Is this TA out of line here?

On January 22 2010 13:58 SirIsaacNewton wrote:
"..I'm an adult..."
...
...I replied "My name is Osama Bin laden, and my TA is your mom." Afterward, I just left lecture.

On January 22 2010 14:05 Mortality wrote:
While he did not handle the situation well at all, he had every right to kick you out of class for playing poker during his lecture.

Because this is college, not high school. He doesn't have to put up with your shit and he has better things to do than waste his time with you.

On January 22 2010 14:11 GreEny K wrote:
Wow... You are a dumb-ass, if you were "an adult" you wouldn't have reacted that way, and nothing would have happened from it which it most likely will now.

On January 22 2010 14:18 FragKrag wrote:
you are both douchefags

On January 22 2010 14:21 lastprobeALIVE wrote:
how u gonna get caught playing poker? did not mute sounds ?? ?

On January 22 2010 14:32 Guilty wrote:
In my opinion you acted really within line. Many, many people in my collage class play WoW(computer science classes so everyone has a laptop) and everyone is on facebook or msn/aim at some point during the class

On January 22 2010 14:43 T.O.P. wrote:
I would drop the class immediately. If I was a TA and some kid disrespects me by not listening to my directions I would be out for blood. I think the TA will look for you the next time you go to the class and he's gonna try to get you in trouble. I'm also pretty sure that you broke a rule for not showing id to a school official.

On January 22 2010 14:37 Grobyc wrote:

lol i can vouch for this. im in a comp science program and like 90% of my classmates are WoWfags.

but yeah, he was out of line, but you acted really immature, so I can't say you can do much about it now.

On January 22 2010 14:46 rushz0rz wrote:
why would you go to a lecture to play on your laptop in the first place? you are paying money for the class, why don't you pay attention and engage yourself? those kids that go to lectures and just sit playing on their computer are really annoying, and sometimes even distracting.

the TA was out of line, but if the professor told you to stop, then it'd be a different story.

On January 22 2010 14:46 redtooth wrote:
dude you sound absolutely retarded haha. "my TA is your mom" hahaha. also i think the TA had every right to do that (albeit nobody does because TAs usually don't give a crap) and you were the only one out of line. it sucks that he picked on you but seriously your response was just lolz.

On January 22 2010 14:26 Failsafe wrote:
lol you misplayed preflop on this hand so the flop became more difficult than it needed to be. then you misplayed that so now you're in a really tough spot. gl

On January 22 2010 14:32 Guilty wrote:
In my opinion you acted really within line. Many, many people in my collage class play WoW(computer science classes so everyone has a laptop) and everyone is on facebook or msn/aim at some point during the class, but it was made very clear to us early on, that if you want to do that you can, its your own time(and possibly money) that your wasting. If some TA decided to come up and shutoff my laptop, i would without a doubt tweek and make a huge scene, but i know that I am within line; he cant touch my very expensive property when im not distracting anyone but myself.

Maybe the rules are set differently for you, but it seems that you acted within rules. I've never been in a collage level class where everyone didnt have laptops so maybe the rules are different there, but i feel you are competely in line...least you are where I'm from...

On January 22 2010 14:57 Ziph wrote:
I actually had something like this happen in my first year of college which got me kicked out of college also. In short what happened is that everyone in my class was a retarded and played games in class all day. So we got forced to sign some contract yes a motherfucking contract that pretty much said your not allowed to have your laptop on your desk at any time until told otherwise.

When i heard this i went like what the fuck is going on here (i'm dyslectic and seriously HATE WRITING) so i thought that was a pretty good reason to use my laptop why the fuck did i get this thing otherwise? So before i even noticed my entire class signed the contract and was not gonna give a shit and keep on facebooking chatting gaming w/e.

However I refused to sign that contract, then i got told to leave the room and wasn't allowed to follow that lecture till i signed the contract. So i went to the head exam commission or w/e those guys that SHOULD help you out if you have a problem with teacher or anything. But exactly the opposite happened they teamed up with the teacher (didn't saw that comming -.- NOT.). and 6months later this guy pretty much got me kicked out of school. GG

I went pretty far though, i seriously refused to sign that fucking piece of bullshit.

