long, moral dilemma help!!!

Moral dilemma Maybe it is just the monthly visitor but I am struggling with something regarding school. There are about 16 of us in night class. Grade wise I am probably #6 down on the list as far as my Avg but my avg doesn't necessarily reflect my knowledge. I participate in class a TON compared to the rest of the class. Answering questions correctly, showing other students how to use the equipment etc... Wednesday night we had a test in the hospital. They broke us up into 2 groups. 11 folks went to one hospital, myself and 4 other guys went to another one. Our normal teachers were at the other hospital. We were supposed to meet up with a guy from the ICU dept in the lobby. We arrived and no one showed up, we called him and left a voicemail and waited....it is a hospital--and ICU so there could be emergencies right? Well an hour passed by we decided to call up to the department specifically. Apparently either the guy that was supposed to meet us didn't get the message to meet us in the lobby (he had already gone home) OR our teacher didn't do a good job in setting up this hospital test. I go with the latter. We get up to the ICU and the guy that is supposed to show us around KNOWS nothing about why we are there. We show him the form (test) we need to fill out and he glances at it and doesn't really do anything. We basically work together as a group and get the information we need for this test. The test questions by the way were kinda worded badly and vague to a certain extent. SO we were already confused about how to even answer the questions (what they were looking for) AND since none of our teachers were at this hospital and NO instructions were given to us or the hosptial....we had to wing it. Well needless to say we got the guy to sign off on our papers (he took everything with a grain of salt). We have to write in complete sentences and fill out the answers but we ran out of time. By the time we finished getting to see things in the departmen****ch examples of respiratory skills etc....it was after 10pm. WE decided as a group to meet up on Saturday before our Bio class and finish/fill in the tests. (2 tests worth 50pts each--one for equipment class and 1 for theory) SINCE our guide at the hospital didn't even pay attention to the questions I don't even think we have the right information to answer all of the questions. The teachers don't even know WHAT we saw, the patients stats/condition etc....but they could get the information from the medical record but I doubt as busy as they are--that they would go to the hospital and do all that. As a group we decided to not let the other students know what really happened. Weird thing is--2 of us have never been asked to go to this hospital before...the head of our school had told me for the past 2 weeks that he wanted me to go to this particular hospital --no explanation just kept saying I want you to go to the ICU....I was like OK. didn't matter to me where I went. Well apparently another guy in my class --got the same statements made to him. The other 3 guys had gone to this hospital previously so it wasn't a switch for them. 2 of those guys have the highest GPA and the other 2 are probably 3 and 5. I know for a fact there is this other guy that makes better grades than me...BUT personality wise he is kinda obnoxious/annoying and overbearing and he was sent to the other hospital. EVERYONE in class is convinced they are trying to weed students out to make sure we have a smaller class for clinicals. I don't know what to think about that. I am fairly good friends with this girl in class and she was sent to the other hospital. SHE is fairly paranoid about her grades (she sits on the fence). AND she is always freaking out. The last time they sent students to the other hospital she questioned why THEY GOT TO GO? She made a huge obsessive deal about it. WAS convinced it meant something. Whether it did or not...who knows. BUT 2 of those original people got replaced this time around. AND everyone knows what kind of grades we have. SO they think the rest of them were getting "weeded" out and that is why we went to the other hospital. WELL I was going to avoid this Julie girl yesterday...but she called and was RELENTLESS beyond belief!!!! I didn't sleep well feeling sooo bad about this whole situation to begin with. I am already stressing about school and my final exams next week (even with a nice cushion it doesn't take much to slip up). PLUS I have no idea what kind of grade I am going to get on this hospital test. Anyhoo....I let it slip that we still had our tests (cause who were we gonna leave them with?? the guy that had no clue what to even do with us??) Well she kinda made a comment well you did it in pencil--you could change your answer. AND I said NO that would be obvious plus the guy signed off on our papers (which he did --even with them blank for the most part) Then she was like--how do they even know if your answers are right--and I said b/c the guy checked off our answers. Then she threw out the whole thing about US 5 being the smartest and I said well maybe in the other student's cases but there is a guy that has a higher GPA than me that wasn't in our group so that doesn't make sense. I told her that the test was very hard because we weren't even sure if we were doing it right. SHE just kept going on and on...... and I couldn't figure out how to keep LYING/keep my story straight. Well I got ahold of another guy from my hospital group...to vent to him about this girl. HE said if she knows ANYTHING the rest of the class knows. GREAT....how do you make a positive spin on the fact that we have our papers??? I was supposed to go in tonight and practice on the ventilator equipment for my test on Wednesday (30 pts lab grade) but since I won't have my paper to turn in...we all decided it would be best if we didn't show up tonight. I am going to say I got stuck working b/c I am taking 2 days off next week. No big deal. I was afraid of having the teacher ask where my test was.... I know this long...bear with me.... Well this girl also makes comments like "I study all the time and Shannon barely studies and makes better grades" She said this to our head teacher last week...SO first off it is NOT my fault that I don't have study that hard to make passing grades. I didn't make the rules or decide who went to what hospital. MAYBE we are the "chosen ones" and I am not going to complain. BUT why should she give me a hard time? SHE is stressing me out and I will have to talk to her again today to say I am not coming in tonight to practice. SHE is gonna try to ask more questions. SHE will probably tell everyone there tonight what I have told her already (I sugar coated as much as I could) BUT I am afraid the teacher will overhear something and then get mad at me (or us) and that might cause problems. THIS whole thing is a fiasco waiting to happen. BUT like I said....we got thrown into a big MESS at the other hospital since it wasn't organized or explained what our purpose was there. I had no control over what happened, who went...the head teacher made that decision...and I think he had made it over 2+ weeks ago. HOW do I get this girl off my back without having to keep LYING to her? How do I stop feeling guilty? I know she studies her BUTT off but I can't help it if she screws up on her tests and then she doesn't speak out enough in class to show she understands. I am afraid the teachers might "hear" what was said about our experience (which I made sound difficult and just as hard as the other group's as much as POSSIBLE and tried to squelch every whine this girl had with answers that made practical sense to divert attention away...but she is like a frickin PITT BULL!!!) ANY advice??? IDEAS?? comments???? HELPP!!!!

