excuses for late work
One time I had a student tell me his homework was late because someone bombed his car and you guessed it - his homework was inside!
That is the most strange excuse.
My student's excuse was "I need more time for it so I can get better grade."
It never ceases to amaze me at the stories they come up with.
I struggle with the concept of excepting late assignments and what constitutes an acceptable excuse for being late. Even the training module is somewhat contradictory. It indicated that the instructor should insist that students get their work done on time. I believe it even stated it should be on time...period. Later it gives examples of a policy taking off 20% for each day an assignment is late. If it should be on time...period, taking points off for each day it is late contradicts that line of thinking. I believe that students watch to see how we handle these issues. Stating that an instructor is the "sole arbiter" in deciding whether a late assignment is accepted doesn't take away the students questioning fairness of the implementation of the decision.
I've had a similar excuse multiple time, either the car was stolen, or broken into and all their text books were stolen (because these fetch such a high price on the black market) If something that catasrophic happened then there should be as police report. I always ask for documentation, and when you get that look from them.......then you still state that the project is due, if they can provide viable documentation, then I will consider other options, but it has to be documentation that you can verify. If my students were as creative with their work at times as they are with their excuses, I would see some great projects.
