Little wastes of time

Twice this week I have had students show me that they have enough energy to panic (mildly) over class, but not actually do anything about it, besides send a few emails.

First, there was this student who had barely ever shown up in class, and even gone so far as to miss our recent exam.  It was beautiful.  He had sent me an email the day of the test about how he couldn't be there because he had to cover a shift at his job all of a sudden.  The moment I got that email I knew exactly what grade he would get in the class, assuming he didn't take the hint and drop before the deadline.  I told him he could not make up the exam, and would have to take a zero on it.  He emailed me saying he wanted to "talk about his grade," and asked if he could come by my office and talk.  Great, another one of those annoying conversations.  I'm grateful he didn't schedule a special time to come by, because he never showed up, and never followed up on his email saying he wanted to talk.  I can only wonder if students like this don't drop the class because it takes a tiny bit more effort to fill out the drop form than it does to send of a terribly written two line email.

Along those lines, I never cease to be amazed at how many grammatical and spelling errors a student can manage to cram into such short messages.  It almost seems to border on intentional.  But that assumes they have enough presence of mind to do anything through more than pure instinct and muscle memory.

The other one is more...problematic.  I had another student miss the test, but claim they had a medical emergency.  Unfortunately, school policy forces me to accommodate students if they have (proven) medical excuses.  In a surprise turn of events, this student has been reasonably courteous via email, and the last time we spoke they agreed to take the test after class today.  They would of course take an unpleasant makeup exam, but they would still have a chance to survive the course (albeit a slim one).

But alas, they were not in class today.  Nor did they seem to be around immediately after class.  I am glad of that.  It would have been incredibly insulting had they skipped class, but shown up afterward to take the test.  And yet, later in the day, there is no communication, no information from this student.  I wonder if it penetrates their thick skull that they had an exam officially scheduled and they missed it.  With a paper trail established for the schedule, I have no fear of reprisal for giving them a zero on it.

One less brain dead waste of space in my classroom.  The semester gets better.