IMHO, this is unacceptable from the professor's/Ta's standpoint. And trust me. I totally get that in general, they are "god" of their classes. But the more students don't go to the professor and dean if need be over this kind thing, the more students will get crapped on.
Go through your college handbook and review what the process entails. How would a student know if she/he needed to withdraw--not borrowing any major illness or tragedy????
No you have to be able to gauge where you are and where you stand? How would you know if you needed extra support or tutoring from various services provided by the school or otherwise?
Something does not make sense. You may be the only one that has stood up, and you have to carefully do so. I mean some profs are ridiculous "demigods". So you have to be very careful and know what the process entails (in the student handbook) or discuss with an appropriate advisor or dean if you don't get anywhere with the professor.
Darn, it's not like they are paying you to be there.
But no. You can't be obnoxious, but you do have the right to carefully assert about being able to effectively map your progress in the course. This is a basic student right. I have known where students have had to go to state governing boards and such in order to get reasonable satisfaction. You just have to pick your battles very carefully, know what is written, and be prepared to stand intelligently.
Don't be obnoxious or c@cky; but don't be intimidated either.
In the bigger scheme of things I look at this way. If a person has problems advocating for himself or herself, there's a good chance they will have problems asserting for their patients. BTW, this principle has nothing to do with Burnette's Law for heaven's sake. It is only logical.
At this point, the term is pretty much done; thus you are at a major disadvantage regarding this battle.
You will probably have to re-take and learn to speak up sooner. It's OK to speak up. You just have to be wise about how you do it.
You also, however, have to accept the possibility that there are times when you were wise, polite, and courteously assertive in your approach, and you will still get flack. Some people are just p4icks. That's life. You still have to make the stand. It's either be prepared for these possibilities and deal with them, or be a door mat-victim or become passive-aggressive.
