I gave a quiz last week, and despite all my warnings, one student arrived just as the quizzes were being collected. Nonetheless, she wrote out the answer to the quiz question (which was up on the screen), and then thrust it into the TA's hand as class was dismissed.
When I explained that I could not accept this quiz, that it was a security breach because the quiz was closed book/notes, and she had been in possession of her quiz, with her open notes, for a full hour and a half, she was insulted. It wasn't fair, she said, she was only late, it wasn't like she'd missed the "whole quiz." (Right, just the first 19.9 minutes of a 20 minute quiz.) And to tell her that there had been a security breach with her quiz was a "slap in the face." No, I don't think so. What university does she attend, that students get to call the conditions on their quizzes and exams?
You can take a different quiz, I said, if you have a valid excuse for being late, but I will need documentation to put on file to protect myself against charges that I gave her an unfair advantage. "I was standing in line at the post office," she said.
She genuinely believed that I was being completely unreasonable! This discussion, somewhat loud and heated, took place at the front of the lecture hall in the moments before class began. After class, I told her that I could see no way I could allow her to make up the quiz, but that she had ample extra credit opportunities to earn back those lost points.
You can guess her response to this: "But then I don't get any extra credit!"
This is what I get for trying to be responsive to my students' concerns. Spoiled little brat.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Yes, this would have happened, were you a man. This is more about this student and her unreasonable expectations than your authority as a professor. It points to the attitude of entitlement that is running rampant in our society, that everyone should have everything they want when they want it. It's absolutely ridiculous that this girl honestly believes that standing in line at the post office is a legitimate reason she should be granted a make-up quiz. Brava to you for standing your ground.
Was it the quiz question that was up on the screen or the answer to the quiz question?
I also don't understand how she had been in possession of her quiz for an hour and a half, and yet you say she only arrived just as the quizzes were being collected?
(We don't do these sorts of quizzes where I work, so I'm having difficulty envisaging the scenario.)
The quiz question was up on the screen. The students wrote out their answer to the question on a sheet of notebook paper, and then handed that in. She wrote out hers as well, but because she didn't write it until after the lecture had begun, she didn't hand it in until after the lecture was over.
Wow. That's outrageous. I think that with some students this would have happened if you were a man (or something other than a manly macho man, or at least the academic version thereof - tweedy and bearded), but with some students it would happen with whoever. Either way, it's outrageous. I do not know where students get these ideas! (I was going to say, I'm so glad that I don't get this with my students, but then, I don't teach large classes with quizzes where such a thing would happen - I can't guarantee that my students wouldn't actually do such a thing under those circumstances!)
If you were a man, there would have also been a vague undertone of accused sexism to go along with her questioning of your authority.
Yup, sure would. Brattiness transcends gender.
Post a Comment