U of T student loses bid to avoid class with women because he’s shy

[boston bean]

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has dismissed a complaint by University of Toronto student Wongene Daniel Kim, who accused his professor of discriminating against him as a male when she docked him marks for not coming to class because he was too shy to be the only guy.


The second-year health science major arrived at the opening of a Women and Gender Studies course for which he had signed up in the fall of 2012 — “It had spaces left and fit into my timetable” — only to discover a room full of women and nary a man in sight.


“I felt anxiety; I didn’t expect it would be all women and it was a small classroom and about 40 women were sort of sitting in a semicircle and the thought of spending two hours every week sitting there for the next four months was overwhelming,” said Kim, 20, adding he manages a part-time job with women because there are also other men.


“I’m generally a shy person, especially around women, and it would have been a burden if I had had to choose a group for group work.”

http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2014/02/05/u_of_t_student_loses_bid_to_avoid_class_with_women_because_hes_shy.html

[Brickbat]

1. If he were doing well in the class, the 15 percent wouldn't have mattered.

[gollygee]

2. Hmm

She docked him marks because he didn't show up to class, not because he was shy or because he was the only man in the class.

And someone that painfully shy around women might have chosen a different class than "women and gender studies."

I wonder if his university has counseling services available for students. I'm not being flippant - it sounds like this is a real problem for him. I have a fear of heights, but it's generally easy to avoid heights. It isn't so easy to avoid 50% of the population.

When he saw what the class was like, it would have been reasonable to allow him to drop the class without penalty.

[Arcanetrance]

3. Not sound like an ass but the class is called Women and Gender Studies

If I was a betting person I would have taken the odds the class would be almost all female. I feel for him I'm extremely shy as well but I don't know what he expected.

[Dash87]

4. Is he related to Raj Koothrappali?

[mainer]

6. That was my first thought!

maybe he just needs to nip a little booze ahead of class.

[bullwinkle428]

5. Damn...I've always been kind of shy around women, but this is taking it

to an absolutely ridiculous extreme. Sounds like a desperate attention-seeker, or just has some issues that require a team of psychiatrists flown over from Vienna.

[Starry Messenger]

7. Now he knows what women in engineering depts. must feel like.

[MindPilot]

8. Boy howdy! This guy sure knows how to squander an opportunity.

I would have thoroughly enjoyed being the only man in a classroom with 40 women.

In this case shy=dumb.

[marions ghost]

9. He needs total immersion therapy

this kind of avoidance is potentially limiting for him. The class is just what he needs to demystify those aliens known as women.

This is pretty funny tho--one of the more creative ideas I've heard from a student who doesn't want to take responsibility for his own behavior. Spoiled brat--itis.