# Failure to Graduate



## Zeddicus (Apr 1, 2009)

I can see myself failing to graduate from college in the future due to not fulfilling mandatory credit for a Public Speaking course. Has this situation ever occurred to anyone else?


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## kenny87 (Feb 22, 2009)

I can see myself failing to graduate because I am to scared to talk to an adviser and actually figure out what I am going to do. But it doesn't matter, I'm such a nervous wreck around strangers a degree wouldn't help me if I had one.


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## VagueResemblance (Apr 17, 2010)

A public speaking course is why I dropped out of college. I could not handle it at all. Nowadays I could...maybe..


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## Wirt (Jan 16, 2009)

i hated my public speaking course, but the thought of not graduating outweighed the 10 minutes of torment to me

putting school very high on my list is what got me through university. not that i had anything else to focus on

its tough to teach yourself to rate schooling that high..i was kind of raised that way where it was like a given that i had to do college


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## gopherinferno (Apr 7, 2009)

VipFuj said:


> i hated my public speaking course, but the thought of not graduating outweighed the 10 minutes of torment to me


I agree. When you're facing something that makes you that miserable and nervous you don't even care about the consequences but you would definitely regret it if you gave up on something that big for something so small, even if it doesn't seem that small.

I thought I would drop out of college because of one class that was almost as bad as public speaking. And I wanted to quit high school because, well, it was just miserable in general, but also because of the P.E. and Public Speaking class requirement u_u I've had to face a lot of scary school situations. They almost never turn out to be as bad as I thought, though.


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## Rasputin_1 (Oct 27, 2008)

I did it with a buzzzzzzzzzzzzz


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## rctriplefresh5 (Aug 24, 2009)

Zeddicus said:


> I can see myself failing to graduate from college in the future due to not fulfilling mandatory credit for a Public Speaking course. Has this situation ever occurred to anyone else?


im currently in a 6 week summer public speakiing course. iwasnt required to take it for my major, but im probably switching majors so i decided to take it. its kind of fun to be honest. sure its nerve wracking before the speech, and maybe some while giving it,but after you finish the speech you feel like you just had sex.

oh and my teacher said most people are more scared of public speaking than dying AND THAT INCLUDES THE GENERAL SOCIETY NOT JUST PEOPLE WITH SOCIAL ANXIETY FOR YOUR INFORMATIONS.


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## Akane (Jan 2, 2008)

Talk to a psychiatrist and take the documentation to a school counselor (for my college it's called Learning Services department). Mine got me out of all public speaking and presentation requirements since highschool. I just got listed as having a disability at college and take this ADA paper around for all my instructors to sign every semester that says I don't have to speak in front of the class and I am given extra leniency on long essays due to anxiety and a language disability. Most psychiatrists end up agreeing I'm autistic and a lot of other people on here have gotten diagnosed with it just from normal SA related behaviors like lack of eye contact, social skills and verbalization. I don't think it's accurate but the end result is the same and it gets me out of all those things I would otherwise have failed.


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## Whitney (Oct 2, 2008)

I took that class and it ended up not being too bad. I remember my first speech, I was really nervous so I asked a friend to come over to listen to it. I couldn't even say a word in front of him. We were supposed to have notes but not say them word for word or memorize. Well that is what I was trying to do but it wasn't working. So I ended up writing down every word on the notecards and reading it, and she didn't notice and I got an A.

My school had an online public speaking class which I thought was funny. I think you had to record yourself making a speech and send it in or something. 

Oh, and our speeches were recorded and we were supposed to go into some room and watch them later and write up critiques of ourselves. I never watched mine, just wrote up the critique and I still got the grade. I was worried she would know because I wasn't sure if we had to sign in when we watched them but I didn't get a bad grade because of it.


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## rctriplefresh5 (Aug 24, 2009)

Whitney said:


> I took that class and it ended up not being too bad. I remember my first speech, I was really nervous so I asked a friend to come over to listen to it. I couldn't even say a word in front of him. We were supposed to have notes but not say them word for word or memorize. Well that is what I was trying to do but it wasn't working. So I ended up writing down every word on the notecards and reading it, and she didn't notice and I got an A.
> 
> My school had an online public speaking class which I thought was funny. I think you had to record yourself making a speech and send it in or something.
> 
> Oh, and our speeches were recorded and we were supposed to go into some room and watch them later and write up critiques of ourselves. I never watched mine, just wrote up the critique and I still got the grade. I was worried she would know because I wasn't sure if we had to sign in when we watched them but I didn't get a bad grade because of it.


not to be rude,but you were yelling at everyone in the other thread for cheating. you didnt even take the time to memorize your speech,or evaluate your performance as well! not trying to be rude here,but that is cheating!