On January 22 2010 14:57 Ziph wrote:
I actually had something like this happen in my first year of college which got me kicked out of college also. In short what happened is that everyone in my class was a retarded and played games in class all day. So we got forced to sign some contract yes a motherfucking contract that pretty much said your not allowed to have your laptop on your desk at any time until told otherwise.

When i heard this i went like what the fuck is going on here (i'm dyslectic and seriously HATE WRITING) so i thought that was a pretty good reason to use my laptop why the fuck did i get this thing otherwise? So before i even noticed my entire class signed the contract and was not gonna give a shit and keep on facebooking chatting gaming w/e.

However I refused to sign that contract, then i got told to leave the room and wasn't allowed to follow that lecture till i signed the contract. So i went to the head exam commission or w/e those guys that SHOULD help you out if you have a problem with teacher or anything. But exactly the opposite happened they teamed up with the teacher (didn't saw that comming -.- NOT.). and 6months later this guy pretty much got me kicked out of school. GG

I went pretty far though, i seriously refused to sign that fucking piece of bullshit.

On January 22 2010 15:13 asianskill wrote:


Wow. Was that really worth getting kicked out of college?

On January 22 2010 15:25 SirIsaacNewton wrote:
The thing is, I didn't stop because I felt the TA had absolutely no right what so ever to tell me not to use my laptop. I could be playing poker, reading class related material, and be taking notes at the same time. everyone in the class was using a laptop, and If I am not allowed to use my laptop because I was playing poker, then there should a class rule stating that you are not allowed to use your laptop at all.

1. I wasn't distracting anybody.
2. It was a large lecture, and everyone had a laptop out playing games anyway.
3. What ever I do with my laptop is quite literally my business.
4. The professor doesn't even care if you don't show up for lecture. As long as you are not distracting anyone, you are fine.

What right does a random TA (not even my TA) have to tell me to not play poker? Yes, I know that I should be paying attention, but is it against the law to not pay attention when the class got really boring and irrelevant? More importantly, even if you are the professor, I doubt you have the right to touch someone's laptop. You could tell someone to leave class, but you can't just mess with other people's property.

All in all, I felt that the TA was just in a bad mood and inappropriately venting his anger on me because I was the closest person to him.

The thing is, I didn't stop because I felt the TA had absolutely no right what so ever to tell me not to use my laptop.

On January 22 2010 16:03 MayorITC wrote:


Hate to break it to you, but your feelings don't amount to shit in the classroom. The teacher and TA are the ones with authority in the classroom. It doesn't matter what laws you are or not breaking by playing poker. The classroom authorities can make whatever rules they want as long as they are not breaking the law.

Anyway, you're a fucking idiot. Not because you played poker during class, but because there's a good chance you jeopardized your grade by acting like a douche to the TA. Most college poker players usually breeze by school because they identify it as another variation of a game. Once you recognize the rules and get a good feel for each class, school should be cake. Unfortunately, you don't seem like a good poker player or you wouldn't be in this predicament.

On January 22 2010 14:20 ejac wrote:
I've always wondered why the hell people who do facebook/play games/poker during class, bother going.

On January 22 2010 16:18 Hyaach wrote:
How is the TA any out of line. Im taking TA to be the lecturer? You are in his class, least you could do is pay respect and follow what he said.

On January 22 2010 13:58 SirIsaacNewton wrote:
The TA then asked me to give him my name and tell him the name of my TA. I replied "My name is Osama Bin laden, and my TA is your mom." Afterward, I just left lecture.

On January 22 2010 16:52 VorcePA wrote:
I'm in college and we don't have TAs ("Teacher Assistants", I presume?). Who are they, and what do they do?

And seriously, if someone started fucking with my property (especially expensive property like a laptop), I would have gone completely ballistic on them. I agree with the way the OP handled it. Nobody has a right to pull that kind of shit.

On January 22 2010 15:49 selboN wrote:
Way to handle it the "adult" way. The question isn't whether or not the TA was out of line, it's why are you so damn disrespectful?

On January 22 2010 19:23 Spazer wrote: Why do you even bother attending class if all you're just going to play poker?

