I had a fellow who is a star on our DIII football team in class this fall. The work that he turned in was all passing, although often not by much. Yet he was in danger of failing because he didn't turn in so many of the assignments, from daily grades to one major paper.After discussion with the assistant coach responsible for academic advising, I met with the student. The student agreed that he would turn in all missing assignments, and he agreed to a time frame in which he would complete them.
He didn't turn in a single one. Not one. No call. No email. No excuses (I guess I should be grateful for that?)
I have, on occasion, given non-athletes similar opportunities when they were clearly over committed for a semester. Some have done well and passed; others have done nothing and failed. Even so, this guy really irritated me because he absolutely, positively could have passed if he had just done the @#%& work.
One of these days I'll learn.
I've learned to make these generous offers because I know they will inevitability not follow through. Then I don't feel badly because I did my part to help them; the coaches can't say boo against me.
ReplyDeleteYes, This. I have witnessed at least 90% (if not more) of my offers like this go ignored, and often the student gives me copious thankyous and a glowing eval (their anonymity runs away when they mention their specific situation, haha).... and then I never hear from them again. They get an F, they don't bother me, yet I get all the benefits of having granted them what they wanted.
DeleteThat leaves me with about one a year that actually gives me the avalanche of work / submits an alternative / actually does the incomplete. And I'm okay with that tradeoff.
Yup, it usually works this way for me too.
DeleteIt's like offering to read drafts of essays but not requiring it (in courses which are not meant to teach writing) - maybe 2 out of 40 actually take you up on it and cause work, but they all like the IDEA and feel like you gave them extra help, so it's a winner. (And the 2 who DO get the feedback actually get to learn more)
That was very generous of you. And he's an idiot, because now he'll have to repeat the course. Did he end up withdrawing, or will this be an F that hurts his chances of playing next year? When it ends up hurting their chance to play, suddenly, they show up at my office demanding another chance, and that's often not until way in the future, months after the class has ended.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking along these same lines: does he realize he'll be ineligible if he doesn't make up the class? Maybe he's planning on going pro? Transferring? Taking the class this summer.
DeleteMost likely, though, he's just not thinking about the class, assuming he can deal with it later (whether or not he actually can).
Yes. Athlete or not, when you go through the trouble of listening to their tale of woe, making a plan to fix it, coming to an agreement about assignments and due dates, and even (as often is the case in my experience) listened and smiled and said "Your welcome!" a thousand times while they thank you for "forgiving" them and giving them this opportunity.....when you do all that and they STILL completely blow you off in the end, it can be very annoying.
ReplyDeleteYou've done your part. If you've documented it, you're appeal-proof. It's entirely on him.
ReplyDeleteDon't care more about their education than they do. At some point (hopefully before he holds up a gas station or murders someone) he will see the value of an education, and then he'll get it done.
Ah, well, I was cured of this approach: After I agreed to award an "Incomplete," the student failed to complete the required work by the WRITTEN, CONTRACTED date. They failed the course. Then they instituted a grade grievance.
ReplyDeleteOf course they lost the grievance, but in the meantime, it was a huge time-suck. Little *#^$-heads.
Again, dzięki Bogu for administration (and a long-standing faculty-set policy). We don't allow incompletes to be assigned except by the registrar, and then only if there is an actual, reasonable reason that the student could not get the work done (e.g. extended hospitalization).
DeleteI don't understand why they beg forgiveness. Does anyone else receive those emails from someone who didn't come to class the first week, telling me how much this isn't like them and they hope I haven't lost respect for them? I want to respond: I don't know who you are. I have no respect for you until you show me something to respect. Oh, and I don't care.
ReplyDeleteI had one of these last semester. Horribly annoying!!!
DeleteI too have learned that I rarely actually have to do a tremendous amount of work when a student (or is it studnet?) comes to me with some dilemma. I offer them a not insignificant amount of work to make up for the missed work and it never gets done. The rare times that it does result in me having to grade extra work I'm usually happy with the effort and the student (and I!) both feel better.
ReplyDelete