I have to gripe for a moment about undergrads. I teach 1 section of intro to statistics and 2 online sections of intro to psychology, and this semester the students have been ESPECIALLY whiny. Now, the stats whiners tend to drop, which is really best for everyone involved. But the Psych 101 students are another thing entirely.

Last week they had a test. Before the semester started I put up the schedule and it hasn’t changed. They were required to read and acknowledge and take a short quiz on the syllabus, so they can’t say they haven’t seen it. And the syllabus also stated clearly that there were no make-up tests.

I sent out a reminder on thursday (I was at a conference and had forgotten earlier, but frankly it shouldn’t be necessary). Since then I have had half a dozen emails from students saying they forgot and weren’t able to get to campus to take the test on time. Now, I sympathize to some extent; department policy FORCES me to do on-campus proctored tests, which kind of defeats the point of an online class. Nonetheless this was told to them upfront and this was their THIRD TEST. They know the drill.

When I was an undergrad I would start the semester off by putting everything that was due onto one calendar for the semester. Apparently I was exceptionally organized, since it’s clear very few of my student did the same.

The peak was today, when one sent me an email asking if he could still take the test. He admitted that he forgot (which I appreciate) instead of making up a generic dead relative in Mexico (got that one as well, but no response when I asked who), and then whined for 3 back and forth email exchanges to try to get me to let him take the test. I told him that I couldn’t make exceptions. His response was to ask if there was extra credit. (Also mentioned in the syllabus, with the answer being “No”.)

Anyway, I am betting a LOT of them hate me right now. I don’t care. If they complain to my chair, I will tell her the truth; that I refuse to allow them to get away with this type of irresponsible behavior. Their bosses certainly won’t. If she thinks I should, well then that is all for me teaching psych 101. It’s hard enough to read their abysmal writing in the discussion board postings; I will not willingly coddle them to that extent.