That should, of course, read “deserve.” :rolleyes:
I don’t know about your institution, but where I teach, If a student has an injury, illness, or family emergency, they notify the dean’s office, who (I assume) verify it somehow, and then send a letter to each of the student’s instructors.
This is a very Good Thing, because if a student shows up with a sob story, I can recommend to them that, gee, if they need [extra time for an assignment, to make up an exam, etc.] for *my[/i\ class, surely they’ll need these things in other classes, and you can conveniently notify all your professors with one stop to the dean’s office, so why don’t you run along and do that
You might want to check what your school’s policy is on documenting exuses absences.
I wouldn’t feel too guilty about it. You are probably not in a position where you can flunk a student if the higher-ups won’t back you up. It’s an annoying fact of academic life that the system at all levels caters to whiners. It undermines your authority, and, really, it forces you to be unfair to the other students in the class who worked hard for their grades. You really need a rock-solid case to flunk someone these days.
Are you absolutley sure you can’t find somewhere to shave a few points to drop his grade below a 2.0?
The great thing about teaching college is that you have tremendous personal authority compared to almost any other profession. I often reflect on my time as a college instructor when I’m fighting the bureaucracy in my current job.
I had a kid who got a C on his first test and pulled the old “But I’m an honors student” crap. So? I gave him the option of taking it up with the department chair, dropping the class, or sucking it up. He dropped. I guess that’s how some people maintain those sky-high GPA’s: hunt around until you find a wussy teacher who will give you the grade you “deserve”.
Then there was the guy who had completed all the requirements for his degree except for my class. Trouble was, he had already accepted a job in Chicago (500 miles away) and couldn’t attend the lectures. We struck a deal by which he could pass the class (on a pass-fail, not letter grade basis) by simply passing the exams. He failed them miserably, then wanted me to pass him anyway. Didn’t work.
I guess I’m just naive or something, because I had no idea it was common for college students to try to pull this kind of thing. I was always under the assumption that if you had a problem with a class attendance policy or turning assignments in on time it was basically, “tough shit.”
Last fall, the attendance policy for one of my classes stated that an unexcused absence resulted in the loss of ten points from your final grade. Excused absences were to be preapproved, and followed up with documentation upon return. no exceptions. Pretty clear, I thought. One of my classmates missed a day early on in the semester because he didn’t feel like coming to class, or something stupid like that. He was also, the only person the entire semester to miss a class. When grades finally came out he appealed not only to the professor and department head, but everyone else in the class via the e-mail list saying something to the extent of, “I don’t think I deserved a B- for missing a single day. The attendance policy is too strict.” Our class bitched him out and the professor only had to respond, “everyone else knew the policy.” What an ass.
Ah. So you screwed yourself from the beginning. You set yourself up in the student’s mind as a soft touch and he took full advantage. Proper response in future is of course “there’s always next session.”
I understand why you did what you did, and I share in your outrage toward these kinds of students.
You are in a precarious situation. Academia is, as I’m sure you know, full of petty politics and who’s to say something like this couldn’t be used to prevent you from getting your Ph.D., thus ending your career as a professor forever? It’s prudent to wait until you actually have the credential before you start justifiably addressing this type of student and their actions.
I’m a student (undergraduate) who actually cares and is geniunely interested in securing an education for myself, as opposed to a job. I see assholes like this everyday. They seem to make up a sizable portion of the student body, and their mollycoddling parents are the worst! It galls me to no end to see my hardwork minimized when profs cave to them, but I try to understand where some of them are coming from, often in situations like yours, or as adjunct faculty with less recourse than tenured profs. When I see a tenured faculty member behave this way, I make sure it is commented on in the faculty review we do at the end of each semester. My favorite professors are the harder ones, the ones who stick to their guns, even with me ( I recently got my first B and earned it). The appreciation seems reciprocated. One day I hope to be a professor myself, and when I finally have the power, I will wield it justly and fairly.
What it comes down to is this: Just because you pay tuition doesn’t mean you automatically get a passing grade. But that seems to be the reasoning behind some of these kids (and sometimes their parents).
Lockseer-
Meaning no disrespect towards you personally…please understand that.
The above is a DAMN fine lesson to learn for most people. Especially in the business world those who push tend to be the ones who go farthest.
Whether they should or not is another matter, I agree. But you can’t deny that people who know how to work a system have a leg up.
You’re not naive – you are probably just like the majority of people (I hope it’s the majority!) who simply wouldn’t behave in this manner, so you are surprised when you learn that people do. Until I became a grader as an undergraduate, I had literally no idea that a few of my classmates pulled these sort of stunts, and was shocked. Heck, I was shocked at the sabotage a couple my fellow grad students pulled on us, and I’m sure it continues all the way up the ranks, alas.
