No Line Out the Door

So far so good.  In one of my earliest blogs I bemoaned the fact that I dreaded the line of students who line up at my door at the end of each semester looking to lobby for individualized extra credit, take an assignment that was missed at the beginning of the semester, and all sorts of other concessions to improve their grade once they realize that the end is near and not happy about their final grade.  I then decided to do something to end the line and that was to add a policy in my syllabus that stated that students had one week following any assignment missed or not graded to their liking and approach me about it.  Once the week has passed there is no going back.

I put the policy in my spring 2010 syllabus for all the courses I taught that semester and had perhaps one or two students who wanted to try their luck and win special favors to improve their grade.  I simply referred them to the syllabus and that ended the conversation.  Besides it would be unethical of me to give special consideration to improve a grade to one or two students without offering to all students so had no problem enforcing the policy.

I am now in the middle of dead week and happy to report that no line has yet to have formed with even a single student in it outside my door to lobby for special favors. Those who have stopped by are doing so for happy reasons like saying good bye as December grads, thanking me for a good class, wishing me well over break and many other pleasantries.  But there are no students lobbying me for special consideration to change their grade.

I encourage you all to put this policy in your syllabus and let the semester wind down in a peaceful manner as mine is at Purdue and speeding to a blissful winter break.