On January 22 2010 19:16 Daemonarch wrote:
No, he couldn't have been the better man, fucking complexed lifeless idiots with extra power/authority than they should... The rest who are not raving about the idiotic response of the TA (whos supposed to be more mature, experienced, and ABOVE ANYTHING ELSE - WILLING to communicate/talk/teach students(!!)), should put yourself a bell around the neck...it will go well with your sheep-like personality.


Over and out.

On January 23 2010 00:42 nayumi wrote:
Prolly he was getting owned by you on the other side of the table ...

On January 22 2010 19:48 enzym wrote:
why would he be respectful to a person that he doesnt know (and thus hasnt done anything to earn his respect) but on the contrary has given him a pretty huge reason not to respect him?

On January 22 2010 14:18 FragKrag wrote:
you are both douchefags

On January 22 2010 17:49 shindigs wrote:
"I'm a adult and I can do what I want"

sup freshman.

Next time just lie, alt tab, and be more sneaky about poker. You handled it poorly and the TA stepped out of line, but you could have been the better man and just lied/hid it/stopped it...

...but you decided to be a bitch.

On January 23 2010 04:09 zer0das wrote:
Are you one of those kids who never pays attention and then whines about it later when you do poorly in the class?

Seems like there are lot of those these days. Looking at it objectively... who cares what everyone else is doing? It's your education, if you were really an adult, you might realize he has a point and put the laptop away and try to learn something.

Was he out of line? Probably, but I would worry less about his actions and a little more about your own.

Seeing as how everyone is on their labtop using facebook, aim, and playing facebook games ect, I told the TA "this is not highschool, I'm an adult and I can do w/e I want."

On January 23 2010 09:51 zer0das wrote:
If he doesn't want to pay attention, why even bother showing up? Just don't go to class. You can't really claim to be an adult and do stupid crap and expect people to take you seriously. Well you can, it just doesn't make much sense.

On January 23 2010 01:04 Klockan3 wrote:

You know, the TA have exactly the same reasoning on his side? Why should he respect this random idiot who goes to class to play poker? And then to top it off he acts totally disrespectful when you tell him that you don't think that it is appropriate! It is reasoning like yours that makes things like this happen in the first place.

On January 22 2010 13:58 SirIsaacNewton wrote:
Basically I was sitting in the corner in lecture today playing poker, and not bothering anyone. In the middle of lecture this random TA came up to me and told me to stop and close my window. Seeing as how everyone is on their labtop using facebook, aim, and playing facebook games ect, I told the TA "this is not highschool, I'm an adult and I can do w/e I want." Then the TA grab my laptop and shut it down while I was in a middle of a hand and told me to "stop or I'll confiscate it." I was completely infuriated and told him "Fuck you, that is fucking physical abuse, what the fuck is your problem." The TA then asked me to give him my name and tell him the name of my TA. I replied "My name is Osama Bin laden, and my TA is your mom." Afterward, I just left lecture.

I think I should stop going to lecture since they only take role and turn in things in discussion anyways. I don't want to get in w/e trouble with the dean because I didn't give my name when asked. Anyway, I feel that the TA was totally out of line, but im afraid that it is useless to tell the professor anything since the professor will just side with the TA. I can't do much here, he is the cop and I am the black guy caught holding a gun.

On January 22 2010 13:58 SirIsaacNewton wrote:
I can't do much here, he is the cop and I am the black guy caught holding a gun.

On January 27 2010 10:40 Blyf wrote:
TA out of line. What is a TA?

On January 22 2010 19:23 Spazer wrote:
TAs basically help the professor out with things like marking. Sometimes they teach tutorials or cover classes for the prof as well. They're usually grad students of some sort.

On January 23 2010 10:17 gyth wrote:

People not caring about their education, sounds like high school to me.

On January 22 2010 14:43 Mickey wrote:
If someone touched and turned off my laptop there would be a serious chance he would of gotten knocked the fuck out.

On January 27 2010 10:45 seppolevne wrote:

Asking stupid questions after not reading the thread should be bannable.

On January 22 2010 14:20 DeathSpank wrote:

op is a douchecanoe and his ta is a fagbar

On January 27 2010 10:45 seppolevne wrote:

Asking stupid questions after not reading the thread should be bannable.

