A parent's gotta vent sometimes...

[iwishiwasthere]

I hated high school as well...skipped way to many classes....hum might be why I cannot type . If teachers make students feel valued and worthwhile, there would be many less problems in school. I have seen too many teachers with their own agenda and could care less about the students. Those individuals need to leave the profession.

 

[audie]

I hated high school as well...skipped way to many classes....hum might be why I cannot type . If teachers make students feel valued and worthwhile, there would be many less problems in school. I have seen too many teachers with their own agenda and could care less about the students. Those individuals need to leave the profession.

yeah, i can't really say i had any outstanding teachers, most of them were just there for the paycheck.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Pea....please clarify something. Was this work little pea missed from his sick day or an assignment he knew was due that day?

 

[Beach Runner]

My daughter had a paper due at the end of her first semester at MIT. She got really, really sick and ended up in the hospital. The professor didn't care about excuses - he had a deadline. She had done the research, but hadn't finished typing it. You know how when you have a 104 degree fever and it hurts when light enters your eyes? That's the way she was. So she dictated it to me, I typed it as she struggled to speak, and after she passed out due to her intense fever, I emailed it to her professor minutes before the deadline. (BTW it was on a subject I knew nothing about, so all I did was repeat her words verbatim). I know I shouldn't have done that, but the way I roll with my students is if they can document their illnesses/etc., I work with them. It's a "Pay It Forward" thing for me now. Maybe if I give my students a break, eventually some professor (or employer) will give my daughter a break when she's very ill.

So, SS, to me it really doesn't matter if it was assigned before or during the illness. If Peapod's child was that sick, he was too sick to focus on homework. I guess that's when a mom has to step in - even when her baby is at MIT.

 

[audie]

My daughter had a paper due at the end of her first semester at MIT. She got really, really sick and ended up in the hospital. The professor didn't care about excuses - he had a deadline. She had done the research, but hadn't finished typing it. You know how when you have a 104 degree fever and it hurts when light enters your eyes? That's the way she was. So she dictated it to me, I typed it as she struggled to speak, and after she passed out due to her intense fever, I emailed it to her professor minutes before the deadline. (BTW it was on a subject I knew nothing about so all I did wad repeat her words verbatim). I know I shouldn't have done that, but the way I roll with my students is if they can document their illnesses/etc., I work with them. It's a "Pay It Forward" thing for me now. Maybe if I give my students a break, eventually some professor (or employer) will give my daughter a break when she's very ill.

So, SS, to me it really doesn't matter if it was assigned before or during the illness. If Peapod's child was that sick, he was too sick to focus on homework. I guess that's when a mom has to step in - even when her baby is at MIT.

that was one good thing about butler - they did not believe in research/term papers - i didn't have to write a single one. :clap_1: on the down side - you were not cut any slack for absences. if an assignment wasn't turned in when due, it was a zero regardless of the circumstances. no exceptions. ever. and any missed exam was a zero. period. end of story.

 

[Beach Runner]

that was one good thing about butler - they did not believe in research/term papers - i didn't have to write a single one. :clap_1: on the down side - you were not cut any slack for absences. if an assignment wasn't turned in when due, it was a zero regardless of the circumstances. no exceptions. ever. and any missed exam was a zero. period. end of story.

As a professor, I just couldn't sleep at night with such a brutal policy. I am forced to do so when I teach core classes which have multiple sections. But when I teach upper-level courses in the major, I am very humanistic. Two years ago I had a student who was flunking everything his last semester as a senior. He had a June wedding and had accepted a job. He also has a non-refundable deposit on a honeymoon cruise. If he failed, he would have had to go to summer school to complete his graduation requirements. That would mean cancelling the honeymoon and losing the deposit. Well, I couldn't flunk him and ruin a wedding. So, I gave him the opportunity to retake all of his tests. In fairness, that meant offering the same deal to his classmates. It cost me about 40 hours of work. But he passed everything and graduated. That made me feel really happy.

 

[Rudyjohn]

But he passed everything and graduated. That made me feel really happy.

Bravo!! :clap_1:

 

[audie]

As a professor, I just couldn't sleep at night with such a brutal policy. I am forced to do so when I teach core classes which have multiple sections. But when I teach upper-level courses in the major, I am very humanistic. Two years ago I had a student who was flunking everything his last semester as a senior. He had a June wedding and had accepted a job. He also has a non-refundable deposit on a honeymoon cruise. If he failed, he would have had to go to summer school to complete his graduation requirements. That would mean cancelling the honeymoon and losing the deposit. Well, I couldn't flunk him and ruin a wedding. So, I gave him the opportunity to retake all of his tests. In fairness, that meant offering the same deal to his classmates. It cost me about 40 hours of work. But he passed everything and graduated. That made me feel really happy.

you're a very compassionate person. wish i had professors and teachers like you. while i learned a lot at butler, the profs just seemed to me to be untouchable and in many cases in their own little worlds.

 

[peapod1980]

Pea....please clarify something. Was this work little pea missed from his sick day or an assignment he knew was due that day?

It was assigned on Monday. Monday, he left school early, sick. He was home all day Tuesday and still in bed, literally, as of Tuesday night. The assignment was due Tuesday. So, he returned to school Wednesday without assignment in hand. He knew it was due on Tuesday, but the child literally had been in bed for 2 days solid.
So, my note to the teacher said--please allow him to bring this with him on Thursday, and she said no and deducted 50% from his grade. My argument to the teacher and the principal was--yes, we both realize he was assigned this before he left school, but how can it be turned in when he was unable to do any homework?
Have I confused you further? :shock:

 

[peapod1980]

I'm not believing this thread. what is going on in the schools with this kind of policy?

Well, to paraphrase the words of our principal, this "policy" exists only at the junior high level at our school. And, like Mermaid mentioned earlier, I'm sure it's structured this way to help prepare the kids for the tougher road ahead. The principal says in most cases, a student who is home all day from school is well enough by the evening to do homework. Therefore, the expectation is that the student comes back to school with the missed day's assignment completed.
I told him I understand the theory behind this, but it does not make allowances for kids who are still sick the night before and only manage to drag themselves to school the next morning!
Either way, I'm honestly not sure it makes a lot of sense, even for a kid who's feeling better the night before. At our school, our junior high teachers are notorious for not providing the missed day's work to a parent who comes up to school to retrieve the work--this has happened to me! So, then you have the very real possibility of a student who wasn't given the day's work being expected to produce it out of thin air or be penalized. Really, that sounds impossibly crazy.