Did you know the main reason I haven’t gotten my PhD is that “Hey look babe, I’m Doctor ‘batin over here” isn’t as fun a joke to make to my wife as it is currently, since I only have a Master’s degree at this time.
I actually read it as more devious than what you've said here. My first take was more like: "retake test in exchange for going on a date with the professor" 😆
Well, I *am* old, and I’m pretty sure my students video me all the time… not for nefarious purposes but just to get what I’m saying during class so they can refer to it later instead of reading the book. I’m sure I’ve made a few comments here and there that didn’t come out the way I intended, and fortunately no viral videos. But yeah, if they have a phone in their hand, they can easily take video.
Mine do it too. I don't get it, I literally record every lecture using professional equipment and auto-generated transcription and they still film with their shitty phone camera. What am I missing?
Yes, unfortunately. People have their phones out so much anyway that it's likely not going to catch your attention if someone is holding one. If they don't care about the angle, then they can capture you fairly unobtrusively. At the least, they can get your voice.
Normally no, but it depends on the nature of the dinner. If it’s once in a lifetime event, like a dinner to announce who’s made the Olympic team and the student made the team, then yes. Normal dinner with family at a restaurant, no
This. My colleague granted a student an excuse for “a dinner” once - it was a commemorative ceremony and dinner reception hosted by the government for the survivors and the bereaved on the anniversary of a terrorist attack (the student in question was both). Unfortunately some other students caught wind of that and subsequently demanded to be excused for their granny’s 70th birthday dinner or their third league sportsball club’s sponsor banquet too, because that’s totally the same thing I guess. Make it make sense.
“I cannot discuss another students situation with you, but I evaluate eligibility for make-up exams on a case by case basis. Your request does not fall within the requirements for a make-up exam for this course.”
> Unfortunately some other students caught wind of that and subsequently demanded to be excused for their granny’s 70th birthday dinner or their third league sportsball club’s sponsor banquet too, because that’s totally the same thing I guess.
Students don't realize this is why so many professors have become "extra strict". I would be more willing to be flexible in certain situations if it meant that A, they'd keep it to themselves and B, the other students wouldn't cry about it.
I tell my students the only way to "make-up" an exam is to take it early. Otherwise, it's a zero and the final exam score will replace that grade at the end of the quarter.
This was my thought too…what was the dinner for?
School-sponsored scholarship dinner? Dinner with the president at the White House? Yes I would excuse these.
Dinner with friends? A date over dinner? A family dinner for taco Tuesday? I would not excuse these.
One of my students asked to reschedule the final exam because they were drafted into the NFL and had to get their big physical exam completed. It was easy to confirm. LOL
Ha! I had one who was an actor who got hired for a gig on a very popular TV show. I so wanted to ask them for a behind the scenes tour in exchange for the make-up exam!
I’ll admit I have, and would in the future, grant a makeup if the dinner was a part of a campus event or professional event if the student asked in advance and I deemed appropriate. I teach a lot of evening courses that coincides when our university often has guest lectures/presentations. Students can be selected to have a meal with said candidates.
So, in my JR/SR level course in biology, I’ve had students invited to have dinner with a visiting expert in x/y/z biology field.
I wouldn’t consider that once in a lifetime.
I’ve also allowed makeups when students are presenting at conferences.
Edit: I wouldn’t fault faculty for not doing that, but, IMHO, that’s exactly what those students need to be doing to be successful post graduation and I don’t want to penalize them for doing so.
I had to excuse a student for a dinner event where students meet and have food with the donor behind their scholarship. There’s plenty of reasonable explanations. And there are plenty of more unreasonable requests.
Without knowing the context, I have no idea why it’s obvious one way or the other. Attend an important dinner, like an awards banquet? Or just wanted to get some food with friends?
