I'm Busy

[Miss Fatale]

I recently wrote about several students who all told me, "I don't want to do that" about their various assignments.

I'm now getting a lot of variations on that old chestnut, "I'm busy."

Sure, students tell me that all throughout the year. Many take pride in just how busy they are, detailing their many stresses in their introductions and elsewhere -- looking after kids or relatives, working multiple jobs, etc.

Of course, this time of year, people are especially busy, preparing for the holidays and whatnot.

But I'm afraid that's not a reason to be excused from doing work or turning it in late. I know this will sound crazy, but we're all busy. I teach at a school that caters specifically to working adults. Nearly everyone chose this school because they are busy -- if they weren't busy, they'd go to a "normal" school.

Interestingly, when I relate this to my friends, they often reply, "Oh, young students are so entitled these days." My class ranges in age from 18 - 45, and I hear the "I'm busy" excuse far more often from my older students.

I'm sorry you're so busy, but I'm afraid that doesn't make you special.

[kansasgal]

I can agree with you. I'm busy too..I attend school full time, have a job, take care of a disabled husband and child..and yet I get all of my homework turned in on time. I'm 51, and I have heard the "I'm busy" excuse from people my own age and I tell them it's bunk.

If you have the time to go to school, you have the time to do the work. Nothing gets me angrier then a professor who assigns something that hardly anyone does, and then he gives the others extra time...if you were going to do that, what incentive does it give the rest of us to do our work on time?

[AccountingDrone]

Sorry, very little sympathy *unless* the cause is something that just happened.

I got a syllabus that had an assignment list along with it. I *knew* when my papers were due, and when my tests were. I planned my life around getting my homework done, and I worked a full time job through college, and on breaks and summers I worked a second part time job. Only test and paper that I did not manage to complete on schedule I broke an ankle and was in hospital at the time. I managed to call my prof and arrange to delay the due date and test for a week until I was out and hobbling around.

[Web_Pict]

Well, I just love it when I'm given a deadline. If I don't have a date for things to be done, they might not be done by then. But having a deadline makes me work through night if necessary. I do have other things to do, but I'll work them out some other time then.
And if I'm really busy, I'll point it out before I take the assigment, not when it should be ready...

[notlovinit]

You are a professor at a college or university right?
I can't believe the things your students tell you. I was always afraid to ask my professors for extra time, even when an emergency came up and I knew they would be okay with it. That's just how I am.
I started university at 16 and I just got my B.S. (WOOO!!!!) this semester and I never once asked a teacher for an extension or to get out of an assignment. If I couldn't get it done, I took the F I rightfully deserved. Do your students also ask for extensions on taking tests too?
I just cannot fathom this thinking.
I do know that sometimes I would get a professor that would cancel assignments or tests because s/he was too busy, but it never worked the other way.

[Eisa]

-blinks- Wow. Seriously? Sometimes my professors would extend a deadline, like "if you haven't got it done, get it to me by 5 pm today and there won't be a late penalty" but that was it. But I'm pretty sure if I had tried saying, "But I'm busy!" They would have been like, "So? So is everyone else."

[manybellsdown]

I've been back in school for two years now. Last Spring semester, I had a full course load. I had some minor surgery over spring break. Well, said minor surgery turned out to be a little more complicated - it was thyroid cancer, and I had to have a second surgery and radiation treatment.

That semester, I rescheduled one exam, and submitted one late paper. I had no problem with losing points on the paper, but I'd had that professor before and she knew I'd have to be pretty ill to turn in anything late so she didn't dock me. I had straight As, and my math professor said I had the best grade anyone had ever had in his class.

Okay I'm bragging a little, but if I can do that (and I'm kind of a lazy-ass), I figure anyone else can just get shit done. (Also I'm perfectly fine now. Totally cancer-free.)

[PepperElf]

You know... For people like that I'd say... one of my best teachers has an awesome policy for that.


Late = 0

No exceptions. Well ok, she's not *totally* mean. If you were late because you were hit by a car or something like that I'm sure she'd cut you a break.

But if your excuse was just "Yeah I'm busy" then you get the grade you earn. A big fat zero.





and since that policy is printed in her class curriculum and told to us on day one (plus she's the dept head)... yeah, no way around it either.

[fireheart]

I started university at 16 and I just got my B.S. (WOOO!!!!) this semester and I never once asked a teacher for an extension or to get out of an assignment. If I couldn't get it done, I took the F I rightfully deserved. Do your students also ask for extensions on taking tests too?

I had to ask for a few extensions here and there due to having a mental health breakdown partway through the semester.