On January 27 2010 23:13 FieryBalrog wrote:
Do you know why people in other countries get ahead in education? Its because not only do American/Western students not pay attention, but they also think its their fucking privilege to do so. Its now a God-given right to come to class and do whatever the fuck they please. Despite having universal schooling and a lot of people going to college.

Other people are using facebook and aim gives you no right to act like a petulant brat. I'm in India now, and like other asian countries, students wouldnt dream of disrespecting a teacher like that. Which is why they don't have a fail education system.

On January 27 2010 23:54 Blyf wrote: + Show Spoiler +

On January 28 2010 00:55 starfries wrote:
No one's saying you're legally obligated to respect anyone. But you're in his classroom,

On January 28 2010 00:55 starfries wrote:
and he asks you to stop doing something that's bothering him.

On January 28 2010 02:26 enzym wrote:+ Show Spoiler +
so here is your chance to underline your argument better, or withdraw from your position.

On January 27 2010 23:54 Blyf wrote:



What the fuck?

Disrespecting a teacher?

I'm glad I come from a country where teacher and student are equal. And yes, it is my god damn privilige to do whatever I please during a lecture, as long as I am not disturbing.

It is my responsability to pass the exams, and the lectures are a mere service offered to me. I don't owe the teacher anything. If anything the teacher and owes me a proper lecture, which unfortunately is too rarely the case. He's the one getting paid.

On January 28 2010 03:13 Xenocide_Knight wrote:


Wow..
It's your privilege to get to attend a University. This isn't about what you can or can't do, it's about being not a douchebag.

It's my privilege to buy food, so since I paid for it, I can do whatever i damn well please with it. So i might as well just buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of food and just throw it away. Or just let it rot. Sure it's your right to do so but that doesnt make it any less of a dick move.

On January 28 2010 02:45 starfries wrote:

...
I'll respond to this against my better judgment that thinks you are being intentionally obtuse.

I'm really not sure how you managed to miss the whole point while latching onto several details. I know what a TA is. I also know that the person teaching is called a "professor", not a teacher. I know that they do not have any legal authority to tell you what to do, in the classroom or outside. In fact, that was kind of my point. I realize that the "teacher" and the TA do not legally own the classroom (come on, is that seriously one of your arguments?).

My point is that if someone asks you to stop doing something, then consider stopping it. It's not an infringement of your rights. It's not a court order. It's a request. If the guy sitting next to me asked me to stop playing poker, I would probably stop. I'm not saying the TA was right to slam his computer shut (he wasn't), but it didn't need to get to that point. There wasn't any reason to play poker during class - why not just humour the TA and pay attention?

I suppose I should offer you a chance for rebuttal but frankly I was unimpressed with your original argument and reading skills and I'm not particularly interested in anything else you have to add.

On January 28 2010 06:16 Blyf wrote:
And playing poker during a lecture is not a dick move, if you sit in the back and don't disturb anyone.

On January 28 2010 06:29 MisteR wrote:
It's nice and all to consider education a privilege, and in theory it should be, but in practice it isn't. Nine out of ten professors are not fit to give a lecture. More often then not the "lecture" is merely a rehash of what is already provided by other sources, in certain cases it is even required to know the contents of the lecture before actually hearing it. What actually is going on in the class is not education at all, but a way for most professors to get their money so they can continue their research, and for most students a way to get their grade. Is it not obvious then that both the student and the professor will not put any more effort in it than strictly necessarily?

If college would actually be a place where working with and learning science would have the highest priority, a place where students learn while researching and professors teach while working, then there would be reason to consider studying a privilege. As it stands now, it is merely an annoying, and expensive, prerequisite for the better jobs in our society.

On January 28 2010 06:20 Blyf wrote:

Starfries, you sound like a very reasonable guy, and your argument of avoiding a conflict by humuoring the TA is perfectly alright. But I can also imagine how I would feel if someone shut down my computer in the middle of a poker hand. Not happy. Ofcourse you could make an effort to avoid conflict, but when discussing whether the OP was out of line or not, I'm gonna have to part with the OP.