The semester's end

I've had two minorly freaked out people over some big thing that's due today.

Please, please, please: when your prof starts telling you three weeks in advance about a big due date, don't leave it until the last minute. And please don't expect them to be tolerant of your "I won't have it quite done, will you accept it late?" 

These end of the semester due dates are HARD due dates for a reason: I have very carefully calibrated how much time I have to grade each thing. If I accept something late, it throws off the delicate balance of my other grading, or of getting my finals written, or something else. (Also: I consider it a bit disrespectful to ask someone to accept something late just because you failed to plan in advance. I can be flexible for major emergencies but I get frustrated with people who go, "Yeah, I didn't start it until Saturday night....")

Yes, I understand the concept about some high schools not having due dates for stuff and I disapprove of this heartily. Students need to get into the practice of working to deadlines. I don't know a single industry where deadlines on stuff don't matter. And as I said, it's just kind of rude to expect the person grading to happily grade stuff "whenever." We have schedules and deadlines WE have to meet, and accepting and dealing with late work throws those off. 

Also, I hope no one (especially people who have put in low effort during the semester; these are usually the ones who ask) asks me for an 'extra credit' assignment like they usually do. Because this is how I feel about them:

I mean, the last week of classes is a little late to start worrying. I worried about my grades (not that I ever really needed to) from the first week on.