Oh, the guilt!
Grades for summer session are due by midnight tomorrow night. I received this e-mail at approximately 1:30 p.m. today:
hi Teacher, this is Steve Sleeve from your human sexuality class from summer 1. i am currently trying to enroll in business finance but need proof of my grade in your class before i can register. i need an A- to be able to and im not sure how close i am to it so any help would be greatly appreciated! The counselor informed me that i need an official grade transcript or letter from you by wednesday, July 19th. Thank you very much for your time and I really had a great experience in your class. Steve
Oy. Why do they tell me these things? Because it makes me feel like I'm supposed to, um, do something. And just between you and me and the dozen or so other folks who read this blog, poor Steve is nowhere near an A-. Not even close. So now he won't be able to take his business finance class and although it's not my fault (at all - I am in touch with reality - I know this!), I am still feeling the guilt. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: e-mail is the worst thing to ever happen to higher education.
hi Teacher, this is Steve Sleeve from your human sexuality class from summer 1. i am currently trying to enroll in business finance but need proof of my grade in your class before i can register. i need an A- to be able to and im not sure how close i am to it so any help would be greatly appreciated! The counselor informed me that i need an official grade transcript or letter from you by wednesday, July 19th. Thank you very much for your time and I really had a great experience in your class. Steve
Oy. Why do they tell me these things? Because it makes me feel like I'm supposed to, um, do something. And just between you and me and the dozen or so other folks who read this blog, poor Steve is nowhere near an A-. Not even close. So now he won't be able to take his business finance class and although it's not my fault (at all - I am in touch with reality - I know this!), I am still feeling the guilt. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: e-mail is the worst thing to ever happen to higher education.
Labels: Kids Today, Tales from the Trenches
posted by Teacher lady | 6:31 PM
7 Comments:
okay, do you REALLY want steve to get into that class, learn business skills, make a lot of money, NOT give it to charity, decide to vote republican, raise spoiled bratty kids that are clones of himself? NO! We don't need any more rich steve sleeves in this world. Steve sleeve needs to learn how to play by the rules. (okay, rant over...been a long day, sorry!)
Is it possible to write him the letter? You don't need to lie in it... You just say "Sure, here's your grade. And it's a C. So too bad." Or you say, "Well, Steve...Your grade is in the C range. So I'm sorry but I'm not wasting my time by writing you a pointless letter." If he complains about the grade, that can only be backed up by facts, so TOO BAD STEVE! Try harder next time, you doofus!
By the way - since when is a grade in one class required before you can sign up for another class? Especially two classes that are completely unrelated. It might sound logical if yours was a prerequisite, but...yeah. Weird.
I feel another line in your syllabus coming on...
Not your fault. And Steve totally knows what he's doing, trying to play on your sympathy with his sorry little last-minute e-mail.
Not. Your. Fault.
"Any help would be greatly appreciated." What does that mean? Reasonable question for the first week of class, but after grades are due? Sad, sad, misplaced hope. Poor schmuck. No reason to feel guilty for someone else's cluelessness.
Do NOT feel guilty about this.
I've had a couple of situations where students needed a certain grade, or just wanted to pass, for that matter, and the numbers just didn't add up. Sometimes, I can fudge a little if they have like a 90 and I can kick it up to an A- depending on their effort, participation, etc. But this sounds like fudging wouldn't bring him anywhere near. I'm with Liberal Banana- Too Bad, Steve.
Maybe you should just remove your email from the syllabus. People did get by with out being able to email their teachers before so they should be able to do it now. I rarely email my teachers. If I have a question I go up to them and ask. I bet that guy has done that to all his teachers when he screws around and gets a not so good grade (which would be all the time.) He needs to learn responsibility for his actions and since you are a teacher........
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