Most elderly fear pneumonia and broken hips. The sensible ones fear final exam times, as their grandchildren hastily dispatch them.
Ah, the “my grandmother died” excuse. What is a teacher to do?
A colleague many years ago told me he always accepted the student’s report of a death. And then always sent a sympathy card to the family. If the death really happened, he often received a kind thank-you note. If there was no death, well… One student’s parents were so mad at their child that they pulled him out of school. Win-win for the instructor.
That is dabozak’s comment on chronicle.com, via James Choi.
I will take the advice under consideration. I think the pre-announced intention to send condolence cards would be preventative measure enough.
4 Responses
I just ask students what paper the obituary was in.
Ugh, I think sending a family a condolence card with an ulterior motive (no matter what that ulterior motive is) is appalling. The irony is, going to such great lengths to make sure that no student every pulls one over on you is ultimately much more childish than what the students are doing.
It also seems kind of funny.
True story: I know a woman who used to ask for extensions using the excuse, “because my grandmother died,” which she was careful to phrase in exactly that way. Her grandmother had died when she was like 10 years old.