Higher education

Catiebug is preparing to graduate from college. It's been the best 7 years of her life! As things usually go, with classwork, term papers, and final exams comes what I call the "final semester self esteem wipeout". The wipeout comes from some instructors who want select students to know that they will never be as good as said instructor. These poor students have every shread of confidence they may have ripped out, thrown on the ground and stomped!
It happened to me, too. Two weeks before graduation, my critical care instructor did "exit interviews" with each of her students. During my appointment, she accused me of not turning in my term paper. She said that I was totally incompetent and she had no idea how I ever got into nursing school, but she was going to make "damn sure" that I never got out! I was devastated! How could she say those horrible things about me? I was on the Chancellor's list for academic excellence the semester
before!
Ma worked across campus. She was the Dean's secretary in the College of Humanities. She had also typed my term paper. All the way back to her office, I cried and I prayed. I asked God for a miracle, rationalizing that I really should graduate because He had gotten me this close. Dadquat and I (not yet parentquats!) had just bought a house. I had a job lined up. Surely I hadn't misunderstood God's instructions to me! Ma looked up when I walked into her office. I don't know if she understood what I was saying, but she knew what was up. Very calmly, she told me to go home and do my laundry. WHAT?!? Go, do laundry. She would call me. Wait. "Oh, and, by the way, there's a caraffe of bourbon in the cabinet above the fridge, fix yourself a drink. You look like you could use one!"
I went to our apartment, gathered up the laundry, and went to her house. I fixed the drink. Fortunately she had some ginger ale, too. She called after about 45 minutes. She told me that I was about to get a phone call, call her back after I talked to the caller. I had no sooner hung up than the phone rang again. It was my instructor. She had made a terrible error. I did pass her class. I thanked her, hung up, and called Ma.
Here's the rest of that story: Ma called the instructor. She was put on hold for 20 minutes. When the instructor picked up the phone, Ma explained who she was and where she worked. She also said that she had typed my paper and still had the carbons (No PCs back in the day, just typewriters and carbon paper!). Ma knew that the instructor had been failing two students every semester for several years. This gave her that "bell shaped curve" that all teachers strive for. Ma knew the Dean of the nursing college very well......get where I'm going? My paper was found in a file (13?). She called Ma and told her of the "mistake" and that I did pass her class. Ma told her that she would have to tell me herself.
I graduated on time. Because of that instructor's grade, I missed being inducted into Sigma Theta Tau by 0.3 points! I vowed that, if I ever saw her on the floor in a full blown cardiac arrest, I would step on her and keep on going. That was, until I worked with another nurse who nearly failed at the hands of this same woman. She reminded me that to step on her might be a life saving chest compression! She recommended stepping over her! I changed my mind then. I decided that the better way to go would be to resuscitate her and be her primary nurse so that she could see what her "mistake" might have cost her.
State boards were different then. They were given in January or July. All candidates took boards in the state capital. All tests were given on "op-scan" sheets with the answers marked in No.2 pencil. There were 6 tests:Medical, Surgical, OB, Peds, Psych, and an "experimental" exam where the next year's questions were developed. The testing took 3 days. It might be three months before a candidate received the scores. The wait was excruciating! Scores were typed on a narrow sheet of paper with either "PASSED" or "FAILED" at the bottom of the page. There was a possibility of scoring 500 points on any exam. I scored 500 on the Psych exam! My lowest score was a 350 on the Peds test. Not too shabby for someone who "never should have gotten into nursing school"!
For those who are suffering through the "final semester self esteem wipeout" now, keep your head up. Pray without ceasing. God will walk with you through this swamp. He will lift you up and you will stand on the mountain top. It may not be the mountain that you had your eyes on, but you will be on top. I've been a nurse for 29 years. God has never failed me yet!