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[E. F.]

Okay, here’s one I haven’t seen before. Last semester a student (in her late 20’s, not one fresh out of high school) missed the first two-and-a-half weeks of class for dubious reasons. When she finally arrived for a class period, she asked me how much of the work would “be excused.”

It took stupid me about two or three minutes to realize she did not expect an opportunity to make up the missed work, but that she expected not to have to do the missed work at all.

When I let her know she was a little off-base with her request and would have to make up all the work or lose the points, she dropped the class. After asking colleagues about this student’s behavior—which seems to form a pattern of delivering lame excuses and trying to get out of class work—I concluded that I had accidentally become a minor side-stop on the traveling disaster that appears to be this particular student’s life.

Flash-forward to the present: Yesterday, a long-lost internet student emailed me out of the blue and said she'd had to “go to Alabama for personal reasons” for last three weeks with “no way to make contact” (apparently the entire state of Alabama recently lost phone service, the internet, and even government mail delivery) and asked me how much of the missed work I would be willing to “excuse” so she could still pass. Since I have a policy that students who aren’t active in an internet class for two weeks in a row automatically fail, I told her she didn’t need to worry about it too much because she couldn’t pass the class. I await her reply.

Anyway, I know this “excusing” concept comes from the high schools, but has anyone else heard of college faculty member “excusing” work in this manner? Has anyone else had a student make such a bizarre request?

P. S. -- Sorry if I'm overly sarcastic. It's been an "interesting" day.

[Zarkov]

Thanks for the stories, EF.....  You may already know it, but that big proprietary online U administratively withdraws (flunks?) students who miss two weeks.  The instrutor just gets an email that says Mr. ABC has been withdrawn.  (They have software that monitors online attendence.)

I almost always offer an optional paper or project in my syllabus for just such occassions.  Those students who really want to get back on track will take that option, those less motivated (let's call them) never do.

[anon]

i just make everything 'required', state clearly that non-university allowed excuses will not be allowed, then I fail them and they learn.

[only adjunct]

Oh, this stuff drives me crazy! I have students who vanish in the middle of the semester, reappear in the last two weeks, and they inevitably approach me with a knowing smile and an "I-can-still-pass-this-class-with-a-B" wink.

I really, really hate when students come to me and say, "Is it okay if I miss class on Wednesday?" I can't make this decision for them and I always answer, "I don't know, can you?" I've added the following into my syllabus:

"Please do not come to me and ask me for permission to miss class, leave early, or arrive late. You are responsible for your attendance and for any information you miss by not attending class. This includes, but is not limited to, handouts, quizzes, exams, and assignments. If you miss all or part of class, please get the information you need from another student in the class."

[life is weird]

Halfway through last semester, a student who had missed 10 of the 19 classes (T Th) came to me with an explanation of why she would miss the following Thursday's class.  I stared in disbelief-- surely the only explanation I needed was "I'll miss Thursday because I usually miss"?  About 2 weeks later, a different student with virtually the same story did the same thing.  I was amazed at their sudden interest in my classes.

But to answer your question, yes, I've had such questions from students, and no, I don't ever give them what they're seeking.  I allow students to miss just under 2 weeks of a class at their discretion (assuming a 15 week semester), and I don't distinguish between excused and unexcused absences.  2 weeks is generous enough that I don't have to get into excuse notes.  My classes are largely discussion-oriented, and if a student misses excessively then it really doesn't matter why, in principle-- since my object is that I want the students there, not that I want to decide when they should be punished and when they shouldn't be.  If illness or personal situations require them to miss more than 2 weeks a penalty ensues; if the penalty is severe enough to make them fail the class, then failing my class is certainly not the worst thing to happen that semester, and is not the thing they should focus their attention on.  I've been told by one colleague that (with the exception of the generous 2 week policy) I'm too hard-lined about this; I take the point of view, though, that not every single life situation is compatible with taking my class, and if a student is going to have to miss huge chunks of the semester for personal reasons of any stripe then she needs to withdraw.

[too strict]

I don't know if it just me, but I find that the percentage of students coming up with ridiculous requests is increasing.

This happened to me last year. I schedule a make-up exam for a student (probably I should not have, but I was feeling sorry for the girl). I wait for her, she does not show up. After an hour I leave; as I walk out of the building I see her leisurly crossing the yard. When I tell her that I have been waiting for an hour she opens her eyes wide, slaps her forehead and says "Oh, I am sorry, I completely forgot. When can we reschedule?". And becomes very upset when I tell her that she is going to get a 0 in the exam, with arguments such as "It's not fair, I did not mean to miss the exam, I just forgot!". She sounded like a four year old. I told her "Lady, if you don't care about your grade I don't see way I should".

She flunked the course, and then of course she blasted me in her evaluation (her handwriting is quite distinctive).

This is an extreme example, but I have had many students behave in ways that were not much less outrageous.

[this is just my favorite.]

Ah yes.

I'm all too familiar with this one.  A student will miss a month of class or more, not turn in homework or take the tests, and then come to me in the fourteenth (out of sixteen) week and say, "I'm kinda worried about my grade.  Is there any extra credit I can do to make it up?"

My response is, "Hold on.  You are coming to me and asking me to make extra work for myself at the end of the semester to make up for the fact that you haven't been doing your job for the last fourteen weeks?"

Needless to say, I don't offer extra credit.  Ever.

My college has a policy wherein if a student misses two weeks of class continuously, I have the power as an instructor to administratively drop them.  I used to do this often for several semesters, because it made sure that I only had to deal with the work of students who were actually going to come to class, and not provide me with administrative nightmares (recorded last date of attendance, etc.).  

