Beggin' for a make-up exam...

An open letter to my students....

Y'all are getting on my last nerve. I schedule exams, they are on the syllabus -- you know this and the dates are clear.

If you are sick, you have until the next class meeting to get it made-up. I'm contractually committeed to be in my office hours. There are office hours between your exam period and your next class -- if you can't make them, that isn't my fault.

I have plenty to do -- meetings, my own work and debate stuff. My schedule is very complicated and the fact that you came down with a philosophy exam the day you wre SUPPOSED to take it does not ential my rearranging my schedule to fit yours. It especially does not entail my coming in to campus EARLY tomorrow morning so you can take the exam. My days are long enough and my Monday night class ends at 9:00 PM -- if I have to be on campus by 8:00 AM the next morning so I can get something finished by my first class at 9:30, it is going to be my own fault and not because you couldn't get organized enough to make the exam time.

The following things are not my fault:
1) your "illness" -- whatever it may be ... if you were sick enough to miss an exam, you should have been in the hospital. Get someone there to verify that you were in the hospital on your exam day and we'll talk about a make-up essay exam.
2) Your first-aid certification... you CAN take the exam later, they give it every Monday at 5:00. The fact that THIS Monday you have an exam that isn't given every Monday should be a clue that one should have preference over the other. Had you asked earlier, you could have taken it with my Tuesday/Thursday class... but, you missed it. oops.
3) Whatever craptastic excuse you may have had. I don't buy them and won't... get over it.

The fact of the matter is that you won't achieve your academic goals (or, shouldn't if the system is a good one) with these kinds of work habits. They haven't taught them to you in high school, so I suppose I'm going to have to teach them to you now. God knows I don't want you to do this later, you'll give BNCC a bad name.

Go ahead, write bad stuff about me on "Rate your professors.com". We read them and find them funny... also -- I have a bunch of students who ARE my fans and will argue with you... look back at the history, there are comments refuting the comments.