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[lobloba]

Did you ever cancel class? What are the "legitimate" reasons for doing so? Does mere exhausation qualify?

 

[mj_romo]

Before I got pregnant, the only time I had ever cancelled class was when I had bronchitis.  Otherwise, I taught with terrible colds and then wondered why students got sick (yes, I blame that train of thought on the cold medication).

But, pregnancy has not been easy or fun for me, so I have cancelled class a number of times, and a couple of those were because of "mere" exhaustion.  I figure I am not doing the students any good if I can't perform well; in fact, teaching when I was sick usually just mucked things up.  So, cancelling is an option.

[starfleet_grad]

Let me think of some reasons that are legitimate:

1. Acute illness (wake up in the morning with migraine, fluid shooting from various orifices, blurred vision, massive abdominal pain, etc. When I woke up with a kidney stone in the middle of the night, I went to the hospital, not to class)

2. Major doctor's appointments (not the "I have the sniffles" kind but the "I found a lump, and this is the only appointment in the next month" kind)

3. Car broken down (if I can't get there, I can't get there)

3. Conference presentations

4. Mandatory campus functions

5. Proposal/comprehensive exam/dissertation defenses

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure others have more and better ideas.

[trentsands]

Let me think of some reasons that are legitimate:

1. Acute illness (wake up in the morning with migraine, fluid shooting from various orifices, blurred vision, massive abdominal pain, etc. When I woke up with a kidney stone in the middle of the night, I went to the hospital, not to class)

2. Major doctor's appointments (not the "I have the sniffles" kind but the "I found a lump, and this is the only appointment in the next month" kind)

3. Car broken down (if I can't get there, I can't get there)

3. Conference presentations

4. Mandatory campus functions

5. Proposal/comprehensive exam/dissertation defenses

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure others have more and better ideas.

6.  Emergency illness of spouse

7.  Travelling to another country to adopt a child

(Actually both of these I arranged substitutes for, but I would have cancelled if substitute instructors were not available.)

[econ_anon]

Hm... I canceled class because we were finished with the new material and at least two weeks ahead of the other sections (I got the smart kids!) and those sections had canceled class for a conference on the first day.  I thought it was a legitimate reason, but maybe it varies by school.

Side note:  Of course, not all my kids are that smart... today I got one whining to me that she had no way of knowing that the homework was due the day of class (I even gave them an extension so they could turn their homework in in the afternoon rather than the morning), despite the fact that everywhere it said that class was canceled it also said when and where to turn in the assigned homework (including the corner of the board during the entire class period), so could she please turn it several days late even though I'd already returned the assignment to other students.  They also almost all did really badly on that homework even though it was the shortest and easiest of the bunch... I think they mostly put it off to the day it was due.  It completely confuses me that they do better when I don't cut them any slack.

In a seminar, I think it is legitimate to cancel class in order to have class meetings with smaller groups of students in preparation for a major project or presentation.

[iomhaigh]

Oozing.

A lack of consciousness.

Unavoidably required presence in another location.

Post-operative medication induced altered states of reality. 

A lack of voice... although I lost my voice mid-way through class once and proceeded to run the rest of class by typing into Word and projecting it onto the screen.  In my defense, this was a group of upper-class majors who were having a fantastic conversation and who wanted to continue it.  The flip side of this story: when diagnosed with walking pneumonia, go to bed and not to class.

[irdoc]

Instead of outright canceling class, have you thought about giving the students an alternate assignment that does not involve your lecturing or leading a discussion?  In the past, when I have been unable to hold class as scheduled, I have asked students to watch a film and write a short paper, etc.

[larryc]

8. If there is something good on Oprah.

Seriously, I allow myself one "mental health" day per semester, where I call in sick when I am well. I don't take it most semesters, but sometimes I do.  We should all do our best in the classroom, but the fate of nations does not hang in the balance on our attendance.

[prytania3]

Did you ever cancel class? What are the "legitimate" reasons for doing so? Does mere exhausation qualify?

 

You're kidding, right? Yes exhaustion qualifies. It's called taking a mental health day.

[bigcaat]

I've been teaching 12 years and it's been rare. 

