Some hero screamed ‘fuck this class!’ and walked out of his Econ midterm
He is a voice for the downtrodden, the face of our generation
Midway through last night’s Intro to Macroeconomics exam, some dude seated near the back of McCosh 50’s lower level stood up and shattered the monotonous 90-minute silence.
He screamed: “I can’t fucking do this anymore! Fuck this class!” then tore up his exam, threw it on the floor, and strolled out of class (sort of awkwardly, trying not to bump knees with his classmates as he scooted through those annoying wooden chair-desks from the 18th Century that are too small to write on).
It was a perfect moment during the worst week of the fall semester.
Sure, the outburst was almost certainly an obligatory frat-rushing stunt, but even if it’s not authentic, it’s beautiful to watch.
Just the sheer volume with which he disrupts the class, breaking through the crippling rigidity of midterms is inspiring.
The way he defiantly shoots up out of his chair even though he must be pretty nervously thinking, “Fuck am I really gonna do this?”
The way all 200 people in the class slowly turn around as that “Oh shit…something’s happening” feeling creeps over them, taking a microscopic breath of fresh air before returning to their inescapable prison of multiple choice questions.
Every time I watch it, a part of me is still unconvinced he’s actually going to go through with it, and still in awe when he does.
This man is a hero. He’s a symbol of our frustration and a glorious outlet for our collective, undefeatable midterms stress.
Sure, everyone still has to finish their exams, and there’s still nothing any of us can really do as the leviathan institution pummels us mercilessly into the ground twice every semester.
But this one douchebag—who probably wasn’t even in the class—has reminded us and will continue to remind us that there’s always a choice.
No one will ever physically shackle you to that terrible, bafflingly anachronistic chair with the tiny desk that never moves and laughs in the face of left-handed writers.
If you see this man on The Street tomorrow night, shake his hand and thank him. He has given us our freedom back. We may never act on it, but he has reminded us that we always have the option to walk out of an exam, of a class, of this school.
We will always have the freedom to say, “Fuck this class.”