Last week of school

Today was the start of dead week. Based on class attendance, today may be an extension of the Thanksgiving weekend. Based on my email inbox, it is also the first time many of the students looked at their grades. Regardless of how many times I tell them that the time to be concerned about grades is the first day of class and not the last week of class for the semester, they don’t listen. I received over 50 emails just today, and over 150 over the weekend. Yes, there is extra credit and it is posted online, exactly where it was the first day of the semester. Yes, the quizzes in the book count toward your quiz grade. No, late or missed assignments cannot be turned in for credit. Read the syllabus; there is no late. I have learned that you cannot get everyone to do the work so that they pass the course. Many are outstanding students and understand that to get a good grade all that is required is to show up and do the work. Since I have many freshmen, I can see that many are not ready to be taking university classes. It makes me wonder if we had universal military service like Germany, Israel, Turkey, and Korea, to name a few, would that extra time and discipline make more students ready for college. I don’t expect we will ever find out. I can tell you that the ones that did military service before college are outstanding students.