Susan:
Be honest. You are not convinced he should be "excused", so do not support
the request. We'd all like to delete bad semesters. Perhaps there are some
circumstances that make such a policy useful, but if you cannot easily
convinvce yourself that rule applies in this case, politely decline the
invitation to write the letter.
Susan Freedman wrote:
> Hello -
> I am hoping that some of my more experienced colleagues can offer me some
> advice regarding a student request.
>
> The student in question has written me regarding a class he took from
> me more than 4 years ago. the student is now requesting that I write a
> letter supporting a retroactive drop of a poor semester, because he failed
> the other classes which he took that semester. I've never heard of a
> retroactive drop of a bad semsester.
>
> This student was very disruptive during the classes which he attended,
> which were few. a large part of the grade was based on participation which
> included attendending and contributing in a constructive manner to
> discussions and class exercises. I remember having a conversation with him
> at that time suggesting that he was overcomitted and should drop his
> courses (since he was doing so poorly) I was new to teaching and had a
> very small class and gave him a passing grade - though he should have
> failed altogether.
>
> My difficulty with this is that I don't really approve of a retroactive
> dropping of a poor semester four years later. It seems like one more
> example of lowering the academic expectations, making excuses for students
> etc.
> On the other hand, perhaps I'm just jealous - there are a few semseters
> which I'd like to retroactively drop myself.
--
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John W. Kulig [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Psychology http://oz.plymouth.edu/~kulig
Plymouth State College tel: (603) 535-2468
Plymouth NH USA 03264 fax: (603) 535-2412
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"What a man often sees he does not wonder at, although he knows
not why it happens; if something occurs which he has not seen before,
he thinks it is a marvel" - Cicero.
