past, I have noticed that one erratic student in such a close-knit environment can affect the class as a whole. There is already palpable tension in the room when she marches in an hour late, and then repeats the same point like a scratched record during critiques, or passes because she hasn't prepared for the discussion.
For the record, I recognize that many brilliant writers have had various forms of mental illness, which often fuelled their work, brought it and their readers in heretofore uncharted realms of the psyche and human condition. But one thing doesn't necessarily lead to the other, as evidenced by this sample:
"Slow and steady, she thinks. Her beauty is to be so wildly enchanting, few walk away without intent on trying and capture her all, replicate; she’s intense like that. He sees none of this,not for lack of trying, her contortions and wild eyes are unsettling, a result of the former. She is stripped of capturing ability, a byproduct. Captured in a least favored state of composure, a response in the last? Captain Composure lost at sea."
Captain Composure is not the only one who's lost.
I've called her into my office next week to discuss her problems as a student, to lay down the law, to say I'm not sure what at this point. All students are graded equally based on their performance and nothing else? Get your head straight and try again next year? Shit or get off the pot? Our time is up and that will be $100? Frankly, I just wish she'd disappear, but somehow I don't think this is going to happen.
PS. Any advice from people who have been in my position would be appreciated...
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Martha Grover
Paul Hinrichs
Reiko Eoh
Dorinda D.
Sparking
Scarlett Sumac
Salon.com
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I was involved in education at the college level. We had a very unstable student. After disrupting the class with strange behaviour in a way that would prove to alienate him even further from the other students, one day he simply did not return to class. Once I knew he was okay I was glad for this. Quite frankly he was getting scary. I started to think about how I would handle emergency measures if it came to that. Some of the other students said he was "weirding them out."
This young woman needs help. She is not up to the academic task right now. Also if she lives in a continual cycle where exceptions are made for her she will never learn to function in the 'real" world.
You sound exasperated. I don't blame you. I agree with Dorinda.
The authorities at your institutions should provide some sound advice, starting with mental health counselling and withdrawal for now..
Or at the very least, get someone who is the VP of Student Affairs involved if you actually don't have a counseling department.
Explain your observations of her behavior and express some concern over her well being.
It's not your place to be doing her mental health counseling. But you have got to try to get her to the people who really CAN help her.
Mental illness IS very real, and if she's too sick to fulfill the requirements of the class (showing up, doing the assignments, being prepared for and participating in discussions, etc.), she's too sick to be enrolled at this time.
Does your college have a counseling service? Many times, if the case seems serious, I have taken a student by the hand and gone to the counseling office with them. You can de-stigmatize therapy if they seems to need that, by explaining that in the world outside school, therapy costs a hundred or more an hour, and the college offers it free.
The other solution is Dorinda's...contact her advisor or department chair to arrange a medical leave of absence or a medical withdrawal.
Also what Dorinda said about the other students. You might not hear about it, but they do not wish to be in class with someone who is that troubled, also who gets cut slack for it. It devalues their work. If you are on a tenure track, your student evaluations might suffer.
Having said all that, I'm an art professor. We get a similar population to creative writing I'd expect. Some days, I do feel a little like a therapist in that I do a lot of listening. Keep a box of Kleenex in your desk drawer for them, and maybe even for you, after they leave your office.
At college level, I think Dorinda Fox's advice is excellent.
You're an authority figure in her life, and you accepted that role as one of the responsibilities that goes along with academia. That doesn't mean you're responsible for fixing her problems, but I am really upset by the disdain that seems to come through in this post.
The excerpt you quoted did not actually "ask (you) for an exception." She merely explained what she probably realizes is flakiness, and asked you to realize that there's more going on with her than with other students you might have. There's no need to impute motives to her until she asks you, "Will you change my grade because of my health problems?" At that point, you can say, "No" Until that point, if you can, it makes more sense to simply treat her with respect and concern as a fellow human being. If that's too much trouble, then avoid her.
You accepted a job that requires you to serve as an authority figure in return for many perks. Dealing with students, however unpleasant they may be, actually IS in your job description.
I'm really shocked by the disdain you're showing for her. Maybe there's more to it, but from what you've quoted here, it seems excessive.
By the way, there is also a whole body of work indicating that mental illness does not "fuel" great art, and that the fallacy leads people to dangerous assumptions. Just think how much more fantastic art we would have had if Van Gogh had gone into treatment. Here's another fallacy we've operated under for years: that mental illness is rare. Its not. What you see in your classroom is life. Its no different over in the Accounting Department.
I'm going to assume that this was not her real letter, but something you made up. Right?
