Reply #33: While it's possible that he is depressed or overextended or something like

[Lydia Leftcoast]

that, I found that in such cases, the student usually came in and explained the situation: "I have chronic fatigue syndrome." "My dad lost his job and I'm working full-time to support myself." "My mother is dying, and I can't concentrate."

In such cases, I always cut them slack. In fact, I sometimes asked what was going on if the student looked depressed or distracted.

There were plenty of bright but flaky students, too. In some cases, they had simply been over-indulged at home and defended in high school by the type of parent who calls up teachers and accuses them of "picking on" their kid. In other cases, they had gone to a small, undemanding high school where they were never challenged and so developed bad study habits and a sense that one could coast through life.

These were the students who became indignant or evasive if I asked them what was standing in the way of their learning. "Why have you missed two months of class?" "I don't know. I had stuff to do" They got the D or F that they had earned.

At the beginning of the year, I told students that they got one day of "sick leave" for each credit that the class was worth. If they missed additional days without prior permission or a dean's excuse, they got a "zero" for that day. The policy was in writing in the syllabus. You'd be surprised at the number of students who claimed never to have heard of the policy. However, most students accepted it, nodding knowingly when I compared it to the sick leave policies at their parents' places of employment.