However, I just found out last semester that there are students who want me to do that.  If they don't want to be in a class, they just stop going and assume that they will be withdrawn by the instructor, and so they will get to be lazy and not talk to us or the registrar without a penalty to their g.p.a.s.  I said, "I don't think so," and kept them on my rosters, just recording the points they missed.

I gave more Fs this last semester than ever before.  Maybe that's strict, but I have a very low tolerance for laziness.  We didn't get any of this kind of slack when we were working through college, and I'd like to say it made us better people for it, so I'm going to expect the same from my students now that I'm on the other side of the classroom.

I don't know where this slacker work ethic came from.

[only adjunct]

The other thing that really gets me is when they come to me and say,  "I'm not coming to class next week. Are we doing anything important?" Nah, it's all busy work. In fact, the rest of the semester is meaningless. Kuddos to you for figuring it out! Hey, you might as well forget about the rest of it now that you know the secret. Just show up at the final, trace your hand on the page and make it into a turkey and you'll be in A territory!

[psych_teach]

Ha ha.  The audacity of some students never ceases to amaze me.  I love when they tell me that they are going to miss a test because of a ski trip or a cruise which they scheduled before the semester started.  That sort of thing should be automatic grounds for denial of a college degree!  LOL.

[no one in particular]

There is another kind, though:

I had a student miss a midterm and come to me begging for a makeup.  I told him no and he asked how he could pass my class.  I told him he'd have to study really hard and ace the final to pass with a C....

AND HE DID IT!

My faith in students was restored.

[Jennifer]

I have had, in my short time as an adjunct, about every excuse there is! I need to become firmer, and I plan to next semester, because I think something about me makes students think they can come to me with all kinds of strange things! I had a student actually ask to be excused from a quiz I was giving that day because his heart hurt! Give me a break!

I did have a student who slipped on the ice on campus one semester and needed major knee surgery miss about a month of class. But I saw documentation, saw her struggle up the stairs (they wouldn't give her an elevator key, if you can believe it), and I talked with her mother. I felt that was reasonable, and we communicated constantly through email and she made up all the work. I created special exams for her that were of a take-home variety and she did fine in the course.

I had another student who was failing already with spotty attendance say about a month before the semester end that her boss put her on mandatory overtime and she could no longer attend the class. She wanted to know if she'd pass anyway. I told her no. I had to be honest, and firm. She begged me, but even if she got 100% on everything from that point on, which was doubtful, there was no way she could pull up to a C.

However, last semester I learned to give some students the benefit of the doubt. One girl would always come about an hour late to class every week. It was an early Saturday class, and I assumed she just was lazy. She always had attitude with me, and she was pretty confrontational when I tried to inquire about her tardiness and other things about her work (like not showing work but always producing the right answer). Finally, she produced some doctor's note, of course interrupting me in the middle of lecture. I barely read it. She said she was nauseous and that's why she was always late. She didn't look pregnant, and I honestly forgot about it for awhile. One day, we were discussing something else privately about her work, and she burst out in tears. It turned out this young girl had been diagnosed with an advanced stage of uterine cancer. She was undergoing chemotherapy, but it wasn't helping. My heart went out to her, and I felt badly that I was so doubtful of her. I know this is rare, but I had the wrong instinct about her. I need to be firm with students, but also understand some may have some real issues and they don't necessarily want to discuss them with me. It's hard to tell the difference though with some.

[Mouse]

Several years ago, I was getting ready to go to work--with the TV on in the background.  Suddenly, I heard a name that sounded familiar.  The newscaster was reporting that one of my students had been in an accident.  He and his girlfriend were sitting on train tracks on an overpass, dangling their legs over the edge, just chillin', when a train came by.  They were both hit by the train and knocked 40 feet (or however high an overpass is) to the concrete below.  Amazingly, although both were of course injured, none of the injuries were life-threatening.  So that's my standard for an "excused" absence.  If you're hit by a train, knocked 40 feet onto the street below, AND I hear about it on the news, then it's an excused absence.  

Oh, and the train guy only missed two weeks of class.  Granted, we had to move all the furniture out of the classroom so we could maneuver him in in his lower-body cast, but he still only missed two weeks.

[Dept Chair]

Dare I open the can of worms of athletes being absent for games/matches and expecting that they be excused from knowing material covered in class or assignments that were due?  At the small liberal arts college where I teach, a significant cadre of the faculty are pushing for the word "excused" to be expunged from all college communication regarding students missing classes for college-sponsored and approved activities.  There are times when the student will be absent (games/matches, concerts, illness, personal emergency, hangover, whatever ad nauseum).  But, students who are out of class, regardless of the reason, are simply absent.  In the business world, professional employees are still responsible for getting their work done even if they have to be out of work.

I'm done with my rant now.  Time to get some sleep so I can focus on re-writing my attendance policy again.

[%sig%]

[sophie]

i once had a student come up to me after a class she missed, asking to be excused b/c she had driven to campus and realized that she forgot her shoes.  i really wanted to tell her that if she can leave home without realizing she isn't wearing shoes, she has more fundamental issues to deal with than passing my class.

[Phil]

I don't hear this sort of thing too often, so I guess I'm lucky.  One comment that I have made to a few students, though, is that life involves hard choices. Maybe you will lose your job if you come to class, or fail the class if you go to work.  That is unfortunate, but that is what life is like.  You can't expect me to bend over backwards and make it possible for you to both keep the job and pass.