Interestingly, when I relate this to my friends, they often reply, "Oh, young students are so entitled these days." My class ranges in age from 18 - 45, and I hear the "I'm busy" excuse far more often from my older students.

In regards to your friend, I have one thing to say to that:

[Aethian]

Huh, my Mom had a knee replacement and still got all of her work done. And the German professor was nice enough to proctor the test to her at the rehab home.

[Dreamstalker]

I fell a bit behind in one of my classes when I got my job (mid-October) and the boss forgot about my schedule restrictions around Thanksgiving.

Luckily, the professor understood the situation (I told her what was happening right when I knew I was falling behind) and enacted "homework amnesty" for the entire class--as long as we sought her out by December 1st to find out what was missing, we could submit the late assignments up until the last official class with no penalties. So I was able to pull my grade up by quite a bit (wound up with a B; mom started in about how I should have gotten an A, but I know what happened and am happy with my grade).

[BlaqueKatt]

I'm now getting a lot of variations on that old chestnut, "I'm busy."<snip>But I'm afraid that's not a reason to be excused from doing work or turning it in late. I know this will sound crazy, but we're all busy.

seriously do they not realize that while they have to write ONE paper/finish ONE assignment, you have to read and grade at least 30x times that!? PER CLASS!

Personally I'd let them turn it in, make them wait a week longer than everyone else to get their "F" and explain, well when you turned in your ONE paper, I was "busy" reading and grading the on time papers, all 654679871 of them,

[Miss Fatale]

Someone had asked -- yes, I do teach at a college; these are adult college students, not high school students or anything.

As per department policy, my class does allow late work, and all assignments are available starting on Day 1. And if someone has an issue (illness, accident, whatever), they can certainly talk to me and perhaps work out an alternate deadline or something.

I try not to compare myself to my students, since you can never know what is going on in someone else's life. In 7 years of school (undergrad and grad), I asked for just 2 extensions. But perhaps I was lucky.

That said, given that students are able to work ahead and I remind them "Hey, work ahead, turn work in early if you can" -- well, I don't have a lot of sympathy.

But there are lots of stories here about people who wait until the last minute; I know it's not just my students.

[Primer]

I started university at 16 and I just got my B.S. (WOOO!!!!) this semester

You know... For people like that I'd say... one of my best teachers has an awesome policy for that.


Late = 0

No exceptions. Well ok, she's not *totally* mean. If you were late because you were hit by a car or something like that I'm sure she'd cut you a break.

But if your excuse was just "Yeah I'm busy" then you get the grade you earn. A big fat zero.

and since that policy is printed in her class curriculum and told to us on day one (plus she's the dept head)... yeah, no way around it either.

<Primer double checks--nope, still not dept head.>
This is my published policy, also. I may bend just a little bit, depending on the particular situation, but "too busy"--nope, too bad, so sad, big ol' goose egg.

seriously do they not realize that while they have to write ONE paper/finish ONE assignment, you have to read and grade at least 30x times that!? PER CLASS!

Personally I'd let them turn it in, make them wait a week longer than everyone else to get their "F" and explain, well when you turned in your ONE paper, I was "busy" reading and grading the on time papers, all 654679871 of them,

Those of my cohorts who choose to allow late work tend to do this.

Someone had asked -- yes, I do teach at a college; these are adult college students, not high school students or anything.

That said, given that students are able to work ahead and I remind them "Hey, work ahead, turn work in early if you can" -- well, I don't have a lot of sympathy.

Welcome to the club. My first day handouts include a detailed schedule and homework assignments for the whole semester. I'm lucky if I can get anybody to READ the sections before coming to class. This past semester was the worst one in just over 20 years. I had one class of 30 students of whom only 3 passed the course, with the grade of "C". Usually, I'll see 4-5 "A"s, 3-4 "B"s, 7-8 "C"s, 5-6 "D"s, and the rest "F"s.

[simplyanother]

This last semester, I had one research paper to do. As soon as the information was available, I was excited, because it was an interesting topic (and one that I wasn't completely unfamiliar with). Then, life sort of took hold, and I found myself coming up on a week or so before it was due, and hadn't started it at all. And I looked at the other courses I had, and the grades I needed, and decided not to do it. Yes, my grade suffered, but it was my own fault, and I didn't ask the instructor for any special treatment or anything like that. I didn't even really explain it, because I didn't want it to seem like I was fishing for sympathy, or a pass, if that makes any sense. I'm still pissed off at myself for running out of time like that, but meh, I had other things going on, and that's what took a backseat. Happened a lot this semester, but that was my own fault.