Here I go again

It's time once more to have a come-to-Jesus talk with one of my classes. I'm tired of having to do it, but that is the price sometimes for instructing freshmen. Most of the time they jump on board but sometimes you get slackers. I don't care about them per se, but I care about the grief and stress they cause ME, and that's what counts.

In the interest of self-preservation, then, I have to go to a class today and tell them - save a handful - how much they suck and how much I don't appreciate their wasting my time. It doesn't matter to me if they like me or not, but when I do this, it shuts down all conversation in the room and that's what I hate. In the Machiavellian spirit, it IS better to be feared than loved, but I'd like to think that their fear is inwardly represented rather than outwardly.