Shannon Why don't you talk to your teacher about the whole Test thing to begin with. About The night you all got there and the Events that happened, Even if you all might get in trouble Whats the worst to happen. And Then Expain about this girl... Or maybe you should confront her.. I have just recently become very honest with people and about my feelings toward them. Its very hard at 1st because You don't want to hurt thier feelings but you Have to worry about one person only... YOURSELF.... And good for you that you do well in school alot of people are just naturals at That kind of thing... Hope everything goes well for you.

Hi Shannon, What a mess to get stuck in. I guess I would talk to the head teacher who assigned this project and let him know what happened at the hospital that night. Lying, either to the nosy girl or to cover up what happened may come back to bite you. Maybe get the others in your group together and talk to the head teacher together and say hey, what was up with that, what were we supposed to do in that situation? Lisa G

I agree totally with Lisa, that is how I would handle the situation. Good luck, Jackie

Several of us in are of the opinion that they basically have an idea of who they want to continue in the program. Head guy calls the shots and the other 2 teachers just do as told and present the material that the head guy prepared. But it must work for them -they have a very high board passing rate and great stats. I get along with all of them just fine especially the head guy. But not in a butt kissing sort of way. I had to speak with the girl today and she was completely RELAXED and non stressing. Didn't get bugged about the hospital trip at all. At this point it doesn't sound like anyone is going to make a big deal out of it. I will see how things go with class tomorrow and our group test writing. I don't want to rock the boat with the teacher tooo much. I am not going make any rush decisions. To give another example...back in January we had to make the hospital trip again-- I got stuck with a respiratory therapist who basically gave me a grade I considered LOWER than deserved but his comment was--I don't expect you to know much at this point. But he didn't really ask me any questions to determine my knowledge level. The other group that was sent to the OTHER hospital all got very high grades. The therapist basically didn't want to deal with them and gave them a 100%. Everyone in the class knows it. However in this case--the therapist isn't the one grading per se. The instructors have to know...what is going on. I spoke with a girl in clinicals (2nd yr) at the hospital on Wednesday--she is almost 99% positive that the head teacher gave her the B she earned in Summer School last year. I feel that way with my C I got at the end of Fall Semester for my class with the head teacher. I never got my grade back from my final to confirm or deny the idea. BUT I felt very bad about the exam. I am starting to think that things are kinda already decided and maybe I should just be happy that they like me. I will let you know what happens tomorrow.

Whew Shannon... Dont you just hate this kinda stuff? In my unprofessional opinion.. I'd be upfront with the pit bull and clue teacher into the issues.. I mean really, you've been stressed out for days and you have to bear this girl's burdens as well?? .. I'm not unsympathetic to a girl who's strugglng but not right now.. Your education first girlfriend... Good Luck, Elaine

I agree with Elaine. You don't need this stress right now. Talk to the teachers.. It is their class and they need to deal with these issues with the other student. Good Luck!!