Aaargh...I know I should do that project. It was due two weeks ago and still the substitute teacher is letting me pass it in cuz he's concerned about my grades...this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! So why aren't I taking it? Could possibly be because I missed the crucial day in the experiment when all the information was collected. The main reason--no matter what I do or how hard I work, I'm going to get a bad grade on it because my Physics teacher hates me. This isn't a biased simplicist explanation as to why I'm failing, a whiny teen's rant about a teacher who is grading me fairly. She's not; she genuinely doesn't like me. Gaia knows why...I always thought I was a decent-enough student up until quite recently, and she's verbally accused me of being nasty to other students when I barely talk to anyone for fear of offending someone! She says I don't ask for help when I could, which is true; I don't like being talked to like I'm dumb, which they have to in order to make me get it. Besides, my Physics teacher of all people is notorious for...well, you know teachers that when you ask them for help, they address you in a tone that screams, "You're so dumb, this is an easy question, why aren't you understanding this when I clearly am a competent teacher"? Well, that's my Physics teacher; she's an extremely insecure woman married to an extremely insecure Math teacher, so any time she gets an opportunity to flaunt her vast expanse of scientific knowledge, she flaunts away. So here's where I stand on the issue of doing the project: I figure, what's the point? She'll give me a lousy grade because I'm not good enough...it wouldn't be the first time. I'd rather not put effort into a project that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I'm going to fail.

In CP Physics, we're supposed to be smart enough to figure everything out on our own. What happens when you don't understand and are terrified to ask?