I'm standing in the front of the classroom. Just watching the last two students finish their first big exam for the semester. Checked my iPhone just a few seconds ago and received this email from a snowflake who should have taken the test with the other students:
hi its sally. jane and me didnt come to class today. my sister was in a car accident this morning and shes ok but were taking her to the hospital to make sure so please excuse us both. thanks.
Background info:
1. This class has no attendance policy.
2. The exam date is on the syllabus. The other students knew this.
3. This is the first time I've ever used my iPhone in class. I was bored.
Q. If you were in my shoes, how would you reply to this flake? Would you give her and the fellow student (who apparently was also needed at the hospital) a make-up exam (counts for one-third of the final grade)?
A. Thank you. I will check back within 2-3 hours (at most). Love the iPhone, but I'd prefer to read your comments and do my computer stuff at a real keyboard. It's exhausting doing a CM post on iPhone. So... Please help! I want your advice. I usually like students, but I do not want to create another make-up exam or help out flakes who can't help themselves.
I would - and you should - smash their dreams.
ReplyDeleteLet them make up the exam, but tell them that they'll have to provide a police report documenting the accident for the exam to count. Also, insist that they take the exam ASAP. If the accident didn't happen until the morning of the exam, it shouldn't have interfered with their studying.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Addled. Also, institute a test-attendance policy, such as "Make-up exams are offered at the discretion of the professor."
ReplyDelete(1) Definitely don't respond immediately, or otherwise admit to receiving the email during the exam. It's not reasonable for them to expect you to get it during that period.
ReplyDelete(2) If you don't already know them, check your university's policies about makeup exams. Also, ask the advice of your Chair, Dean, and whoever else might be involved should there be complaints about how you handle it. Handle it as strictly as possible within those parameters.
(3) If you do decide to (or are required to) given them any slack, require documentation (I'd say a police report, or at least a photo of the car, plus a photo of the registration. She can send it to you from *her* iphone). Also take the time to make up a different (and very hard) exam (or, if one is available, use one from a test bank; in this case, you'd be justified). And make them take it as soon as possible. It's worth it.
(4)I'd be really, really tempted to come down like a ton of bricks on Jane for accompanying Sally, and Sally for pulling her into the drama, and Sally for driving around with a sister she thinks might be injured enough to require hospital care rather than calling an ambulance. Whether you can do so or not probably depends on your situation, and what you can find out about the truth of the situation. It's likely to feel like you're torturing kittens, but, realistically, a habit of getting caught up in any available drama (or manufacturing one) rather than tending to their responsibilities will not serve them well in life. Nor will underreacting to what actually is a serious situation.
All of the above may sound pretty harsh, I know. But the tone of the email is awfully breezy for someone who's genuinely shaken up. I'm pretty skeptical about the whole scenario (and yes, also, I'm one of those women who doesn't understand why other women go to the bathroom in groups).
It's a tough one for sure. Does helping these students out provide an advantage that all of your other students would like as well?
ReplyDeleteOption 1) Make them take the exam at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteOption 2) Give them a different exam from the one the rest of the class took.
Option 3) Make the next two exams count more.
If it were me, I would tell them that it was option 1 or fail, and see what they do. If they take you up on it, then giddy-up. If they thrash about, I would offer them option 3 as a fallback. Option 2 is fair to the rest of the class, but requires extra work for you.
I'd forgotten about Archie's option 3, which others have mentioned here. That's a good one, perfectly fair if they are on the up and up (especially if the final is cumulative), and very likely to backfire on them if they're irresponsible. Also, it doesn't make extra work for you.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you do, ask for some documentation. They should have a police report, and if not that, a hospital report. If they can’t get you any documentation (and you would be surprised how often this happens, even when I say I require documentation for everything on the syllabus), screw ‘em. I REALLY hate being lied to about tragic/traumatic events.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Prof. Glabella and Archie (3). I don't do makeup exams; I just make the other ones count for more. But they don't get that option either, without documentation.
ReplyDeleteI am tempted to also rain on Jane's parade as CC suggests. Okay, your friend's sister was in a car accident, and that was more important to you than writing your exam because ... ? Sure, you made the choice of supporting your friend, but that WAS a choice, and choices have consequences. However, in reality I can't see myself cutting the sister any slack I don't also cut for the friend, because I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
I'm also with our Glorious Overlord. Smash their dreams! Also, please don't delete this post!