In my experience, trying to personally help these kinds of students can get very crazy very fast no matter how sympathetic you are to their situation. I would do what others have suggested re the counselling route. I absolutely guarantee that this is not the first time a teacher has had this kind of experience with this student. It's part of a pattern.
Mental health 'issues' can be channeled as a positive if someone is willing to see it that way. In other words, it can be used as a springboard for emotional creativity. If they are not, they are stuck in the 'victim mentality' and that is not something you can fix nor is it your job to IMHO. That is best left to the professionals.
If they can not meet the demands of the class, regardless of the reason (and that is where a note like that can be very hard to read, but you can explain with reason you need to be objective to all students), then that is a separate issue and I would guess would be handled like anything else. Not having been a college professor, I'm just looking at it objectively.
When people come to me with their issues, I tend to have a list of resources available for them. I have it in my purse at all times. It includes, lawyers, shelters, hotlines, counselors, etc. I keep it updated and when I hear of something/one new, I check it out personally. This is the little bit I can do for humanity. I can't solve it for everyone, but I can be a beacon of light and point the way. After that, it is up to them. I can have one conversation. I can hold a hand once or twice. But, I am really clear compassion contains boundaries and honesty within it and it doesn't need to suck me under in the process.
It sounds like this girl has one shot to possibly turn it around if she hasn't already gone under the bus to far, but, I leave that up to you. The mentally ill are a beautiful lot of people, but, I'm biased.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvFeY5GXtQo
See minute 2:00 on if you are interested...
I've never been in this position as a proffesional, but only as a person. I'd say that first it's very important to differentiate between some dangerous character and someone who is having some problems but is harmless. Then, I'd say that from a lot in this post it is clear to me that there is a callousness that is a part of our psychobabble culture -- boundaries, issues, my needs, toxic etc.
I'd say that reluctant muse is in the position to be kind, and graceful, and that he or she shouldn't further complicate this person's life. Sure, if this person is a user and a loser ,and all that, then get tough . But, from what I'm gleaning, I can't see why reluctant muse just doesn't let this person be, or tactfully and humanely tell them that advisement or counseling might be of help. There's a million ways to say something like that without harming someone, and I just think that it is your responsibility to, at least, do no harm.
"All students are graded equally based on their performance and nothing else? Get your head straight and try again next year? Shit or get off the pot? Our time is up and that will be $100? Frankly, I just wish she'd disappear, but somehow I don't think this is going to happen. "
Simply say, "I am sorry you are going through this. It sounds hard. I am only qualified to advise you on academics. I can refer you to these resources. This will count against your grade, as it would be unfair to other students to reward work that doesn't meet my standards. Overall, though, I wish you the best and I think you have many special qualities."
Many colleges cost $30,000 a year now. For that kind of money, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect office hours and courtesy from professors.
Money aside, it really is important not to recoil from a person having a hard time. That kind of attitude will only haunt you when you eventually realize, and you will, that sometimes life is outside your control and all you can hope for is a little grace from your fellow travelers.
This is a matter of choices: Make an effort to not do harm or even help, or add to this person's burdens because you find her icky.
"Money aside, it really is important not to recoil from a person having a hard time. That kind of attitude will only haunt you when you eventually realize, and you will, that sometimes life is outside your control and all you can hope for is a little grace from your fellow travelers."
I often had to deal with students in crisis, and they benefited from a combination of sympathetic listening and/or referral to counseling services - and there were indeed times I called that office and told them I was walking someone over.
But this sounds more chronic. You cannot judge if your student has valid medical or psychological issues, or is just throwing a lot of excuses at the wall to see which ones stick. Your suspicion of drug use (or perhaps overmedication/inappropriate medication) may be right on. But even though the student has chosen to share some information with you, you are not permitted to contact health care providers to verify her story. She has medical privacy rights like anyone else.
Please contact your Dean of Students (or appropriate counterpart), then send the student to them so that their office can determine whether her (many) absences have legitimate explanations. They should have procedures in place which will allow this, for instance, the student may be asked to give written permission for the school to contact a health care provider. You may also express your concerns about her disruptive behavior to your administrator. Their job description includes sorting these things out.
I would hope that an administrator can then work with the student (and you, and her other instructors; my guess is she's in trouble in other classes), and help her make the best academic decisions: catching up on missed work, doing extra work, dropping a class, taking an incomplete, or perhaps a leave of absence from school. Also, to make sure she is getting whatever mental health counseling she needs, either on or off campus.
Your student does not sound actively dangerous to herself or others, but I do recall the case of the Virginia Tech mass murderer, who did exhibit very troubling behavior in his creative writing class - the class and the professor tried to respond in a "therapeutic" manner, to understand and engage him - and we all know how that ended.
