My wife is a professor and she deals with a lot of coddled students.

I'm glad to hear your wife will not bend over for these so called "students". I'm glad we could help her come to this righteous decision.

Benedict wrote:

My sister in law is a college professor and I hear these same stories all the time. The only advice I give her is that it is better to learn your lesson in college by getting an F than it is once you are out working in the real world where that sort of behavior/action results in you getting fired.

Related to someone wrote:

My wife has a friend whose husband's cousin knows a college professor. I'm sure she would tell the same kind of stories. It's just awful and the parents are to blame.

My sister read a story about a guy whose daughter is a college prof with similar issues. True story.

My sister's son has the hots for a guy that looks like Johnny R. Turns out this Johnny is a prof! Can you believe it? Anyways, here's a pic of the prof:

http://www.afterelton.com/sites/www.afterelton.com/files/images/danielcraigbond.jpg

jRryder wrote:

My sister's son has the hots for a guy that looks like Johnny R. Turns out this Johnny is a prof! Can you believe it? Anyways, here's a pic of the prof:

http://www.afterelton.com/sites/www.afterelton.com/files/images/danielcraigbond.jpg

Is he a weak kneed prof like the OP's wife, or is he worthy of his position?

Huzzah! wrote:

I'm glad to hear your wife will not bend over for these so called "students". I'm glad we could help her come to this righteous decision.

Does she bend over for conscientious students?

My wife just got home a little bit ago. Here's the latest: she received a few emails today from the student who has not shown up since September 27 nor contacted my wife to explain his absence. He said he doesn't have a computer at home and had no way to email her about his absences. Reasonable or not?

NO! Just more excuses....couldn't find her office during office hours? Couldn't leave a note for her in her mailbox? This kid's a piece of work.

wifeprof wrote:

My wife just got home a little bit ago. Here's the latest: she received a few emails today from the student who has not shown up since September 27 nor contacted my wife to explain his absence. He said he doesn't have a computer at home and had no way to email her about his absences. Reasonable or not?

Assuming you're a troll. If not, ten your wife needs to find another line of work since she is obviously incompetent.

Huzzah! wrote:

I'm glad to hear your wife will not bend over for these so called "students". I'm glad we could help her come to this righteous decision.

Say wha? wrote:

Does she bend over for conscientious students?

I hope so!

Pic's?

Its not so much wealthy kids (maybe more so in higher-end universities) as it is the youth of American today in general. Middle class, poor, in between, the sense of perceived entitlement in all forms exists across economic boundaries.

AS a high school teacher, a former college coach, a parent of college students and athletes, I see colleges going the same route as high school. I see high school AP teachers with a grade given for "covering the textbook", "having the parent agreement/syllabus signed", "bringing food in for the food drive", etc. I took college classes with 1 or 2 exams and three major papers. Now suddenly college professors are grading computer generated homework, dropping the 2 lowest grades on tests and quizzes and allowing drops 10 weeks into the semester. The same helicopter parents who are all over the high school teachers and administrators are now being allowed to contact college professors and administrators. Sorry state of affairs.

A few years ago, in the school system where my wife worked, there was talk about giving kids who missed an assignment a "50" on the assignment rather than a "0". The rationing for this was something along the lines of they didn't want to hurt the students morale and it was too hard to come back from a "0".

I looked at my wife and said "How does this help the kid prepare in any way for life. If I don't submit a proposal for a contract I am bidding on, I don't have a 50 percent shot of getting it, I have ZERO percent chance of getting it."

She simply replied with "They don't care, it's all about passing kids and inflating numbers to make yourself look better"

OP, I'd tell your wife to document everything with this kid. Time, date, conversation, emails, anything and everything. Cover her a** in case he tries to pull anything funny, ie lawsuit. I've seen it happen and saw a good professor's career take a hit because of it.

HRE wrote:

... things can happen in the interactions that go on during the classes that can enhance their knowledge of the subject. Some class members would ask questions about topics that aren't covered in the readings or they may have valid criticisms of things in the readings or have life experiences that related to class topics and so on. An absent student would miss all that.

