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Show page 18 lessons, Fail 2003 Editorial: I Before E (Except After...) BY JESSICA DURFEE The thirteenth week of the semester, and after nearly-failing the midterm, a struggling student sends an e-mail: "I've got mono, and my doctor thinks that I won't be able to finish the semester." Is it worthy of an incomplete? How about "It's the only time I can get in for this elective foot surgery?" Or "the wife gave birth three weeks early?" "My mother died in a train wreck in Illinois?" "I need to pick up more hours at work?" I've heard them all. I even had a student take an incomplete because the woman he married in Vegas turned out to be clinically psychotic (politically correct?) and ran off with all of his money and his neighbor. I think she took his dog too. Being a sucker for classic country music lyrics, I gave in. He never completed the work, and "Memento Mori" Vincent Laurensz van der Vinne I (1626-1702) Courtesy Mary Francey at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts now that "I" is an "E." Incompletes are frequently abused and overused. I learned my lesson. I thought I was being an understanding, empathetic, and generous teacher by allowing students to take an incomplete, but in the end I'm hurting them more than helping. Obviously there are situations where an incomplete is necessary, and the student is responsible for the make-up work, but those instances seem to be few and far between. The truth is that many incomplete grades turn into failing grades. According to the University's undergraduate handbook, incompletes are given for work not completed due to circumstances beyond the student's control. "You must be passing the course and have completed at least 80 percent of the required coursework. Arrangements must be made between you and the instructor concerning the completion of the work." Ironically, students expect you to call them at home and remind them that they have to complete their homework. Excuse me! Do I have to remind them to go to the bathroom and wash their hands before lunch? Since when did college become Romper Room? Again, of course not all of the students are like this, but my experience has been limited to such cases. Thus, my refusal to grant an incomplete unless a student is visibly, seriously injured in an unforeseeable accident during the final week of classes. Often we teach the same courses from semester to semester, and if a student has a life-threatening accident at the end of one semester it is easy to invite them to attend the next semester's section to finish up. However, University policy states that students "may not retake a course without paying tuition." If a student attends class during a subsequent term, in an effort to complete the coursework, they must register for the course. Who enforces this? How? In a miraculous alignment of the stars, say a student has completed the necessary work within a year, the instructor is responsible to submit the grade to the Registrar's Office. If the work is not completed the "I" will change to an "E". As human beings, sometimes as parents ourselves, or just as a really sympathetic instructor we can understand a student's dire need for an incomplete. However, unless the student is absolutely, 100 percent certain that they'll discuss a time frame and complete the necessary work within it - encourage them to do their best to complete the semester. |