-- I think I cancelled once when I was simply too sick. 

-- Once I had someone give a final for me because I was evacuated because of a fire the night before. 

-- Once I had someone give a final for me when my mom broke her wrist and needed surgery, but I was gone for over a week, I believe the last class of the semester was cancelled. 

-- And, week after next, I will have several people fill in for a week's worth of classes for me because I will be traveling to Hawaii to participate in the 65th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, since my father was a Pearl Harbor survivor. 

Most times, if I'm sick or have a blistering headache, I might drag myself to class, give the shortest possible lecture, cancel the film and then let them go early. 

Caat

[zenprof]

Cancelled once the day my doctor called me at work to tell me I had not just lupus but also cancer (which is apparently a very unusual combo--you either get one or the other but not both). I confess I was just too angry and sad and scared to teach that afternoon.
 
But I taught the next time, and thru much of the chemo; this was not heroism in any way, but rather an Rx for better recovery---docs advised to stay as engaged as possible in life and the work that I love. The worst parts of treatment happened in summer, luckily, and by fall I was BACK. 

I think the main thing is to have your absence policy be at least one notch more lenient than your own personal policy of cancelling. In other words, if you are a draconian attendance watcher, then you'd better be very tight about never cancelling. I think we need to model behavior at least as good as that which we demand of them.
z

[ms_collegiality]

I have been tempted seriously to cancel class, especially when I was struggling with a baby and seriously low on iron, but I never did.  I was afraid it would become a habit.  And I do have an ex-colleague who was infamous for canceling classes--5 to 10 times per semester.  She had depression, and I felt for her, but I also felt for her students who were getting cheated out of an education.

On a side note, quite a few of my colleagues cancelled classes yesterday (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving), to the extent that the dean's secretary began to go around to the classrooms to see who was there and who was absent.  The scuttlebutt was that everyone who was gone without advance permission was going to be docked in pay . . . I held classes and had 10 out of 25 in my first class and 6 out of 25 in my second class show up.

[kaysixteen]

This is going to sound un-PC, but I can deal with it.  Pregnant women professors who cannot reasonably maintain a teaching schedule with minimal cancellations during their pregnancy should take a medical leave.  I had a grad school professor once who did not do so.  Two weeks into the semester her doctor ordered her to stay home, so all of a sudden a class scheduled for 1pm on campus was rescheduled for 7pm at her home ten miles away.  I was unable to attend, and had to miss about a month's worth of sessions, after which time she was confined to her bed for another month, with all the classes cancelled.  We got back to the scheduled time and place with two weeks left in the semester, but it was pretty much too late by then.  Ah well.  It is difficult to imagine a male professor getting sick but being allowed to do this.  Nice work, at nice pay, if you can get it.

[graine]

I am struggling not to reply to kaysixteen's post (after all, the problem really is with a system that doesn't understand the need for flexibility around pregnancy/child-birth/child-rearing, not actually with women who are pregnant needing to take leave, but anyway...)

As for the idea of exhaustion not being a legitimate reason - take the day off.  Very very few of us are going to change the world with a single class.  The majority of us are not going to cure cancer or end world war, so get this in perspective.  If you can't teach, for whatever reason, take the time to rest. Life is so much more than your job, and what you owe the students (who will be thrilled with an extra free hour or two).  If you're going to do a mediocre job, and probably pick up some horrible bug because you are exhausted, and then need to take another week off, just stay home.  A mental health day is a good thing.  And if you're still not persuaded, read Dement's 'The Promise of Sleep' for an idea of just how useful sleep is, and how you're risking your life and your productivity by not getting enough rest.

[rattusdomesticus]

I once called in "sick" when on an interview. Otherwise, after a doctor gave me the "you're not infectious" okay, I taught with a 103 degree temp. I hate cancelling class. I feel guilty the whole way through, hate the "hope you're doing better" from either concerned students or butt-kissers (can never tell the difference), and the exhaustion of trying to catch up. Not worth it. Would rather go in sick (if not contagious) and work.

My pharm.D. sister says you're only contagious two days before you start showing symptoms and the first day you have symptoms when it comes to cold/flu stuff. Good enough for me!