Dear Student 1 (sister of girl in accident):
ReplyDeleteYou can make up your test with no penalty during my office hours tomorrow at (office hours here), or at 6 a.m. I will proctor your exam. If you are unable make up your exam tomorrow, I will need a documented excuse as to why this is not possible.
(Here is where your policy on absences/make-ups would come into play) In order for your make-up test to be penalty free, however, you need to provide me with a copy of the police and hospital reports, and you need to take your test tomorrow. You need to provide the documentation to me within within the next two weeks or your test grade will be docked retroactively by a full letter grade for each calendar day that passed before you took the make-up test.
Let me know immediately what you wish to do.
Southern Bubba
To friend of friend of girl in car accident:
I'm sorry, but the car accident of your friend's sister is not a justifiable excuse for you to miss an important exam.
However, you can make make up the test tomorrow with (first student) at (insert times here) with penalty of a full letter grade.
Every calendar day that passes that you don't take the test will result in an additional full letter grade penalty.
Southern Bubba
Yes, I realize that this means you will possibly have to proctor an exam at 6 a.m., and write a new test. You will have the fun of making the test harder because of their candyass stories. Why no ambulance at an accident scene? If they were worried after the fact and had to take her to the emergency room, why did they (including the friend) have to sit with her the entire time? Take the test, then go back.
This kind of thing is part of the reason that I don't allow make-ups at all, and just give an extra test. I have to give a big test tomorrow and we may have a snow day. If not, it will still be snowy. Students that don't show up will just have to take the other 3 tests. If they complain, they will be told politely to fuck off.
I never, ever, ever make up or give make-up exams, even for legitimate reasons, such as illness documented by a physician's note or a job interview. For legitimate reasons such as this with supporting documentation, e.g. a note from a physician documenting that the student was a patient, and not just saying that the student was at the health center, I mark any exams or homework missed as "excused," and count the rest of the grade as 100%. That way, it doesn't count against them: I remind them of this, if they demand being given an exam, anyway.
ReplyDeleteOnly once in 12 years of teaching have I had to break down and give a makeup exam, and that was only because of direct intervention of the very Provost who had granted me tenure. I told her I wouldn't do it for anyone other than her, and then made up a hum-dinger-zinger of an exam. The little shit got a 50% on it, which lowered his grade for the course from a B to a C. I hope he learned a valuable life lesson from the experience.
For your case, I'd need documentation of the car accident, e.g. a copy of the police report, in order to mark the student "excused" for the exam. If the student can't produce it, I'd count that exam as a zero.
I had a "my brother had a car accident" saga last semester. The student missed a presentation, which had an associated essay. I said "if you have documentation, I can make the essay count for the total marks for the task" (instead of half for the presentation). She was all "oh, sure", but then, over the next 2 weeks, she kept not bringing in the documentation. The essay was also late at this stage.
ReplyDeleteI drew a line in the sand and said, essentially, "documentation NOW, or fuck you and all your marks". She didn't show up with it, and never said another peep about it.
All of which makes me highly cynical about needing to go to hospital with the sister's friend. If they can't show you some paperwork, give them both zeros and be done with it.
This won't help you now, but I don't give make up tests either. They can have the test total they get during the semester or they can take a final with the same number of points as the test total. They keep the higher of the two scores--test total or final.
ReplyDeleteKinda weird you don't have an attendance policy.
Don't get them used to having you iphone-ready-to-help either.
I'm all for the "no make-ups" approach and then add the weight of the missed work on to the final. And even for that, the student has to provide documentation.
ReplyDeleteThis has the distinct flavor of bs, I must say. I've had two experiences of excuse-circulation: one was a "best friend in a motorcycle accident and is now in a coma." This one worked the first time -- you can't get documentation, but it's legitimately a brutal situation. Then I heard it from another student. Same year, different class. Nice. (And my father was dying at the time, and I was still marking f***ing papers.) The other one (different institution) was "my best friend's father died suddenly, and I had to go to the funeral." Different students, different classes. Again, challenging to get documentation, since it's not a relative, but a pretty bad situation. Now I'm suspicious of any excuse that presents a situation guaranteed to elicit sympathy but for which it's difficult to get documentation. Some days, I hate these kids for killing my innocence. Take what measures you must.