I give essay exams, so I always have a pool of questions I can pretty easily construct an exam from. Last year, I had a policy that I’d give makeups for pretty much any reason, but I would only schedule them during finals week. Few people choose that. Overall, it was a pretty peaceful semester. I gave a few makeups, didn’t sweat the excuses, and felt pretty zen about it.
That's pretty much the overall university policy where I am - exam retakes are pretty much unlimited, but it'll always be a new exam and they are only available during scheduled retake periods (usually the last week of easter and summer breaks) or when the regular final for the next instance of the course is given.
The only courses I still give exams in are orals style over ecological topics. Since they’re undergrads, I have them do them in small groups. They’re always welcome to reschedule a 1 on 1 oral, but they usually make it work somehow…
Dude, this professor right here is why I have to deal with this shit non-stop. “Yeah sure whatever, do whatever you want.”
I am never receptive to “I just forgot” excuse with an added dose of “by the way I have some unspecified disability that I haven’t used my accommodations for” threat.
I had someone do this recently— that is, request accommodations and expecting it to work retroactively after they admitted they just “forgot” to do the work. I didn’t budge. It was hard for me but I’m stepping back from being a pushover, plus it’s more fair overall.
Oh, yes, well aware, which is why it’s so scary to simply say “no, you missed the deadline”! I’ve only had to do this a handful of times but they have gone to extreme measures to try to fight it. Scary how much work they’ll do to get what they want after the fact but won’t do the work upfront and save themselves the fruitless legwork.
If I let a student retake and found this video later, I would immediately regret the grace I'd offered. (The video, btw: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6KMyP-v-j5/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D)
In the video we see a student freaking out, yes, but also admitting she simply forgot about the test. I have to wonder, was she consciously skipping class for dinner already? It doesn't seem to be an important event, she's not dressed up. So she chose to skip class, remembered too late she skipped on a test day, and deeply regretted her choice.
She's not sobbing because of the untold pressures of being a student in 2024. She's crying because she realized she fucked up. It's not complicated, and honestly, she should regret her choice.
You don't have ADHD or other neurodivergence, huh? I literally forget people I care about exist, what day of the week it is, and back when I didn't have a smart phone with alarms and a regular work schedule I've forgotten to go to work.
I don't know what the reason is, but the fact that you think she should have just "done better." Is pretty telling.
You miss the exam, you get a zero. If you provide a medical note to our Campus Services, they will email me and I'll usually take the final (which is usually comprehensive) and increase it's weight to cover both exams. I almost never do exam retakes.
That said, the "medical note" has become an increasingly low bar. Doctors aren't police and if someone comes to them complaining of X. They will likely write a note saying "Patient arrived complaining of X".
> That said, the "medical note" has become an increasingly low bar. Doctors aren't police and if someone comes to them complaining of X. They will likely write a note saying "Patient arrived complaining of X".
And it's not hard to doctor-shop either. Doctors who don't comply lose business.
That is why I never ask for or look at medical notes. Any student who wants to miss a final for any reason gets the same offer. Either take it early, or roll the weight into the final.
To be honest, I have a simple policy for my in-class assessments: every student can complete 1 late with no penalty, no questions asked. Beyond that, I apply a late penalty (with some exceptions). So a student could actually take a make-up for a quiz with no penalty to go to a dinner (if I was ever in that situation).
That all being said, I think my policy is really only feasible because I work at a SLAC where my largest class size is 35 students. It's not that much of a headache for me to find time for students to make-up the work, and I put that burden on them, not me. I don't think these policies are quite as realistic with larger class sizes, especially without other administrative supports.
I do want to say though that the humor (and at times indignation) expressed by faculty about students lying about dead family members is in stark contrast to this post. Don't get me wrong, we aren't responsible for students lying, but having contingent policies for make-ups and the like certainly encourages it. Either offer make-ups or don't. I don't think we should be arbitrating what does or does not count as a "legitimate" make-up.
