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"And from where is this self-entitlement coming from?" I told a student after he questioned the grades I gave him with an unwarranted outburst. He recites, he says. A lot, making sure that I remember how much he has raised his hand.

"If I gave a point for every time you raised your hand, then you wouldn't need a teacher. Did you even consider if your answers were substantial? If I were to give a grade each and every time you recite, you might even fail more. Do you notice how I have to rephrase the question each time you answer? Do you ever count the number of times I have tried to shake off a more concrete response from your abstractions, most of which you can't even explain? And how many times were you absent? Late? How many quizzes did you miss. You missed 4, we already had 7. And honestly, while you were gone, we had more productive lessons: there were more intelligent questions, and you're classmates aren't distracted by your impish antics, nor by your unthought-of responses that aren't dumb nor dumb enough to be funny. And if you continue complaining about your grade, you will prove my point yourself."

The next hour, I discussed four poems with hardly any interruption.