I visited the University of Lethbridge campus in Edmonton yesterday where the Journal proclaimed on its front page, "No-Zero Policy Gives Students A Do-Over." It appears that a number of junior high and high schools in the provincial capital support teachers in giving multiple extensions so to avoid letting students "off the hook from learning the material" in classes.
Well, I am not sure that I can always make such an easy connection between completing assignments and learning the material. What I mean to say is that I recognize that people who have not undertaken assessment exercises have learned things, just as I recognize that people sometimes submit course requirements that reflect no learning at all.
But this explanation is really a red herring. As Jean Stiles, Principal of Jasper Place High School, admits, students who fall behind and conclude that they cannot catch up are in danger of not coming to school. "Life gets in the way sometimes," Ms Stiles concludes. You cannot finish reading Edmonton Journal coverage and conclude anything but that this policy has been adopted, first and foremost, in order to avoid discouraging students. Scratch a little deeper, and I have no doubt you will find an unwillingness to confront students for fear of chasing them off into the streets while their parents are at work.
Corrie Ziegler, of Edmonton Public schools, pooh-poohs any suggestion that such leniency fails to prepare teenagers for the real world. She uses the example of a driving test that can be taken until passed. I would like to think that my life is a little more representative of adult life than a driving test, so please allow me to review the recent deadlines with which I have been involved:
Final examinations ended at the University of Lethbridge on Tuesday, April 28. Professors were required to submit their grades to their chairs and coordinators by Thursday, May 1, so that my office could process them for the Registrar by the next day. Transcripts were run on Monday, May 4, in advance of committee meetings to prepare a list of graduates on Tuesday. The Faculty of Arts and Science approved this list on Thursday, May 7. Almost all these deadlines were met by everyone involved, and the spirit of goodwill rooted in an acknowledgment that almost everyone tried to meet these commitments allowed multiple people to accommodate those individuals who could not, for good reason, keep to the deadlines.
Is this not what the school policy is missing? Not all excuses are created equal. I took a lot of heat in international media coverage for writing in this space last year that I would accept late papers only with a doctor's note. This was, and is, my way of acknowledging that students who are sick deserve more latitude than students who cannot manage their time, than students who do not take seriously their responsibilities. The Journal raises examples of students who are enduring family crises and discusses them with examples of students who have willingly over-committed to extra-curricular activities.
I would like to think that we still live in a world where we can cut a break to people who really deserve it. But if we begin with the assumption that everyone deserves a break, how can we proceed to judge?
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