And on My Birthday, Too!

There is this student who is actually quite bright who keeps taking my classes and then disappearing after the first couple of weeks. We have quite a long window of opportunity for students to drop courses with no penalties attached. This semester they had until March 21 to do so, for example. The student in question fails to avail herself of this opportunity. She then emails me either after the end of the semester or, like in this case, two weeks before to ask what she can do to pass the course. Which annoys me greatly because the suggestion that my courses can be passed through handing in a few written assignments by a student who has never been in class is quite offensive.

It's annoying to see otherwise intelligent, promising students self-sabotage in this way. It is equally annoying to have to explain to the same student over and over again that this is not the way to get an education. The most frustrating thing, though, is to see people who, for all means and purposes, are adults act in such an immature way.