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## Whitney (Oct 2, 2008)

rctriplefresh5 said:


> not to be rude,but you were yelling at everyone in the other thread for cheating. you didnt even take the time to memorize your speech,or evaluate your performance as well! not trying to be rude here,but that is cheating!


I wasn't yelling at anyone. Just adding to the discussion, same as everyone else. And as I said, memorizing wasn't allowed.

I also never said that I've never cheated. Ever think that I feel so strongly about it for a reason?

ps: it really bugs me when people say "not to be rude" and then proceed to be rude.


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## rctriplefresh5 (Aug 24, 2009)

well i said not to be rude,because i knew youd take it as rude..i wasnt trying to be rude..but i was gonna say my opinion on this matter.


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## Whitney (Oct 2, 2008)

well then I will just reiterate that I never said that I had never cheated, and that I wasn't yelling at anyone. And I don't appreciate being accused of it. And, you were being rude.


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## matt20 (Apr 22, 2010)

I had a public speaking class my first year of college and it surprisingly went quite smoothly for me. The professor was a nice woman, and the class almost felt a little too "dumbed down" (she was a fairly new professor), and I past all 4 speeches we had to make (most of my class was NOT actually speaking, but more about strategies/techniques to make the speech and not to get nervous), and ended up with an A in the course. We did get to use a script/notecards for reference, which made it simple. I would have died if I had to memorize everything.


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## JimmyDeansRetartedCousin (Nov 28, 2009)

Rasputin_1 said:


> I did it with a buzzzzzzzzzzzzz


I like your style


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## Catlover4100 (Feb 10, 2009)

Akane said:


> Talk to a psychiatrist and take the documentation to a school counselor (for my college it's called Learning Services department). Mine got me out of all public speaking and presentation requirements since highschool. I just got listed as having a disability at college and take this ADA paper around for all my instructors to sign every semester that says I don't have to speak in front of the class and I am given extra leniency on long essays due to anxiety and a language disability. Most psychiatrists end up agreeing I'm autistic and a lot of other people on here have gotten diagnosed with it just from normal SA related behaviors like lack of eye contact, social skills and verbalization. I don't think it's accurate but the end result is the same and it gets me out of all those things I would otherwise have failed.


Although I would absolutely love to do this, I would feel like I was copping out. I'm not saying you are, because our situations may be totally different, but just for me personally. I hate giving speeches/presentations, but I've gotten a lot better at it. Well, at least I usually don't turn beet red now, but I still start stammering and shaking like crazy. I kind of feel like although it's obviously much harder for someone with SA to give a speech, no one is going to cut us a break in the real world.

You can do it! Even if you don't get the grade you want, keep in mind that you just need to pass. And if you do pass, or even do really well, it will be a big accomplishment. Heck, even attempting the class and failing it would be an accomplishment just because you had the courage to try! I'm taking public speaking over the summer at community college because the school I'm starting at in the fall requires it as a GenEd course. Hopefully we can celebrate our successes together:drunk


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## wildZero (Apr 23, 2010)

I had the same problem in college. Public speaking and presentations are impossible for me. I can understand why they are required though. If you can't even give a simple presentation, then how can you function as a human being in the real world. I can't give a presentation, therefore I am not a human being.


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## rctriplefresh5 (Aug 24, 2009)

wildZero said:


> I had the same problem in college. Public speaking and presentations are impossible for me. I can understand why they are required though. If you can't even give a simple presentation, then how can you function as a human being in the real world. I can't give a presentation, therefore I am not a human being.


my dad claims he cant speak publicy,yet he is a very very very successfuly entrepenaur. he is a certified public accountant who owns his own office in 3 states. although times are getting tough for him with this economy.

im sure he could talk publicly, idk why he claims he cantr.


