Yes, my class is over, and I am not teaching this session. But I am still receiving mail from the same student who would periodically tug at my sleeve (metaphorically at least) and beg for extra credit, when he was not doing the work I assigned to him and was coming in three-quarters of the way through class most days.
Since he failed the class, after an awful final essay exam, he has been begging me to change my grade so he can transfer to another school. Apparently, without this grade, he cannot do it now. But, I tell him, he should have thought of that before. It is not as though he was making any effort.
I expect his tone to change as he realizes I am serious. I am ready for him, though I hope, of course, he gives up without a fight.
4 comments:
Did you read the articles in today's ALDaily about how study time has dropped? My experience with a very few students (way back when) who didn't do the work was that they expected something for nothing--and that's impossible, of course.
What is ALDaily?
Of course they expect something for nothing, and they think that's the way the rest of their lives are going to go too. That has only worsened over the years, the sense of entitlement.
Another student, a buddy of the one I was writing about, said, as if it were gracious of him, that he was not going to complain to the dean if he got the F he had earned because he respected me, even though he clearly thought he had a case.
I really think the way to respond to such complaints and requests is to give students a grade report that shows them in black and white the work they did for the term. Try to resist engaging in assessments of other qualities; just measure the work done.
That's the thing Lou. I DO give them grade reports several times a semester, done on a computer program that averages the numbers. That way, they can see for themselves. So it is quite ridiculous.
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