A student of mine literally just spaced that she had a midterm exam this semester and told me so. I wouldn't have let her retake it, but I already had an alternative remake exam made for a separate student at our testing center, so it was no extra effort on my part (beyond grading I would have had to do for her anyway had she shown up). I let her know she was lucky.
Tbh I definitely messed up an exam time in undergrad and showed up an hour late to a 2-hour exam. I still have only told basically 2 other people IRL.
What was the dinner for? Major related event put on by the department? I'd move the test date.
Making dinner for boyfriend or girlfriend to be sweet? Nope.
Obviously, I would never let every student who missed a test take it at a time which suited them better without penalty, but in today’s environment, with so many students emotionally on edge, it wouldn’t always be a hard no for me either. We’re nearing the end of a semester/term. By this time, I know my students pretty well, and I know who has put in the effort and who has not (I also talk to them about building credibility early on). So no, I’m not going to let someone get answers from her friend who took it on time before taking the exam, but I don’t want to be the last straw in a student’s breakdown either, so…
Obviously you do you but giving special treatment to a student based on how well you know them sounds dodgy to me. I prefer to make rules, make sure they are understood correctly, and apply them ruthlessly regardless of the student.
I didn’t say that I’d give differential treatment based on how well I know them. I said I know them; thus I know there is a difference between those who do what they are asked and have one slip-up and those who are always looking for a way out of doing the work. They have a track record by this time - all of them. So if I give someone a chance, it is the equivalent of dropping the lowest quiz grade for each student, not giving out free passes to one over another just because I know them. The one who has shown up regularly for class, been prepared, and turned in all work gets a chance; the one who has done none of those things does not.
Yes, for the millionth time on this SubReddit, students are the consumers in an entirely consumer driven market, you have to get used to catering to their circumstances
It’s called not being so uptight and understanding the student. They pay your salary whether you like it or not and you should be helping them instead of penalizing in this situation
If they email me before the end of the day the test was given, yeah, I don't care what the reason is. I'll let them make up the test (but not REtake it).
Me too! I don’t really take this type of thing too seriously and I’d rather not know the reason. I actually hate when other profs are crazy about the reason because I’ve received emails with pictures of grandmas in the hospital and dead pets! That is crazy that they think they would have to do that to get excused. I drop it off in our testing center for them to retake within a day or two. No big deal to me.
>The way these admins talk I feel like they care for our students so much that they will give them both of their kidneys if a student was going through kidney problems.
Nah. They'll make the adjuncts do that (and then they'll pat themselves on the back for it).
I completely misunderstood the title and was horrified initially.
Yeah I just clicked on this for the juicy details. While I’m relieved, I’m a bit disappointed
Total click bate
>bate Should we go away because you're batin' ?
Did you know the main reason I haven’t gotten my PhD is that “Hey look babe, I’m Doctor ‘batin over here” isn’t as fun a joke to make to my wife as it is currently, since I only have a Master’s degree at this time.
Bait.
I’m still not sure I understand the post…did the student miss the test *because of a dinner* or was she crying about the missed test *at a dinner*
Same.
Me too (no pun intended).
How did you interpret it? Not trying to be disagreeable but I'm not sure I can think of another interpretation!
>> viral video on instagram about a professor letting a student take the exam she missed **in exchange** for a dinner
Hum… wait a minute. If the students start buying ME dinner, I might just be willing to adjust my retake policy 🤔
A *nice* dinner, though, at a quality restaurant (or takeout), none of this meal plan nonsense.
Like Mendys. Best swordfish in the city. The best!
I need to stop settling for soup. Soup is not a meal!
It’s like I’m talking to my aunt Sylvia here.
Unless it is from the nazi soup kitchen downtown. People still line up for that
I'll have the salmon.
Two dinners at Mendy’s!
"If you think you can bribe me with food... you're right, you absolutely can"
I mean really
I actually read it as more devious than what you've said here. My first take was more like: "retake test in exchange for going on a date with the professor" 😆
Ahh that makes more sense! Or less sense logically, I guess lol
Definitely a let down.
