What's with this?

One of the most discouraging things in teaching is seeing students who failed your class the first time around come back again and fail it a second time.

There is a gentleman in my afternoon statistics class who is a do-over. He failed spectacularly the first time. But I must assume he has learned from his experience that homeworks are important, that coming to class is important, that quizzes are always at the very start of class, that absences require documentation.

We had a quiz yesterday. These quizzes are trivial things designed only to get the slackers to come to class three times a quarter. They take about ten second to answer, if you've been in class: "How many modes does this distribution have?" "Roll a die. What is the sample space?" You get one point just for putting your name on the paper.

I waited a few minutes yesterday to answer any questions they might have before the quiz and to give latecomers a chance. A handful of people rushed in at the last minute. Then I started the quiz. I gave them a full five minutes. Most of them were done in the first 30 seconds and spent the remaining 4:30 minutes staring at me or their fingernails. I collected the quizzes, piled them on the table, and started my lecture. Mr. Do-over rushed in about ten minutes late.

Of course he approached me after class and asked if I could make an exception and give him another quiz. Note again: this is the second time he's taken this course. It isn't that I didn't spell everything out in the (four single-spaced pages long) syllabus that he has now received twice, or that he hasn't twice heard me say to make sure to come to class a little early on quiz days. I said, nope, sorry, and turned to another student who did have a legitimate excuse (with documentation) and a standing agreement with me that she can take the quiz late.

Then I checked the TA's spreadsheet to see how Mr. Do-over was doing.

We are now six weeks into a ten-week quarter. He has yet to turn in a single homework assignment.