My dad's a professor, and this is exactly what he says. Exams show one type of mastery, but another type of mastery is engaging with your peers, debating, and pushing each other to another level, and that can't be reflected in an exam. This can't happen if you're not in class.

So he doesn't have an attendance policy because he thinks it's ridiculous to have silly rules for what should be adults, but he makes "Participation" 10% of the grade. Which means if you never show up, or you show up but never engage, you get one full letter grade lower than you otherwise would have gotten.

He, too, is frustrated by students who don't do their work. I think a lot of people would benefit by taking a year or two off between hs and college and making a living on their own. They would appreciate college so much more as a result.

wifeprof wrote:

Her latest: she's had a student that has not showed up to class since September 27 and he just emailed her today and said he wants to make up some of his assignment. Do kids learn this kind of entitlement mentality at home? Where does it come from?

This reminds me when I was a TA, teaching an undergraduate course. I was so excited for students to show up to my office hours with an eagerness to learn. The students who showed up never had any interest in learning. The only questions were about whether they could still get a B, or an A, etc. What's going to be on the exam.

another average american wrote:

So he doesn't have an attendance policy because he thinks it's ridiculous to have silly rules for what should be adults, but he makes "Participation" 10% of the grade. Which means if you never show up, or you show up but never engage, you get one full letter grade lower than you otherwise would have gotten.

So students who show up, but only absorb and do not contribute, receive the same penalty as students who don't show up? WTF?

Say wha? wrote:

So students who show up, but only absorb and do not contribute, receive the same penalty as students who don't show up? WTF?

Yeah. It makes total sense to me. By not showing up you are not participating at all. By showing up and getting on facebook for the full class hour in the back corner seat you are not participating at all. What's the difference?

It's a "participation" grade, not an "absorption" grade. It's how much you grappled with the material with other people. By sitting there and doing nothing, you did 0% of that.

another average american wrote:

Say wha? wrote:

So students who show up, but only absorb and do not contribute, receive the same penalty as students who don't show up? WTF?

Yeah. It makes total sense to me. By not showing up you are not participating at all. By showing up and getting on facebook for the full class hour in the back corner seat you are not participating at all. What's the difference?

It's a "participation" grade, not an "absorption" grade. It's how much you grappled with the material with other people. By sitting there and doing nothing, you did 0% of that.

Or what if I'm not on Facebook in the back corner? Maybe I just don't have anything to say or contribute. I shouldn't be punished for this. Maybe the material just really isn't that interesting.

jdjdjsj wrote:

Or what if I'm not on Facebook in the back corner? Maybe I just don't have anything to say or contribute. I shouldn't be punished for this. Maybe the material just really isn't that interesting.

Obviously you don't have to be dominating a discussion each class to get all of the points. In fact, you don't even have to SAY something each class. But overall, it should be clear from your performance in class over the semester that you have completed the readings, thought deeply about them and have formed an opinion, and can intelligently discuss that opinion with other students. That is part of the class -- a measure of your quality as a history student -- and it's not something that can be tested on an exam. Don't see how this is so problematic.

Class discussions are on highly debated and controversial topics. If you don't have anything to contribute all semester, you're not engaging with the material.

And if you're not interested in history, sorry. That is what the class is about -- it doesn't give you a free pass not to do any of the work.

Anyway, it is fun hearing some of the excuses students give for why they can't do their work. Grandparent mortality spikes during exam time. There are also some much more creative ones. (I'm sorry I had to get up and leave during the middle of the exam. I forgot I had a gun in my car. Can I take the rest of the exam tomorrow?)

My dad's personal guideline is that everyone deserves one break so if you're timely and honest with him and understand that you screwed up, you'll probably get the day's extension. But if you have "problem" after "problem" and don't attend class much, and then you ask for a break, he's going to have a talk with you about how you're structuring your life so that these things keep getting in the way of your classes.