This is something that occurred to me in the course of having an e-mail conversation about class stuff with a student.
This student had a baby (!) on Saturday (yes, Saturday, like the 7th). She e-mailed me to tell me she'd miss class Monday but be back to take the exam Wednesday. I e-mailed her back and said, "If you need another day or two, that's cool, you have a reason" but she was there to take the exam. (She missed lab because she felt ill, so I told her to hand in her lab today, which she did).
Now she e-mails me again: I'm still having some nausea and other adjustment problems, how many points will I lose if I don't turn in the assignment that's due Friday until Monday? I don't think I'll make it to class.
And I kind of laugh to myself, and e-mail back to her: "It's okay. You have a reason. I'll see you Monday."
But this, this is part of the problem: We have to be so zero-tolerance on stuff for the people who think the equivalent of breaking a fingernail is a reason for needing a week off class, but that means the diligent people wind up getting tied in knots because they think no slack will be cut them.
And then I realized, isn't there a saying about pots, kettles, and the color black? I know I get all tied in knots when some dictum comes down from On High (well, not THAT On High, a considerably less High On High....it seems the One in the REAL On High is far more forgiving than some of those in the lesser On Highs here on earth) and I'm afraid I'm going to be charged with insubordination or let go from my post or some crazy thing, when really, I'm probably one of the responsible people.
And that's the problem, really, I don't know how to solve in my syllabus: how to be forceful enough in my wording of NO LATE PAPERS EVER so that the people who are gonna go, "But my favorite band is coming to town and I want to wait in line for tickets and I have to miss class" think twice (and sometimes, they don't, even if they know they will be docked for lateness) without making the person who literally just gave birth feel that she must get herself to campus despite everything?
I don't know.
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