What’s awful, is that you feel bad, and you feel as if your chairman kicked a chair out from under you; I know that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach, and one does go around feeling absolutely awful – and you’re not the one who did anything!
As to the question of why do we give in, or why would the chairman do the 180 – I asked my partner, since he’s been lecturing now for over 10 years, and he has dealt with this sort of rubbish before.
I do understand your frustration, Lockseer, because you’re not a ‘real’ professor (and boy will some undergraduates run with that.) I mean absolutely no disrepect with that, because I, and I’m sure many people here, understand exactly how frustrating that is. You have all the burdens and workload of a lecturing professor, yet some students will still pull that ‘Well, you’re just the babyminder, you’re not my real mum!’ rubbish on you.
My partner, who has tenure, is fortunate in that his chairmen have NOT overruled him, but I have friends who are professors at other unis, and sometimes their chairmen will overrule them – and even if they don’t, the students will run to the dean, if they get no joy overrruling the professor by going to his department chair.
At my partner’s school, students like yours have threatened him (he’s had his tyres slashed), or, their favourite, they enlist the aid of mum and dad, and mum and dad will threaten to bring lawsuits. And here is where I think you will have people like your chair perhaps turn 180 – it’s bonkers. But it does happen; at least once a term, my partner will get a shout from an irate parent threatening to bring in lawyers for a failing grade, or some whomped up accusation of discrimination.
He says there have been some right trainwrecks of meetings between him, students, and parents, with him having all the docos necessary to demonstrate why the student failed, and the student will still insist that somehow it was the professor’s fault (ranging everywhere from ‘You didn’t make sure I knew the material’ to the time honoured favourite, ‘You don’t like me!’
Isn’t there a Bizarro cartoon, or perhaps a Far Side, where the doctor is saying to the patient, ‘I’m sorry, you’re just plain stupid, and I’m afraid there is no cure.’ My partner has been dying to say that to some of these nasty students for years…
Thanks to all who replied…both in supporting me and in reiterating that buckled.
I do want to say I was completely prepared to fail this student if he wasn’t able to bring his grade up to a 70% with the nine lab assignments. I’d grade one, enter it into the Excel sheet I made to calculate grades, and watch his grade creep a little closer to a 70% (it started at, like, 59% without the lab exercises).
I probably should have just graded all nine and entered them, so I didn’t have some vague idea of what he would need on the final few assignments to pass. Who knows…I may have subconsciously been an easier grader because of that. But I’m definitely not about to shave points off of the lab assignments just to see him fail. But he came SO damn close…70.33%. Geez.
Well, he may not have learned anything about academic honesty, but as I have many teaching semesters ahead of me, at least I have learned a lesson. A little more explicitness in the syllabus and following up with students who aren’t turning in assignments. I’ve already had thank you notes from students who DO try, telling me that they’ve never had an instructor who was so helpful or easy to communicate with…I just need to make sure my wish to see them succeed is underscored by the desire to insist they earn it.
Dear lockseer, I’m the “partner” referred to by msboods; I usually say simply that I am her husband (we are actually married), but that is neither here nor there.
You buckled because you were ordered to in no uncertain terms. I’ve had to buckle at least once a year since becoming a prof on my own, as it were. No matter what you do, there is always a student willing to make waves big enough to be seen by administrators, and if there are two things college and university administrators hate above all else, they are unhappy parents and unhappy future alumni. Every time a parent gets upset enough to call a dean, a professor somewhere in the system is about to buckle. Every time a student gets upset enough to make waves, a professor somewhere in the system is about to buckle.
More and more, students are “earning” their degrees via methods other than doing well on their coursework. It doesn’t matter how careful we profs are with our syllabi (there will always be a loophole), how carefully we avoid bias (I long ago worked out how to grade assignments without knowing who turned them in until I had completed grading every last paper), how bland we are in class (I’ve even been accused of hating college students in general!), how polite we are to every last student (every year I am accused of having a favorite or favorites), how careful we are (I’ve been accused of having affairs with students, or coming on to them), etc., etc., etc.; none of it matters. All that matters is keeping students and parents happy. This is because administrators are hired to produce a high number of graduated students, not to run the place! Most people outside, and even inside academia do not realize this, but, alas, 'tis true. So, any time there’s a tussle between a student and a prof big enough to make waves, the administration would prefer that the student win, because that makes for a happy student who sticks around and graduates.