Sorry for the length of this, but yes, I have been in your position. And you need to know when to call in the cavalry.
I have been, not exactly in your position, but close enough. My problem children tend to be graduate students who are essentially my personal charge, since I am their academic advisor. I once had such a student so depressed that he could not get himself up to label half a dozen vials given the whole day to do it; the first and easiest step in a lab procedure that has 20 steps, all of which can be accomplished in half a day by a nominally functioning student.
I too, am by nature a sympathetic person and I really want to help, but what do you do when it goes on for months and is eating up valuable resources? So I've spoken with mental health professionals, ombudspeople, deans, human resources, fellow faculty, other students (all keeping the confidentiality of the affected student's identity or particular problem). I have a very clear idea of how you are supposed to handle these situations. Before I reveal them to you - keep in my mind thing - this is what you are apparently supposed to do, not what I usually end up doing: me being a softie pushover. Keep also in mind that this procedure is the big legal gun - you always have the alternate of telling them to drop your class or failing them if they don't succeed. But if you want to help and CYA at the same time, this is what you do:
1) Meet with the student tell them they are not performing in a satisfactory manner. Give them a written plan that lays out exactly what they need to do in order to succeed at the task at hand. Leave a few blank lines at the end of that plan for a response from them.
2) Meet them again within a day or two to discuss any comments they have on your plan. Make any changes in response to their plans that you think are useful and/or reasonable. Explain, again in writing, why the other changes are not acceptable. Make two copies, have them sign both, keep one and give one to them. Send a copy to your chair. If they refuse to sign, then tell them that they'd be best served to drop your class since the remedy you are offering is reasonable. Make a note that you offered the plan, the student refused to sign and then send one to your chair and keep one.
3) The plan must include consequences for failure (e.g. You will show up for class, on time every day, or you will fail the class).
4) Give them a written list of resources available to them to help them with their problem (campus mental health services, peer councilor, etc) and include a statement urging them to take advantage of these services (note: you cannot require them to do so
as a condition of passing, you can only encourage).
%) If the student fails to meet the conditions, then send them a note (copies, you know where) telling them they have failed to fulfill the contract, and the consequences are:
In the two times I've had to resort to this, I was surprised that both students actually welcomed the plan - it gave them structure and tangible goals to reach. The really depressed one did eventually manage to pull it off. We are still waiting to see about the other one.
The softie part comes when the student comes to you and says "I know I wasn't supposed to miss class, but I took the wrong bus and the train was late and my dog got sick.....". You have to know ahead of time how much of this you are willing to put up with. Me, more than I should.
Hope this helps.
What are those perks? Where can I find them? Did you mean the long hours and the low pay? As for tuition, your average professor (hell, no professor) sees any of that. That goes for landscaping and campus security, administration, building maintenance. Generally, it does not go to pay or support the faculty. Most of us have to raise our own salary through grants, which we then pay to the University, so they can pay it back to us. My class copy costs come out of my own pocket (the University kindly supplied the copier, so thankfully I don't have to buy one). For most Universities, the amount of tuition does not even cover the cost of the student to the University. The work load that is placed on us is more than full time before we ever set foot in a classroom. As the economy has gone, down, and the great slush funds known as endowments have gotten smaller, more and more falls on the faculty. I have at least 10 hours a week of clerical work to do that I didn't have 10 years ago, because the University cut back on administrative support to save money. They didn't, however, decrease my other duties to give me time to do that. Instead, they prefer to have their Ph.D. level faculty do the filing for "free".
In this case, I don't see much callousness in the OPs post. He's just at his wits end having to deal with one more thing that is not in his job description and for which he has no training.
If you have to do it yourself, that's your message. Deliver it with sympathy, empathy. Whether or not you believe her tale of woe, pretend you do. But the thing you never deviate from is that she is not meeting the requirements.
I think that, professionally (you are in the US, yes?), the ONLY choice is to follow whatever protocol your university has in place, to the letter, document that you've done so, and then not engage further with the student's real-life issues. Change the subject, pretend you can't hear what the student's saying, forward any "personal issue" e-mails to people with more authority than you, you get the idea.
This is easier said than done. Much easier, especially at small schools. And this next is hard for me to type, because why do we go into teaching if we don't care about others . . . but when a situation like this arises, as cold-hearted as it seems, you have got to put yourself first and CYA.
This world is a nasty place.
You take care.
PM me if you want to talk in more detail.
This is hard for you. You don't want to be doing what you wound up doing to survive. You don't want to teach writing. To graduate students.
