Teacher, please stop! My imposter syndrome is going through the roof!!!

Thank god the Python class is almost over. One more lesson and I swear I'd completely expose myself. My original Java class finished at interfaces, and this semester I was only supposed to learn a full-stack dev course (backend related to Java). But for some reason, I decided to pick Python this semester... and I know jack squat about it.

Learning stuff like functions, def, class was fine, relatively easy to grasp, like extend. But when it came to writing programs myself based on the teacher's specs, I was completely stuck. It felt like pulling teeth just to write the first line, like staring at a blank page trying to start an essay. Out of pure desperation, I turned to AI for help, becoming a merciless copy-paste bot. To avoid getting flagged by AI detectors, I deleted try blocks, swapped things around like changing a key to a for loop, and tweaked variable names. Every time the teacher walked by while I was furiously typing away, sweating buckets, they just assumed it was all my own brilliant work.

After 20 lessons, ten weeks of this charade, the teacher's been giving me outrageously high praise. Sure, I know bits and pieces about stuff like variable naming rules, dictionaries, arrays, etc., but the code? Seriously wasn't mine! Today, the teacher praised me again, saying I was amazing, strong, that my code showed unique understanding, was excellent, and a great example for others. I felt like a sewer rat trembling, clutching stolen cheese crumbs from the human world. Every word of praise felt like a huge hand grabbing my throat. Sitting right in the front row, I just wanted to bolt out of the classroom ASAP.

This is the first time getting praised has made me feel so incredibly awkward/out of my depth. Please, teacher, no more compliments! Thank god this class doesn't have a final exam. If it did, I'd be completely doomed.