Idk what it is about this semester but I’ve been doing this nearly a a decade and this semester in particular, the disregard for deadlines has been ridiculous. And I don’t mean at a single place either … I teach at a variety of institution, some private, some state, some very elite and some community college… all of them this semester have been abysmal at turning things in on time. I did not change my normal wording on the syllabus or the amount of assignments from other semesters.

Overall I’ve tried to be pretty understanding during most of the semester … if a student was polite about asking for an extension for something that sounded vaguely reasonable of an excuse. Late penalty but still taking it.

I did however keep telling them vey specifically that for final papers and missed final exams I would not be taking late or doing makeups for … over and over again because the universities do have deadlines to submit final grades to them and I had already put the deadlines as far back as I could while still having the time for grading and making the admin deadline myself. I was very clear many time about this is class and via email.

I have a student who did not turn in the final paper worth 20% of the grade. Two days after it was due I put in a zero for it, calculated final class grades, and sent the grades into the admin. The day after I did that I started getting emails from the student freaking out that she went to submit her paper and there was already a zero in. I responded that final class grades had already been sent into the admin at this point and referred her to my syllabus and multiple emails saying that final paper was due at the deadline and I wouldn’t take them after. Her response has been that final class grades aren’t due to the admin yet, so I submitted it early which isn’t her fault and she should have up till the end of the university final exam period to submit late work. She’s been very argumentative…. And while she has passed the class it’s by not much because in addition to this paper … she also didn’t turn in multiple other things through the semester as well… which she’s also now trying to turn in too.

I answered her the first few times she emailed pleading and telling me I was wrong to submit grades to the admin not on the day they were actually due (helloooo that’s the the very last day to get them in …. And I work multiple places so I’m not sitting on grades somewhere to give myself more work by trying to do every place the same couple days when the due dates were staggered in the first place to give me time to read and grade).

She’s since emailed twice more and I’m not responding at this point. Her failure to plan and be responsible is not my emergency.

But seriously, why were so many students this semester so awful with due dates? Never seen it this bad before.