The Grinch

I felt like a total Grinch in Christmas. I have told most of the students that I am not returning; but some didn't get the word. As it happened, Christmas was the last day of classes, before I started my exams, for many of the students in my classes (regular exams started the next week). On that day I made sure that they understood that I would not be their teacher next term by stating it clearly. As stated, many students were expecting it, they were still saddened to hear it explicitly stated.

It was class six that made me feel like such a caitiff. They, as a class, had made me a card for Christmas, which the had all signed. A group of very pretty girls (of course, there all beautiful) had given it to me at the beginning of class (I do not know if I ever mentioned it, they prefer “Girls.” “Woman” implies that someone is married, or if applied to an unmarried woman... is improper)

Then (not directly, at the beginning of the second half of class) I gave them the news that I was not returning, like I had done in my other classes. They started crying. All I can say is that I felt terrible. It seems that, for them, this had been unexpected. What thing to do to them on Christmas.