To the ----(insert nasty word for a snotty little girl here)

it seems, even though I am not teaching this summer, I can have trouble students anyway.... aargh...

The basics:

Last year I took a group of four students to debate camp.... i.e. I drove them to Missouri and spent an entire week with them. This was an excellent investment of my time for D1, D2 and Rex -- (new readers -- those are my debater's nicknames) -- but my fourth debater -- Moonshadow -- didn't turn out to be such a hot investment.

Moonshadow didn't improve significantly at camp. She had a really good time, but she didn't become a better debater.

By the first tournament, Moonshadow wasn't ready -- so, when her partner ended up having to work I told her she wasn't going. She didn't sign-up for the next tournament, so she didn't go. The last two of the season she told me that she was going horsebackriding instead of going to one and that she would be visiting a friend for the other.

She took Spring Semester off.

Now -- Moonshadow wants me to send her to debate camp -- why should I do this?? It will be between $250 and $500 to send her. She wants to go so she can party. I'm not going to pay for it.

I told her this and she accused me of sexisim.... saying that I didn't send her to tournaments last year because it would have ment another hotel room -- (the rest of the team was male). This is simply false, because she'd have roomed with ME. Additionally, I kept a male/male team home because of a preparation/cost reason in the spring.... she's not being treated differently.... besides, she DECIDED on her own not to attend 3/4 of the fall tournaments and ALL of the spring ones.

This really pisses me off -- she's such a little twat (and I don't use that word lightly) -- I'm sure that if hubby and I weren't at camp she wouldn't go to any lectures at all. She's the last one I would pick to go (I'd pick the former drug addict before her, even though it is a drug rich enviornment at camp). It is very clear to me that she just wants to party and doesn't want to commit to the team.

Damm--- if she comes back one more time I'm going to have to tell the dean about her issues. I'm sure I'll be supported -- but I just don't want to think about it.

My dream reply...

Dear Moon,

I'm not sending you to camp because you are way too fried to remember it, and all you want to do is ho around and not become a better debater. If you were a ho and wanted to improve, I'd probably send you because I don't have anything against girls who like to party and have sex with debate boys -- it is the complete lack of interest in actually GETTING better that bothers me.

You don't even pretend to want to improve... which I find very insulting. Don't you understand that being a coach is more than being your travel agent and funding provider... I actually have a duty to the team to make sure that our resources are spent wisely. If I have to choose between buying a couple of team meals during the season or paying your camp tuition, frankly the food wins -- as it contributes to our competitive success in some way -- and I'm sure that you will not.

Should you choose to actually want to practice and compete, please register for part two of the course in the fall. When I see you actually ready for a competition you are entering -- I'll change my mind.

Sincerely,
The sexist bitch who wants to keep you from having a good time..

ps... it really isn't all that expensive to go -- you could do it on your own if you actually wanted to invest in your own debate abilities.