Lockseer, you had no choice, and neither have I each time I’ve “buckled.” It just goes with the territory. I long ago had to come to terms with the fact that a certain percentage of students who graduate do so without actually deserving their degrees; the reason I stay in this business is because I believe that I can, by being the best prof I can be, minimize that percentage, and at the same time, maximize actual learning among my students.
Ahh great…I become a TA for the very first time in about 5 weeks (just got the bachelors in May, and planning on fast-tracking to the PhD in Comp Sci), and THIS is what I get to look forward to??
I knew a few of the “my 6th grandmother died, so can I get an extension/incomplete on the project that was due 3 months ago?” types, so I can only imagine the fun it’s going to be actually having to deal with their sob stories.
Don’t sweat it, beergeek279. You’ll find most students aren’t like that. Can’t remember if I mentioned this in my OP, but teaching is still the part of my program that I enjoy most, and I’m not going to let this debacle ruin it. If anything, I’ll be kicking myself in the ass if it happens again. I’ve found that when I show a genuine interest in my students’ education, they appreciate, and don’t try to fuck me over. This prize specimen got little to no attention from me, as he never showed up…my main fault was not checking in with him to remind him that he wasn’t handing in assignments, as every little point counts.
So don’t despair…if you do your job, you’ll find that students do express their appreciation. I’ve received thank you notes and praise on student evals, and I won’t say it didn’t warm my heart’s cockles.
And as a former TA of much experience, I’d like to add my own bit of advice to the discussion: never present yourself to the students as someone who is their friend, as someone who might ever cut anyone any slack, as someone who can be swayed by tears or threats, or as someone who can be made angry. I’d share some anecdotes but I’d rather not scare beergeek279.
I had students try all sorts of tactics to get me to treat them differently, and I always refused, but it is hard to say no to people sometimes. Often, all you need to do with the whiners/beggars/manipulators is show them a brick wall from the very start, and they will back down when they see you’re not an easy mark. The first concession to a student’s special request is like the snowball that becomes an avalanche - students will sense the chink in your armor and will not let up on the begging after that. If you come off as a hardass at the beginning, it will pay off later in the term as students learn not to bother testing your defenses. It’s nervewracking but it does make you a more effective teacher. You are there as an authority on your subject, and it helps to project to the students that you want their respect, not for them to like you.
As to the syllabus, when we had a formalized independent study program, we had all students sign a paper that they had received all of the course materials and guidelines, so if anyone ever whined about not knowing about a policy or due date, we’d show them their own signature. Busted! 
… OBVIOUSLY had a good excuse – he/she was helping his/her kid brother, Student Racer. Plus, it was Chim-Chim who made the mistake of slipping the assignments under the wrong door.
Sorry for the hijack, but there’s a minor thing that confuses me. Lockseer, why are you referred to as “Professor Lockseer” by your colleagues, when you are still a student? Over here in Australia, a professor is a senior academic in a permanent position with at least a decade or two of experience, a decent salary, and many responsibilities. What does it mean over in the US?
I hear you Lockseer.
Unfortunately, I’ve also had my (large) share of such students/stories. Over the years one thing has emerged, though - if your sense is that they’re bullshitting you, they probably are.
In my experience, just as in your story, the students who come up with the cock and bull stories almost invariably have a history of doing exactly the same in another course(s) with other prof(s). Trust your intuition and have faith that what you’re seeing, what “prevented” the student from completing his/her assignment, is not some unique, sad sequence of events but, rather, is just one more attempt at manipulation. Ask around. You’ll be amazed (but reassured) to hear that “last year he told me he had proctitis and couldn’t come to class” or “that’s the guy who tried to have me believe he needed to take care of his sick aunt”.
If possible, document things. Put it in his/her record. Next semester’s prof will find it makes for interesting reading.
That’s why I include a “The instructor will be permitted to shoot any student who…” clause somewhere in the middle.
Honestly, that one confused me, too. I tell my students to call me by my first name, and when they initially write me via e-mail, to get an override into my class, for example, if they call me “Professor,” I kindly let them know that I’m not a professor yet.
Seeing the head of the department call me “Professor” to a student confused me. She was copying me on an e-mail she sent to him…my guess is that he referred to me as “Professor,” and she felt it wasn’t proper to correct him, so she referred to me in kind.
I believe in this student’s case, he graduated in May, but still had a summer class or two to take. Not 100% sure on this, though. Great thing is, I have a lot of connections in our field in Chicago, where many of our students end up. I’ll be keeping my ears peeled.
Just to explain, as in many schools, if seniors will be graduating after taking summer courses, they are permitted to walk in graduation ceremonies at the end of Spring semester, with the bulk of students.