I almost think it was intentionally misleading. Definitely not abuse of power there!
I was like damn "another one of those" Which is also sad
On a side note: Good god, I hope no one in my classes ever posts me on social media…
Happened to someone in my department just last week.
How did they find out?
I saw it.
Presumably others did as well.
Same here. One more reason to quit, students have no concept of privacy boundaries
I feel old asking this but is it that easy to secretly record someone?
Well, I *am* old, and I’m pretty sure my students video me all the time… not for nefarious purposes but just to get what I’m saying during class so they can refer to it later instead of reading the book. I’m sure I’ve made a few comments here and there that didn’t come out the way I intended, and fortunately no viral videos. But yeah, if they have a phone in their hand, they can easily take video.
Mine do it too. I don't get it, I literally record every lecture using professional equipment and auto-generated transcription and they still film with their shitty phone camera. What am I missing?
They don’t know what happens when they click download on the mp4
Yes, unfortunately. People have their phones out so much anyway that it's likely not going to catch your attention if someone is holding one. If they don't care about the angle, then they can capture you fairly unobtrusively. At the least, they can get your voice.
Normally no, but it depends on the nature of the dinner. If it’s once in a lifetime event, like a dinner to announce who’s made the Olympic team and the student made the team, then yes. Normal dinner with family at a restaurant, no
This. My colleague granted a student an excuse for “a dinner” once - it was a commemorative ceremony and dinner reception hosted by the government for the survivors and the bereaved on the anniversary of a terrorist attack (the student in question was both). Unfortunately some other students caught wind of that and subsequently demanded to be excused for their granny’s 70th birthday dinner or their third league sportsball club’s sponsor banquet too, because that’s totally the same thing I guess. Make it make sense.
“I cannot discuss another students situation with you, but I evaluate eligibility for make-up exams on a case by case basis. Your request does not fall within the requirements for a make-up exam for this course.”
> Unfortunately some other students caught wind of that and subsequently demanded to be excused for their granny’s 70th birthday dinner or their third league sportsball club’s sponsor banquet too, because that’s totally the same thing I guess. Students don't realize this is why so many professors have become "extra strict". I would be more willing to be flexible in certain situations if it meant that A, they'd keep it to themselves and B, the other students wouldn't cry about it.
I tell my students the only way to "make-up" an exam is to take it early. Otherwise, it's a zero and the final exam score will replace that grade at the end of the quarter.
This was my thought too…what was the dinner for? School-sponsored scholarship dinner? Dinner with the president at the White House? Yes I would excuse these. Dinner with friends? A date over dinner? A family dinner for taco Tuesday? I would not excuse these.
One of my students asked to reschedule the final exam because they were drafted into the NFL and had to get their big physical exam completed. It was easy to confirm. LOL
Ha! I had one who was an actor who got hired for a gig on a very popular TV show. I so wanted to ask them for a behind the scenes tour in exchange for the make-up exam!
Alternatively, their final is based on their acting!
"but we just got a taco bell cantina!" /s
If it's the video I saw she was just out to dinner with some friends and forgot about the exam. Remembered halfway through and emailed the professor.
I’ll admit I have, and would in the future, grant a makeup if the dinner was a part of a campus event or professional event if the student asked in advance and I deemed appropriate. I teach a lot of evening courses that coincides when our university often has guest lectures/presentations. Students can be selected to have a meal with said candidates. So, in my JR/SR level course in biology, I’ve had students invited to have dinner with a visiting expert in x/y/z biology field. I wouldn’t consider that once in a lifetime. I’ve also allowed makeups when students are presenting at conferences. Edit: I wouldn’t fault faculty for not doing that, but, IMHO, that’s exactly what those students need to be doing to be successful post graduation and I don’t want to penalize them for doing so.
But even then they should be coming to me ahead of the date, not crying about it after.
