Did he have to?
Failing tests in high school was funny, because high school is “free.” (At least, if you’re a public schooler like me.)
Failing tests in higher education is not funny. And I think that most students who think it is funny still have the high-school mentality, and are probably also freshman. Why are they all freshman? Because they’re not coming back next year, that’s why. This is especially irritating to me here in Tennessee, because the new lottery scholarship, and its standards for receiving it, has created this giant influx of freshman who seem to be coming to college for the hell of it.
That being said, failing a test when everyone fails is pretty funny. I seem to recall a Quantitative Analysis Lab exam where I “blew the curve” - by making a 61%. It’s laughable to see how hard everyone worked, and then get no love for it. Fortunately, when everyone in a upper-division class fails, the professors at this university tend to put the responsibility on themselves, and adjust the grades accordingly.
As a spanking new college freshman, I’m amazed by my classmates. 25% of them are 15 or more minutes late to class. 50% of them have missed one or more classes. 10% sleep through class. 75% of them are too stupid to turn their cell phones off. It goes on and on.
It’s amazing how much more I’m into something when I’m paying for it.
congodwarf, I’m 38 and a lot like those ladies you are talking about - worrying about papers/grades, etc. In my English class for example, I got a B- on one of the tests - I FREAKED! I started doing extra credit. See the thing is, my company reimburses me for my tuition - but only if I get a B or better. If I don’t, I’m SOL - and these classes are EXPENSIVE. For me and everyone else who works for the company, a C IS failing.
Actually, yes. Tears at least might mean they appreciate that the situation is bad. I can help a kid who’s over-reacting a heck of a lot more than a kid who’s so far into apathy they think failure is amusing. They hardly ever cry though, and when it does I feel bad-- haven’t burnt out that last bit of humanity yet, but I’m working on it!
vivalostwages, the worst I’ve had recently was a student and his parents asking what he could do to improve his grade two days after final grades had been posted. They were totally sincere and couldn’t understand why they were told ‘no.’ If it weren’t so sad, it’d be funny.
Tell them he can improve his grade by inventing a time machine, and going back to do some studying. 
Strange. Maybe it’s how I react to stress. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate the situation, but when things are bad, I’ll either go stone cold or laugh in front of others because I don’t want to publically display how distressed I am.
I told him not to bother; he was failing the course no matter what.
He almost didn’t make the appointment with me, though, which would have meant that he would have shown up for the final, taken it, and then found out that it was for nought. When I’ve had students do that in the past, I’ve tried not to laugh TOO hard about it!
World Eater: Those stats sounds frighteningly familiar! Have you noticed that some of them just can’t wait until the break or until the class is over to get back on their cell phones? When the hell did cell phones usher in a new Borg collective?
Manatee: Hello! Plagiarism…Ah, I just gave back a paper last week that was entirely stolen off an internet site, title and all. I gave an F on it and filed a report with the appropriate bigwigs. I also reminded the student (in writing) of what was already on my syllabus: any further plagiarism would result in an F for the course and another report–at which point the mucky-mucks could very well suspend him for a year. That’s what they did with another of my students last semester.
I’m still stunned at this behavior, considering that I only spent the entire damned first week of classes warning everyone about plagiarism, what it is, why they shouldn’t do it, what the penalties are, how good I am at Googling stolen material, giving them handouts on it, giving a quiz, and making them sign a statement saying that they understood.
Why do I even bother?
Oops…Forgot to add: he did indeed plagiarize on his next paper as well. I have proof.
I knew right away that he couldn’t have written it on his own, because skills aren’t all that great.
Duh.
I’m usually like this too. Right now though, I’m not worried because it’s an English class and I don’t usually have to even think about it to get a good grade. For some reason, my professor thinks I write really well. Once I start in on my History class in January or my Psychology class in May, I’m going to be freaking out just as much as they are.
The reason I’m enjoying this so much is my first attempt at college was filled with people who didn’t care. For most of my classmates, a D- was cause for celebration. I wish all students were like the ladies in my class.