Taking Responsibility

An aspect of my teaching is to help my students to take responsibility. The majority of them get the message right away as I tell them the very first day of class, "Each one of you has an 'A' right now." I follow that up by stating that if they desire to keep the 'A' they must take responsibility to be in class [although I cannot compel them to be there], do the assigned readings, turn in the written assignments on time, and to take the test and exams. I don't automatically give 'A's' to each student if they do the above but assess them on their ability to do the work. If there is a problem, I counsel with them to determine how I can help them achieve the very best grade possible for them.

I, also, emphasize that if they are going to miss class to let me know either in person or via email. This applies to papers and exams as well. I do this so the student will take responsibility for their education.

Having said all of this, I received an email from a student who received a "D" for the final grade. She wanted to know why. The reason being: she has missed class since mid March, failed to take two exams and failed the final exam. I had attempted during the semester to reach her via email but no responses from her. In her email this week, she indicated that she just had to have an 'A+' because she was an all 'A' student and thus could she do some extra credit work to bring up her grade? I had to remind her that the semester was officially over the day of the final exam and to allow her to do some additional work would not be fair to the other students who did their work during the semester and that the 'D' would have to stand.

When I asked about why she did not respond to my offers of help during the semester, her reply was she was the kind of person who did not ask for help. My last comment to her was to take this semester as a learning experience---to take responsibility and to let the instructors know you are having trouble. Most of the instructors I work with are willing to help the student who needs the help but we cannot help those who refuse it.

Ah the joys of teaching. I love it.