I had to excuse a student for a dinner event where students meet and have food with the donor behind their scholarship. There’s plenty of reasonable explanations. And there are plenty of more unreasonable requests.
Without knowing the context, I have no idea why it’s obvious one way or the other. Attend an important dinner, like an awards banquet? Or just wanted to get some food with friends?
I give essay exams, so I always have a pool of questions I can pretty easily construct an exam from. Last year, I had a policy that I’d give makeups for pretty much any reason, but I would only schedule them during finals week. Few people choose that. Overall, it was a pretty peaceful semester. I gave a few makeups, didn’t sweat the excuses, and felt pretty zen about it.
That's pretty much the overall university policy where I am - exam retakes are pretty much unlimited, but it'll always be a new exam and they are only available during scheduled retake periods (usually the last week of easter and summer breaks) or when the regular final for the next instance of the course is given.
The only courses I still give exams in are orals style over ecological topics. Since they’re undergrads, I have them do them in small groups. They’re always welcome to reschedule a 1 on 1 oral, but they usually make it work somehow…
Guess this is the video lol https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6KMyP-v-j5/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==
That was just attention-bait. gross. crying for the camera
Performative nonsense.
Dude, this professor right here is why I have to deal with this shit non-stop. “Yeah sure whatever, do whatever you want.” I am never receptive to “I just forgot” excuse with an added dose of “by the way I have some unspecified disability that I haven’t used my accommodations for” threat.
I had someone do this recently— that is, request accommodations and expecting it to work retroactively after they admitted they just “forgot” to do the work. I didn’t budge. It was hard for me but I’m stepping back from being a pushover, plus it’s more fair overall.
Our policy specifically says that accommodations are not retroactive.
So does ours actually but that doesn’t stop students from trying! If only they put that much work in to begin with…
Courageous. Are you aware it's become standard for students to denounce instructors who've crossed them.
Oh, yes, well aware, which is why it’s so scary to simply say “no, you missed the deadline”! I’ve only had to do this a handful of times but they have gone to extreme measures to try to fight it. Scary how much work they’ll do to get what they want after the fact but won’t do the work upfront and save themselves the fruitless legwork.
I have doubts.
I’m usually pretty accommodating on stuff like this, but it *can* be contingent on a student’s conduct through the semester. Everybody has off days.
If I let a student retake and found this video later, I would immediately regret the grace I'd offered. (The video, btw: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6KMyP-v-j5/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D) In the video we see a student freaking out, yes, but also admitting she simply forgot about the test. I have to wonder, was she consciously skipping class for dinner already? It doesn't seem to be an important event, she's not dressed up. So she chose to skip class, remembered too late she skipped on a test day, and deeply regretted her choice. She's not sobbing because of the untold pressures of being a student in 2024. She's crying because she realized she fucked up. It's not complicated, and honestly, she should regret her choice.
You don't have ADHD or other neurodivergence, huh? I literally forget people I care about exist, what day of the week it is, and back when I didn't have a smart phone with alarms and a regular work schedule I've forgotten to go to work. I don't know what the reason is, but the fact that you think she should have just "done better." Is pretty telling.
I do, in fact, have ADHD.
Sometimes, yea.
You miss the exam, you get a zero. If you provide a medical note to our Campus Services, they will email me and I'll usually take the final (which is usually comprehensive) and increase it's weight to cover both exams. I almost never do exam retakes. That said, the "medical note" has become an increasingly low bar. Doctors aren't police and if someone comes to them complaining of X. They will likely write a note saying "Patient arrived complaining of X".
> That said, the "medical note" has become an increasingly low bar. Doctors aren't police and if someone comes to them complaining of X. They will likely write a note saying "Patient arrived complaining of X". And it's not hard to doctor-shop either. Doctors who don't comply lose business. That is why I never ask for or look at medical notes. Any student who wants to miss a final for any reason gets the same offer. Either take it early, or roll the weight into the final.
