I can no longer resist. It's not a grandmother, but I found the
following incident rather shocking.
A student who did not want to attend a compulsory field trip came, in
confidence, and explained that she had breast cancer (surprising but not
impossible in one so young - 19yrs). Since she had been caught out
making excuses before she brought in an appointment letter from the
hospital clinic.
Of course you know from the subject heading where this is going. It
turned out that she was not suffering from breast cancer but that her
mother was (at the "usual" age if you'll excuse the term). The student
had taken her mother's appointment letter and altered the names and
dates using modern technology to make it appear that she was the one
suffering.
My colleagues said I should have known.
Cheers
David Gent
<you wrote .....
When I was teaching in graduate school, a student approached me right
before class to explain he had not been in class the week before because
his grandmother had died. I expressed sympathy for his loss and said I
certainly understood the situation because, in fact, I had not been
there the week before either because I was at MY grandmother's funeral
out of state (the truth). I got a blank stare in response. This same
student's father called me some weeks later to complain that I was being
"unreasonable" in not letting his son take a make-up exam when his son
had the mumps at the time of the exam. Although I explained I was
unable to specifically discuss his son's performance in class due to
privacy issues, I let the father know that I did receive a note from his
son that he had the mumps and could not attend class. However, that
note was dated three weeks prior to the test date in question. I asked
in the nicest voice, "Do mumps last three weeks?" A period of silence
followed. I then expressed my sincere condolence to the father for the
loss of his parent. A longer silence followed, with a very
uncomfortable "Well, I don't know anything about that!" Needless to
say, junior didn't get a make-up exam, and his pattern of missing class
came to an abrupt end.
Shelley A. Theno
Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Alaska Southeast
11120 Glacier Highway
Juneau, Alaska 99801-8671
(907) 465-6403
[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--
David L Gent
South Birmingham College
Cole Bank Road
Hall Green
Birmingham
B28 8ES
UK
Telephone: +44 (0)121 694 5030
Facsimile: +44 (0)121 694 5007
Electronic Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