So it would be hard for you to feel compassion for her.
It's hard enough to try to do what you're doing without having this new dance thrust into the choreography of a good class. It's unsettling, frustrating, and fatiguing.
You've gotten a lot of good advice about following the (tedious) procedures that are necessary to protect your livelihood and hopefully at the same time urge her toward help.
The rest of it is burnout. You feel stuck.
I hope she finds help, stops disturbing the peace. And I hope you can find a path to meaning and fulfillment.
I have a different job, and feel miserable in it. Hard to just "make a change" in this economy, and at this age.
Sometimes I worry how fragile people can be. I'm with Dorinda on the advice to request a medical withdrawal.
I mostly worked. For the clearly mentally ill student I would consult with our Dean of Academic affairs and we'd keep trying to get the student over to counseling even if it meant personally walking him/her over there.
I really like the 'non-student student' approach.
Best of luck to you...it's a difficult situation that just gobbles up time.
Great information in this post and the main activity of such a class is to provide constructive criticism of submitted writing, which is tough on everyone no matter how well-adjusted, but even more so for someone who is already finding it hard to cope with life in general.
http://www.bid66.com
Step back from your desk and embark on some other career. Give this opportunity to someone who sees teach as a vocation, not an occupation. My perception is that this is not your cup of tea.
I hope that the e-mail excerpt and writing excerpt have been altered to disguise the writer. If not, please consider either doing so or deleting this post.
As for those appalled by my attitude. First of all, expressing myself freely here is very different from how I behave in classroom or what I would say to someone face to face. Really people, how literal minded.
And disrespecting the student? I don't see any names here, do you? I blog to work out my feeling and ideas about things. It is separate from going to the proper authorities. I also blog to share my experiences. Those who do not like what I have to say are under no obligation to read me.
That said, you are given an opportunity to assist your fellow traveler. It actually might be a gift!
As a layman, I rarely get the opportunity to really help anyone out of some major crisis, and when that should arise I should try my best to see it as an opportunity.
Of course, Of course, there's your miserable criminal types who are just out to con you but there is nothing in that student's letter or your post that leads me to that conclusion.
Maybe this student has very beady eyes, the aura of richard ramirez(the night stalker), or lets off the stench of a grifter. In that case, clearly you have your reasons.
I get up at 6:30 A.M. and go to work. I get out of work usually around 8 P.M. and get to bed around 2 A.M.
People have difficult lives and some are because of their own lifestyle (mine included), however some are just not smart enough to know when to say no, (sounds like your student).
I have worked hard in the last five years to get straight A's in all my classes. I got 1 B+ in the very last class which knocked me below the 3.9 I needed to graduate at the top of my class. I had not stepped foot in a classroom for over 20 years before going back. I have a great deal of trouble feeling sorry for people who use drug addictions as a crutch.
My suggestion? Tell them to go on disability and quit the whining, wasting my time, your time and everyone elses. Drug addiction is a disability according to the government apparently so why waste our time and money, just go waste our money.
Is it possible I am a little hard hearted? Yeah, so spank your inner child, grab another needle and make sure you do it right this time. I'm tired of paying for idiots like that who (try) to improve themselves by going to school just to spoil it for those of who who do.
My sister attempted suicide recently with the idea that she would make things easier for us because she had terminal cancer. After the failed attempt the doctors said she was healthy as a horse. No cancer anywhere. After spending thousands of dollars paying her bills thinking I was doing a good thing; after all she is my family. I find out she is just another feel sorry me me liar. Tell the student to quit wasting so much time trying to improve her drug induced mind and just move on somewhere else. They are not helping anyone.
I repair appliances such as washer, dryers.
I have had more than one call by someone who tells me her dryer makes a humming sound when she presses the "start" knob.
I have been told that, "I taped it down and, now I smell something."
I have told some of my customers, repeatedly, certain things which they are not to do.
There have been many times when my advice has been ignored or, in instances when the customer is as your description of your student, dosconnected.
So, it is not my job to heal a customer. Nor is it in my job description to hold my customer's hand.
I have done my job, according to its description, often going even further.
It is as much a waste of my time and efforts as it would be yours to play shrink to your addled student.
It is not your job to heal.
It is your job to educate and, shrinking is not in your job description.
I have told some customers to call sears, etc and, I have felt no guilt.
Hint, hint.
Now, I have a question for you.
In my sentence immediately prior to "hint, hint.", I was confused about the punctuation.
What is correct after the "etc", a ",", a "." or something else?
