What if we were to tell the truth?  Exactly what we really think.  This would not work in many situations.  For example, yesterday, I wanted to tell an online student:

You are a rude little twerp, as well as a pain in the ass.  Get your shit together or drop the class. 

The student had emailed me to let me know she "forgot" about the class.  She's just been too busy, so she "forgot."

Her amnesia is not my problem.   Can you imagine telling your professor in college that you "forgot" you had a class?

Then the student wanted me to figure out her grade for the rest of the semester so she could decide whether she should drop the class or not.  I told her that would not be possible because who knows what her grades would be on all her assignments when she finally remembers to do them.  I was also truthful and said it was not my responsibility, the fact that she "forgot" she had a class, and now I had to do more work so she could make her important decision.  She could do that on her own, and I shouldn't be addressing this ridiculous situation in the first place.  She wrote me back a long diatribe that was even more rude and insulting.  I responded with a professional letter that said, in essence, her goose was now completely cooked, and I had sent her emails to the Dean; the student needed to send me an apology and drop the class. 

She apologized.  She said I had misinterpreted her emails.  I said no, I did not, and that I accepted her apology.

But the truth is I really don't accept her apology.  And the truth is she's not sorry.  She just realizes that she will get thrown out of the college if she doesn't apologize.  The truth is I hate this part of my job.  I hate it so much, and I have hated it for years and years and years and years.

The truth is that students who act like this cause more work for everyone.  The truth is I shouldn't have to listen to shit like this.

The truth is I don't want to teach in a community college anymore.  I only want to teach students who are ready, who are passionate about learning.  I want to teach small groups of students who love the subject of literature and writing.  I am as tired as a slow painful piss in hell of teaching people who can barely speak the language, or who don't give a damn about the language, about reading and writing.  When students tell me they don't "like" the short story by Flannery O'Connor or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, this is what I want to say:  "I don't give a flying rat's fuck what you "like."

God, that feels good to say.  And I don't apologize for it.  That's the truth.

I'm going to speak the truth all day today.  I probably shouldn't leave the house.  But I'm going to.  The truth!  Emily Dickinson said, "The truth is so rarely heard, it is a delight to tell it."

Is that really true, Emily?  She also said, "Tell all the truth, but tell it slant."

I'm tired of the slanted truth.  I'm telling it straight on, all the livelong day today.  A teacher who tells the truth!  Not Ms. Fucking Mamby Pamby.  That's over, folks.