Last week many complained that they had too many midterms on Tuesday and Wednesday. "OK, I replied, "You may take it on Monday if you e-mail me by Sunday night. If you do not e-mail by Sunday at midnight you may not take the exam early. If you do e-mail me you MUST take the exam on Monday. I will print exactly enough copies of the exam... Last term I had over 50 students decide at the last minute to change exam dates and I WILL NOT let that happen again."
"OK, sir, no problem," was the refrain from around the room..
Half of those who were supposed to take the exam today showed up. Tonight I e-mailed the no-shows:
Students who failed to attend Monday mid-term:
You e-mailed me to request to take the mid-term exam on Monday. You chose not to show up and did not even bother to contact me.
In the coming days I will decide on an appropriate response. I will discuss this situation with colleagues and will notify you if you will be eligible to sit for the mid-term on Wednesday.
I understand why many of colleagues give no ground on anything. This is a group of people that give new meaning to "give you an inch and you will take a mile."
So stop giving inches...
ReplyDeleteI would think it would be hard to walk a very fine line. On the one hand, you want them to do what you ask of them (i.e. show up when they say they will!). On the other hand, I'm guessing you want to keep your job and know that some of these students have some influence in that (if I remember correctly from previous posts) - whether that is fair or not. So, I would guess you are trying to give a BIT of leeway so as not to be accused of being the meanest teacher on campus (which I can't imagine anyone saying about you - but still...).
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm totally off-base - but it sounds like a tough position to be in and I'm sorry you had a rough day!
Yep, it's official... I would NOT want to be in your shoes right now... It sounds like you're approaching the issue the best way possible though!
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