Can I start turning in things now?
Published on Dec 5, 2007 at 12:58 pm.
3 Comments.
Filed under college teaching.
Well, this is the last week of classes. Next week is final exams. So, naturally, I am so busy that it is not even funny. I have to finish up the last few lectures. I have to grade tests and pass them back. I have to grade term papers and pass them back. I have to grade homework and pass that back. And, of course, the administration has decided that this week is the perfect week to schedule endless meetings, except for the dozens of meetings next week. Oh, and I give all of my exams within a 24 hour window. If I were a student, then they’d let me reschedule one of them. And, worse, final grades are due to be submitted less than 24 hours after my last final! So, somehow I have get everything graded and submitted by then.
And, of course, this is the week that students who have not turned in anything all semester decide to turn in all their late work. In the syllabus, it says that they can’t do that. But, of course, they still try. Students who have turned in nothing all semester are now realizing that they won’t pass with zeros for all their grades. So, they think that they can turn in a mountain of work and that somehow I will find time to grade it. Or else they ask if they can make up all their late work. The work is spread out all semester because it takes a semester to do it, not because I am trying to give them something to do. They don’t get that. They think that they can spend a few hours and do everything and that will be just fine. They all seem to want to “write a paper” to make up missed work. Well, their idea of writing a paper is to do a Google search on something and then summarize the first web page that pops up. How can they think that is even remotely college level work? It isn’t even high school level work! One of the other professors here just shared with me that he had a student show up who has not been to class since the first week of the semester, and this student wanted to do all of the labs and take all of the exams! Even if it were physically possible to do that in this short period of time, there is no way that they could do well enough to pass! Of course, they also don’t realize that faculty are also busy and that we are pressed for time at this part of the semester, too. And we don’t have the option of turning in grades late.
I want to know where they get the idea that this is acceptable behavior. How do they come to think that if the course work is too difficult for them that they can just do something else different from the rest of the class? Why do they think that they don’t have to do anything all semester and that it would even be possible to do the entire semester in one or two weeks? If that were the case, then the semester would not be 15 weeks long!
So, for my regular readers, I will likely be posting less the next couple of weeks until I get to catch my breath. I am drowning in paperwork and meetings.
-Astroprof
Jesso on December 5, 2007 at 3:11 pm: 1
I’m really impressed that you don’t get burned out like that. That’s the reason I could never be a teacher either in high school or college. Aye. Kudos to you, sir.
Seeking Solace on December 5, 2007 at 3:19 pm: 2
To answer your question about why students feel they can avoid doing the hard work, I think it has something to do with this particular generation being coddled way too much. The idea is that these students should never have to deal with disappointment or failure. That’s why they grew up with everyone receiving an award, no valedictorians, etc. What is really sad is that in the real working world, failure is a part of life.
Sigh.
I don’t get the meetings thing either.
Hope things run smoothly for you, me and the rest of the academic world.
Steven Long on December 8, 2007 at 1:06 pm: 3
Hmmm. . .
I feel obligated to stick up for my generation. But I won’t. Most us really are spoiled brats anyway. But believe me, the kids who come to class for a nap are really annoying for those of us who actually like being there. Or the kids who only show up on test days. Or the ones who try to turn all their work in at the last minute.
Hey, speaking of which, I’ve got a mountain of make-up work to turn in!