Finally, since you say, "Paris of the North, Canada", you sure as hell are not in Winnipeg.lol
You aren't expected to be your students' counselor. If a student collapsed to the ground in convulsions would you call for medical help or wander off into a corner and pity yourself for having a sick student? There's no difference here. Stop having a pity party and act.
1) clean pool - only water and chlorine should be evidenced upon completion of job duties.
2)don't leave area at any time while employed
Oh no! I run back before anyone witnesses that I left. Still have job!
I remove the baby as per job description...
I'm a mental health professional myself (and my husband is a teacher), so I've seen the situation from many angles! Sometimes getting distance and reassuring the student (encouraging her to take time off, etc) is the best/safest thing. Otherwise, you're choosing among different versions of "getting involved," whether laying down the law or pushing them for better work, gaining a better understanding of their condition, etc. But all of those things obviously carry the potential of horrible and painful entanglements.
You might also want to think about how to handle the grade-- Incomplete (or Withdrawal) would probably be better than an F :)
So many people downplay the number of needy, unprepared, unmotivated, apathetic "learn me" and yes, mentally ill students out there. Just because YOU might not have noticed it in your limited contact as a student, you shouldn't assume that teachers don't experience it. After all, you aren't the one receiving the emails, the phone calls, the countless excuses...the endless round of work not done, or done in a manner that bears no relation to the assignment or class goals. Add the pressures of cash-strapped (except for their own ever-increasing salaries) administration telling students that they are consumers and that they are always right, even when they clearly are not, and you have a situation that would try most people's patience. To simply say "that's your job" is not good enough. I don't know one single teacher, and these are nearly always the good ones, who doesn't want out of the profession. And yes, teachers/professor are now expected to do all their own paperwork, which can be absolutely massive for research projects that are essential if universities are to be places of learning and teaching. My husband does at least 15-20 hours a week of this in addition to answering countless student emails, usually about things they can find on the website or could have learned in the lecture had they a) been there or b) been paying even the slightest attention or not leaving whenever they are "tired." That is ON TOP of his regular 60-70 workload at school and at home.
Ah, yes, "the perks." Those words could only be uttered by someone who has absolutely no idea of what he is talking about. I only teach part time so my workload is not as heavy but it never ends...I am always working at home either prepping or marking or answering emails. And yeah, I DO want to get out of teaching too even though I am a popular teacher and actually enjoy the teaching part. The rest I can live without.
Your analogy is not apt. Nobody is suggesting that any teacher should let the baby drown because saving it is not in their job description. We are suggesting that medical help the baby needs to provided. You do what you can. But did you know that giving CPR to an infant can kill it? We are not trained as mental health professionals. Treating someone's mental health problems without training can do more harm than good. So you refer the student to the help they need. It's not your place to treat them.
You also don't send the baby a report card giving her an A in swimming, just because she had an ordeal.
And Sir Sidney, too.
I said before in a different post that there is as much romanticism surrounding teaching as writing.
Still, I recently have been experiencing a two year odyssey where I've been vulnerable or "depending on the kindness of strangers."
I can't relate to your student. I can't relate to her reaching out in that way. I would be way too proud. But, I'm the type that attracts the type that would write that letter, and I've had to think about the line between being a saint or a sucker a lot. I've concluded that all effort must be made to try to be good to those in need. I truly don't say this in a high and mighty way. I'm just as guilty.
I just don't like this "my job description" crap. Apt or not too apt, the pool analogy tries to mock this "job description" babble.
I don't really clean pools btw.
I will speak to her, I will suggest some alternatives, I'll be as nice about it as I can be. I wouldn't want to push her over the edge, or kick her when she's down. But she is going to fail if she keeps going on like this, which will not be good for her at all. The structure is there to help her be part of the class like any other student, but if she can't manage it right now, it might be better for her to try again later.
Your post obviously touched a major chord in me. It's really about a huge existential question, in my opinion. I've been struggling a lot with society's reliance on what I see as psychobabble and whether to trust my gut or soul or just fall back on recieved language like "boundaries" when someone needs me.
I plan to blog about this because I find it fascinating- how we all are influenced by the Dr. Phil / Oprah/ others I don't know about - wrought culture. How much loss and waste must have resulted from the non stop psychobabble and the arm chair DSM usage.
Again, I'm not coming from some high and mighty place at all. But, I love that you just won't kick her when she's down. That's so basic but so good.
Best of luck to all of us.
That is, it's not your job--she needs to be somewhere else. But at the same time, you *do* seem to find the situation....distasteful.
(FYI, I have been a teacher since 1985--post-secondary English, K-12, and private tutoring. I love the work, myself. It's hard, though. It is hard.)