A Woman's Flight Chapter 28

 

 

 

      When Rebecca finally woke up the next morning she actually found herself looking forward to the opportunity to share her first assigngment and paper with the class. Even though it had been a crazy first day and she had to go through a lot to get it done there was a part of her that was proud of the paper she had  written and the work she had done. In highschool she had the pleasure of having an amazing writing teacher that introduced her to the joy of reading and writing and she was happy to get the chance to show the teacher and the class what she had written.

 

 

     Once she finally made it to class she could already see that over a half of the students that were there on the first day of class had decided not to show up. She was wondering if they had dropped the class altogether or if they weren't comig today because they were afraid to read their paper out loud to the class. The teacher just smiled when he saw just how few other people were in his class from the first day and he almost had this look of pride at the fact that he had managed to chase away that many people within the first day.

 

 

 

     Once the remainder of the class got settled he said with a smirk," I guess I must have chased them away with my whit and charm. I always am amazed and amused at how many people begin to leave my class right after the first day of class. All that means is that I am ultimately left with the cream of the crop and the people that are actually willing to work for their grades."

 

 

    "You won't get very far in life if you are always running away from a little bit of hard work and I definitely plan to work you guys hard but hopefully in a way to where you can begin to get the basics laid out for the rest of your college carreers."

 

 

 

     " Now I know that I did assign a paper for you guys to write on monday and I was very serious about having it completed on time. If you do not learn to be punctual in life and procrastinate you will always be behind. So with a show of hands how many people actually put in the work and did the assignment."

 

 

 

      Rebecca raised her hand immediately but of the other people that were left in the class about 15 others had raised their hands as well while the other 20 that remained in the original class of 60 did not raise their hands. You could tell that he was disspointed that over half of the class that was left hadn't turned in their assignments but at the same time be began by saying,

 

 

    " I know that I had expected more from the people that actually did show up I had hoped that more of you would have actually taken the time to do the assignment but at the same time I also want to show my appreciation for the people that have also turned in their assigments as well.

 

 

 

      "I usually don't do this but I am deciding to be generous today and whoever actually turned in their assigment on time today will get an extre 10 points added to whatever score I give you out of 50 point and my I remind the rest of the people that did not turn in their homework that I accept no late work no matter the excuse."

 

 

   "I suspect that this will make some people very happy while making some people very angry with me but I also want you to take all of my assignments seriously from now on and make sure to turn it in when I ask instead of waiting till later.

 

 

 

     With that announcement there was a simultaneous shout of joy from the people that had actually turned in their homeworks while the students who had not turned in their homework began to groan and to grumble to themselves and start to become even more upset at the teacher.

 

   

    One girl even got up and shouted," That's not fair." as the other students began to agree and to whisper and to moan and to generally kick themselves for missing out on a free extra 10 points if they had just turned it in on time.

 

 

   There was a girl who was sitting next to one of her friends that was whispering underneath her breathe," That isn't fair. Just because we didn't turn it in doesn't mean that they should get an extra 10 points. If I would have known that I met have turned it in. He can't just decide to give away points whenever he wants."

 

 

    The teacher must have heard this side conversation because he immediately replied by saying," This is my class and if I hadn't forgotten you are my students and I am your teacher and as long as you are in my classroom until you either leave my class at the end of the quarter or decide to drop you will follow the rules of my class."

 

 

   " May I remind everyone in the class that there is no late work accepted for any assignment so I hope this is a lesson to you that didn't turn in your assignment on time that every assignment is meant to be turned in on time and no exceptions. As the teacher it is also my discretion to give out as many or as little points as I want on any given assignment. The sooner you realize this the smoother your learning process will be in my class."

 

 

    All the while during his speech Rebecca was secretly smiling to herself. She was grateful that she had managed to turn in her assingment considering how much she had to go throug to get it done but she was also secretly smiling because she was happy that he was being as strict as he was towards the students who hadn't turned in their homework and standing is ground.

 

 

    During highschool she would always turn in her homework on time and if there was anyway she could turn in her assignments early she would go ahead and turn them in early and get them over with. She would always end up getting the highest marks on her assignments and often would get the highest marks on her tests as well.

 

 

    Even with that said it was usually the jocks, and the cheerleaders and most often the football players that would be notorious for being rude in class and for being rude in general, would seldom turn in their homework, get the lowest marks on their tests, and still somehow manage to skirt by all their classes with a C so that they could still play.