ReplyDeleteI'm a no makeups prof, too. Only I drop the 0 if and only if the student meets preset benchmarks I put in the syllabus. It varies by course but it's generally a B or better on the homework or papers or something of that nature. But I give everyone this opportunity so some lying sh*t can't gain an advantage over his or her classmates. The policy does jack for the lazy students (they never meet the benchmark) and gives A/B students a strong leg up. Pretty much everyone thinks I'm cool because of the policy since the lazy students are too lazy to figure out they don't meet the requirements.
ReplyDeleteRequire documentation - police incident report, hospital forms - and plug that gaping maw of a hole in your syllabus.
ReplyDeleteWith documentation I'd give her the exam, but it'd be a different test and she has 24 hours to take it. Oh, and I would not tell her it's a different exam beforehand.
ReplyDeleteI don't know wtf to do. I really want to trust the little shits, but they make it so hard. Why did Jane have to go with Sally to the hospital? Is Jane a nurse or a doctor? And Sally says her sister is "OK," so then why is it an emergency requiring two of my students to go to the hospital? The accident happened in the morning; the test was late this afternoon. Also, based on the message, it seems that they might not have even remembered that there was an exam today: she asked for an excuse from class, not from the exam.
ReplyDeleteJesus h, I was never this fucktarded when I was in college. I would have been apologizing up, down, left and right.
I am not going to make a new exam for these two shits. I spend a long time crafting each exam. Each one is like a Fabergé egg. I'm just not going to create a make-up for them.
THANK YOU for ALL the comments. I'm going to read through them again and give this some more (read: "too much") thought tonight.
I don't want to end up feeling like an ass if Sally's sister dies in the hospital this weekend.
ReplyDeleteWhy would she die? If she were near death an ambulance would have been called. The note from the student would have sounded more hysterical. And you know what--if she were in that much danger the student wouldn't have written a note at all. She most especially wouldn't have written you a note if her sister was near death she just thought she was missing class.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the note said "she's okay but we're taking her to the hospital to make sure."
Under those circumstances especially, why would the friend's presence be required?
Of course it could be a Natasha Richardson situation, but that would be pretty rare.
I'm all about the documentation, myself.
ReplyDeleteBut in this case, where documentation doesn't get you very far, I'd probably say this: It was noble of you to accompany your best friend and her sister to the hospital. But part of what makes nobility noble is taking the consequences for it.
Life. It happens, and it can affect your grades. Oh, well.
I fully agree that you need documentation on this-- police report or some such. One thing I've learned from painful experience is that students lie. What's more, the students you trust and think won't lie-- they lie. Not only do they lie after cheating horrendously, they end up sometimes on the student honor council later. (I wish I was making this up.)
ReplyDeleteIt's well known that exams are fatal to grandparents.
And, yes, all of this is brutally unfair to the honest students out there, the ones who are good students and legitimately do have a life circumstance that deserves being taken into account. But, with the statistics we have out there about how many students cheat, we have to require documentation. Indeed, by not doing so, we let the liars get away with stuff.
I don't think this sounds too far off. Two students ride to school together, but the driver can't take them to school that day because her sister was in an accident and that OF COURSE takes priority. They contacted you immediately.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, do what makes you be a good human being. Don't penalize them because you have a sneaking suspicion that they *might* be pulling the wool over your eyes. What if they aren't? What if this really happened, and Student A is freaked out about her sister's scary incident and Student B thought she was being a good person by coming along?
I love the weighing the second two exams more idea though -- it puts the impetus on them to over-prepare next time without putting you out by making you rewrite the exam.
I'm coming down with AM and about half the other commenters: no makeups, but don't count the exam against them if they have documentation.
ReplyDeleteI don't allow makeup exams at all, except for the final exam. They get to drop one exam, or half the final. A missed exam is the dropped exam.
Now if they missed another exam, they might start to sweat... still no makeups, but an excused absence would result in the final and one or two other exams, counting for their entire exam grade.
Great line by Cass - "Some days, I hate these kids for killing my innocence."
ReplyDeleteThe saddest part for me, when I'm in a reflective mood, in dealing with these types of situations is the heartless, cynical, unmerciful attitude I've developed towards students because 95% of student interactions are with the 5% of dodgy little scammers that make up the class. Once burnt, twice shy, thrice fucking pissed off.
Be sure to include this question on the new test if you give one:
ReplyDeleteExactly where did the wreck occur and what was the nature of the injury?
Update:
ReplyDeleteI let both students take the test. They both failed miserably, so none of this matters much.
Nothing like a happy ending!