Thursday, November 02, 2006

Am I Mean?

Excerpt from e-mail received from a student:
hi, i am ___________, who is in dr ________'s class on mwf, and was wondering if you could tell me which class i am in, because i hear they split them up. thank you.
My response:
Let me be honest. It is ironic that you contacted me, the TA who takes attendance, to ask this as I know that you have not been to class in weeks (and we just entered November). I should point out that the other class split off some time ago, which reveals how long it has been since you've graced us with your presence. So, three observations,

1) Excessive Absences can lead to your being dropped from this class.

2) I have a sneaking suspicion (hint, hint) that you've missed more than the classes splitting.

3) If you are curious as to where you need to be, stop relying on other's information and COME TO CLASS YOURSELF!

Short answer: No, I won't tell you.

See you Friday,
-elle
Student's response:
lol. okay. thank you. see you soon.
The other TA's got a big kick out of this, along the "Wow, you are a hard ass," lines. And when I re-read it, it is a touch snarky. I don't mean to seem like this, it's just that this student missed most of September, all of October (every single day including two tests), and the first day of November. It'd be different if this was "my" class though. The professor is more laid back and forgiving, and I don't want to violate his policy.

What's an elle to do?

7 comments:

Gwyneth Bolton said...

I am laughing my butt off... And that's a lot of laughing. No you aren't mean. That's a great response. And I bet the student still doesn't show up. LOL!

Anonymous said...

i can't belive after that email the student lol-ed you. if she wants to IM language, she should have used the smiley for embarrassed and and the i am lazy face.

Kate said...

Ok, that was AWESOME. And I actually didn't feel as though it was hard-assed. You were demonstrating to her that she had a clear record of absenteeism -- for *months*. That's nuts.

Rick said...

Hi...stumbled onto your blog through the "Next Blog" feature and loved this post.

I work in university administration dealing with these exact same students in a lot of cases. I am also done with my doctoral coursework and moving forward on my dissertation.

Anyway, I love the blog and have similar political leanings, so feel free to check out my "One Little Victory" blog.

Best,

Rick

RageyOne said...

Sounds like a good response to me! Did the student show up?

elle said...

No!

Rick said...

Of course not...and then the student will tell his parents that he failed the course because his instructor was a real b&%$&!

Par for the course...

:-)

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