n AP Chemistry, test scores weigh heavily on our grade in the class so they are not taken lightly. It just so happened that the Tennessee HOSA (Future Health Professionals) Leadership Conference coincided with the final days of lecture and review for the test that was to take place the day after HOSA members arrive home. My teacher specifically told me and a classmate, who was also a HOSA competitor, that we were not expected to take the test on Monday but rather one day after school. Since she had given us extra time, we both focused on studying for our respective competitions rather than the AP Chemistry test. This, however, turned out to be a horrible mistake.
Monday was an exciting day for me as I had just placed third in the state the day before and was still floating on cloud nine. I walked into AP Chemistry and my day was single-handedly destroyed by my teacher announcing everyone would take the test that class period. The other HOSA competitor and I endeavored to remind
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Discrimination may have played a part as the other student and I are both not white and the highest achievers in that class. Previously, she had taken several discrete steps to undermine my grades before this whole debacle. My parents believe that this happened because the teacher’s stepdaughter was at the same conference and did not place despite this being her third year competing, yet I placed my second year. This is not the first time I have had complications with this particular teacher either. The last time an issue arose, my parents had a meeting with just her and that meeting ended with her insulting my English comprehension as it is common knowledge at school that the language I speak at home is Malayalam, not English. There are many reasons to why this situation may have happened the way it did. Nonetheless, the “miscommunication” was resolved and I have since then learned what to do if similar circumstances arise in the