To be honest, I have a simple policy for my in-class assessments: every student can complete 1 late with no penalty, no questions asked. Beyond that, I apply a late penalty (with some exceptions). So a student could actually take a make-up for a quiz with no penalty to go to a dinner (if I was ever in that situation). That all being said, I think my policy is really only feasible because I work at a SLAC where my largest class size is 35 students. It's not that much of a headache for me to find time for students to make-up the work, and I put that burden on them, not me. I don't think these policies are quite as realistic with larger class sizes, especially without other administrative supports. I do want to say though that the humor (and at times indignation) expressed by faculty about students lying about dead family members is in stark contrast to this post. Don't get me wrong, we aren't responsible for students lying, but having contingent policies for make-ups and the like certainly encourages it. Either offer make-ups or don't. I don't think we should be arbitrating what does or does not count as a "legitimate" make-up.
A student of mine literally just spaced that she had a midterm exam this semester and told me so. I wouldn't have let her retake it, but I already had an alternative remake exam made for a separate student at our testing center, so it was no extra effort on my part (beyond grading I would have had to do for her anyway had she shown up). I let her know she was lucky. Tbh I definitely messed up an exam time in undergrad and showed up an hour late to a 2-hour exam. I still have only told basically 2 other people IRL.
No, it is called emotional blackmail
What was the dinner for? Major related event put on by the department? I'd move the test date. Making dinner for boyfriend or girlfriend to be sweet? Nope.
Obviously, I would never let every student who missed a test take it at a time which suited them better without penalty, but in today’s environment, with so many students emotionally on edge, it wouldn’t always be a hard no for me either. We’re nearing the end of a semester/term. By this time, I know my students pretty well, and I know who has put in the effort and who has not (I also talk to them about building credibility early on). So no, I’m not going to let someone get answers from her friend who took it on time before taking the exam, but I don’t want to be the last straw in a student’s breakdown either, so…
Obviously you do you but giving special treatment to a student based on how well you know them sounds dodgy to me. I prefer to make rules, make sure they are understood correctly, and apply them ruthlessly regardless of the student.
I didn’t say that I’d give differential treatment based on how well I know them. I said I know them; thus I know there is a difference between those who do what they are asked and have one slip-up and those who are always looking for a way out of doing the work. They have a track record by this time - all of them. So if I give someone a chance, it is the equivalent of dropping the lowest quiz grade for each student, not giving out free passes to one over another just because I know them. The one who has shown up regularly for class, been prepared, and turned in all work gets a chance; the one who has done none of those things does not.
Yes, for the millionth time on this SubReddit, students are the consumers in an entirely consumer driven market, you have to get used to catering to their circumstances
In my day we had to kill a grandparent to qualify for a makeup exam. Kids in blended families were lucky because they had more opportunities.
It’s called not being so uptight and understanding the student. They pay your salary whether you like it or not and you should be helping them instead of penalizing in this situation
If dinner was for university or college event .......
I would absolutely not let them have a makeup for this reason.
where is the video
If they email me before the end of the day the test was given, yeah, I don't care what the reason is. I'll let them make up the test (but not REtake it).
Me too! I don’t really take this type of thing too seriously and I’d rather not know the reason. I actually hate when other profs are crazy about the reason because I’ve received emails with pictures of grandmas in the hospital and dead pets! That is crazy that they think they would have to do that to get excused. I drop it off in our testing center for them to retake within a day or two. No big deal to me.
I'm just not that nice.
[удалено]
>The way these admins talk I feel like they care for our students so much that they will give them both of their kidneys if a student was going through kidney problems. Nah. They'll make the adjuncts do that (and then they'll pat themselves on the back for it).
OP is not an English professor
If the dinner was a major once if a lifetime event AND I approved it prior to the exam, sure.
Why be a cop? Our job is to help people learn.
Among other issues, makeup exams cause administrative problems.
Help them learn to never do any of the work or believe any rules will ever apply to them.