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## gordonramsay (May 27, 2010)

*You can pass "Public Speaking" even if you suck at it*

In my public speaking class we had to do an impromptu speech on a mystery item. I waited to go last and I happened to draw a magnet that said "World's Best Sister." I'm a male and I could not thing of anything to say about the object. I said it's a magnet and it goes on the refrigerator. Then I blanked out and some kid shouted, "What stuff do you have in your refrigerator?" I said, "Ketchup, mustard..." and then I stopped talking because everyone looked at me like I was retarded. I only spoke for 20 seconds and the required time was 2 minutes. The professor gave me a "B" LOL.

She understood that public speaking is hard for most people. For some of our longer speeches (We had to do 2 10 minutes ones), some students just read their note cards the whole time and they passed the class.


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## rctriplefresh5 (Aug 24, 2009)

Catlover4100 said:


> Although I would absolutely love to do this, I would feel like I was copping out. I'm not saying you are, because our situations may be totally different, but just for me personally. I hate giving speeches/presentations, but I've gotten a lot better at it. Well, at least I usually don't turn beet red now, but I still start stammering and shaking like crazy. I kind of feel like although it's obviously much harder for someone with SA to give a speech, no one is going to cut us a break in the real world.
> 
> You can do it! Even if you don't get the grade you want, keep in mind that you just need to pass. And if you do pass, or even do really well, it will be a big accomplishment. Heck, even attempting the class and failing it would be an accomplishment just because you had the courage to try! I'm taking public speaking over the summer at community college because the school I'm starting at in the fall requires it as a GenEd course. Hopefully we can celebrate our successes together:drunk


i was gonna get a disabilitys form,but there's no breaks in the real world. noone will care that i have poor spatial skills in the real world if i cant understand directions


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## Bewil (Jan 3, 2010)

I seriously considered dropping out of school to avoid speech or taking all the classes except speech and just accepting that i wouldn't graduate. It seemed that my choice was either to try to avoid speech or to try my best to bumble through it. As terrified as i was, i decided to do my best at making it through the class in the hopes that i could pull out a D and not have to repeat it. I knew that i wouldn't even attempt a second time.

The first speech was an informative speech and i could only use 40 words to prompt me through a four minute talk. In practice i just could not get the through the whole thing with so few prompts. I felt that i had to work three times as hard as anyone else, just to get through the speech without getting too lost. 

The day the first speeches started, i was a wreck. I was pacing and obsessing. Pretty much a basket case. It was going to take three days for everyone to give their speech. In class the instructor was having a difficult time getting anyone to volunteer to get up and give their speech. I had this raging debate going on in my head about doing the speech now vs enduring several more days of this stress. Still it shocked me to find myself walking towards the front of the class, the image of a death row inmate walking the last mile, in my head. I could remember next to nothing of what i had said as i walked back to my seat afterwords. The instructor was looking at me and talking but there was so much static in my head that i couldn't understand her, just that it seemed positive. It took me a good 24 hours to unwind from the stress.

It did get slightly easier in that i went from being being totally terrified to only being scared half to death.

I learned that it is difficult for many people. On the first day of a round of speeches, a good part of my class would skip out because they didn't want to have to give their speech.

You feel much more nervous than you look. Quite a number of times i would see someone who looked completely at ease and they would later mention how nervous they were.

The quality standards may not be real high. In my class only one person claimed that they would have still taken the class if it wasn't required. The instructors know that they are not trying to turn out professional speakers and that most people don't want to be there. My only goal was to try to make it through the speeches. I ended up getting an A in the class. I don't feel that they were that good.

Practice helps in getting through it and goof ups aren't fatal. There will be a lot of them in class from a lot of people.


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## James1985 (Jun 17, 2010)

Yea this happened to me, I have all the credits required for graduating with my degree except my Speech class. In what was suppose to be my final semester I made it all the way to the point where the speeches started and I just couldn't put myself through the torment. So here I am a year and half 'out of school' with just that one class left and I don't know what I can do...any suggestions?


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## Blue Bird (Jun 28, 2004)

I never took a public speaking class, specifically, but I did take classes that required that a say a few things about my art. There was one that required I memorize (I think, we might have been allowed to just take the book up there with us) several lines from Othello and say it in front of the class. 

There aren't any other classes you can take instead?


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