 

 

    So when the teacher had finished his speach by the time most of the students were groaning and grumbling about his announcement to the class and rolling their eyes at him there was a part of her that couldn't help but smile to herself. She got the feeling that they would eventually become friends and she would enjoy taking his class.

 

 

   It dawned on her just how completely different Dr Haraday's and Mrs Carrington's teaching style different yet somehow she got the feeling she would going to enjoy both of them as instructors but in different ways. She was beginning to feel like she might actually belong here at Stanford after all.

 

   When the teacher finally called roll he began to call on the students that had actually managed to turn in their assignments on time. Rebecca began to raise her hand immediately. She wanted to read her paper as soon as possible so she wouldn't have to worry about speaking later and could go ahead and leave the class once she was done.

 

 

    Luckily for her the teacher must have seen that she wanted to get it over with and leave early and her picked her first. As Rebecca got up to speak to the class she felt a rush of peace and calm run through her as she began to think about everything that had transpired that had led her to this moment where she would be sharing her paper in front of her students and peers about why she was here in the first place.

 

 

  When she began to speak, she started out by saying," Hi my name is Rebecca and I am sure by the end of the class you all wil probably know me very well. Just to start out with if you haven't already guessed from the accent I am from Texas and even though there are some people and things that I don't care for at the same time I am proud to have been born there as well."

 

 

   "I know that a lot of you probably don't really know that much about what its like to live in Texas or even anywhere in the south period and that doesn't involve being in southern California which I am sorry to say to you Californians doesn't count as being in the south . "

 

 

   "But what I can tell you is that I am proud to be here representing Texas and Tyler and most of all my mom who is still living in Texas now and who allowed me to come here as well even though she knew nothing about California or Stanford except that I got accepted and I wanted to go into Pre-Law."

 

 

   "The reason for me coming here and studying Pre-Law is because I see that there are too many women in general that don't have a voice. The accounts of rape of all kinds and even domestic violence in the home has been on a steady increase and has grown exponentiall even with the last 5 or 10 years and it continues to increase every year. There is a statistic that says that 1 in 3 women will have been sexually assaulted or raped within their life times and unfortunately a lot of the cases go unreported."

 

 

    "The current judicial system we have isn't properly dealing with these cases and more than not we either blame the victim or they just get swept under the rug and not addressed at all. For those of who don't know already I am a survivor of abuse myself growing up at the hands of my father and for the longest time I felt helpless to stop it."

 

 

    ' What frustrated me even more was how much people just accepted it and didn't do anything to help either because they were too afraid to confront my dad about it or they just didn't care. I felt like my life was one big joke and I was brought here just to suffer and there was even a point in my life when I seriously considered what it would be like he I just packed up and left or if I were to just write my parents a suicide letter would they really care or notice."

 

 

    "It wasn't until I started looking at the statistics for myself that I began to see that this was something that wasn't only happening to me but to women and children and families all across the country. At first it made me feel sick to know just how many more other women had experienced being raped, abused, or even tortured often at the hands of their husbands and partners. What got me more upset was just how we accept this as a part of society that you just can't help, but I think that we can do a lot better than this."

 

 

   "It was upon coming to this realization that I finally felt like I had a purpose in life and I found that by connecting and helping women that have been abuseed by their spouses or by their husbands I could help to heal some of my own wounds and help to validate my existence in someway. I wanted to be able to legally fight for the women that had no voice and needed my help the most. I know I can't help every one, but if I can at least help the women that I can I will feel like I have done my duty in life."

 

 

   With that last sentence Rebecca began to leave the podium of the class as she was picking her paper up and handing it to the teacher he gave her a standing ovation as she walked out of the classroom. She was amazed at just how calmly and clearly she was able to tell her story in front of relatively complete strangers. She felt like she had been able to live up to Mrs. Carrington's wish and she had been able to tell her story and like Mrs Carrington had predicted, it was one worth telling after all. It was her story that set her apart from everybody else at Stanford and any other person for that matter.

 

 

     She was feeling a greater sense of pride in herself and how far she really had come and waht she had accomplished to get here. When she got to her dorm room she just sat there on her bed for a while and looked up at the ceiling. She still couldn't quite believe she was actually here at Stanford. Even though she was three days in to her first week of school there was a part of her that just kept ecpecting herself to wake up and find herself in her bedroom at her mother's place in Texas. As she finally fell alseep she couldn''t help but think that maybe this was her dream all along and it was just now coming true.