While we are certainly all discussing attrition and its relationship to the students' stress, I wonder if our own stress as instructors is a factor in our ability to address these issues. It's a difficult line to walk. As the reading points out, we all have stress and different mechanisms for coping with stress. I do all that I can to understand my students' stress, and I make clear to them early on that I have stress, too. I try to avoid statements like "If I can do this, anyone can." But at the same time, I have to maintain a balance that places the responsibility for learning on the student. This is where it is difficult for me to find a happy medium, I suppose. On the one hand, I want to help the students in any way that I can. But on the other hand, I want them to feel a sense of accomplishment. If I know that I the instructor is going to allow me to submit all of my work on the last day of class, how can I feel good about that accomplishment? I hate the word, but "standards" have to be in place, and they have to mean something. Does that include the student's responsibility? Can we make a system that would allow us to know when a student is playing the system and when a student is actually going through a rough patch that we can help him or her through? For instance, recently, I submitted an assignment on day late. Thankfully, I had a very understanding professor who recognized my typical work habits and did not dock me for being late. However, with most of my students, I have no such knowledge. I even heard of one student several years ago who faked cancer to get the professor to allow him to submit late work. So, if there were a system that would allow us to keep track of a student's habits, that would make those decisions easier. Of course, it might also be a FERPA violation, too.