It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes that wonderful time when there are three weeks left before finals and all of the students that I have not seen in weeks, or those who come to class but never turn stuff in, come sniffing around my office with sob stories and puppy dog eyes asking what “we” can do to get them to pass this class.
I actually hold off what I really want to say which is: “But you obviously haven’t cared about this class all semester, why do you think that you should get a break now?” Honestly I would like to give all those students that come to class all semester and work all A’s and those bastards that never do shit until the last minute F’s! Why? Because I do not care one wit that you are a senior, that you need to start your major classes, that you have been stressed out, that someone died or any of the other excuses that you have come up with.
A couple of years ago I was walking across the campus the day of grad with a colleague when a bunch of robbed students ran by and my friend started to laugh. “See the tall one?” he said. “He can walk now, but his ass will be back in class this summer because I just failed him.” The school I am at now doesn’t allow this and I like that. If you fail a class during Spring semester they will make you get out of line at grad, they don’t give a shit who is there to see you, maybe you should have passed your classes, I enjoy that!
I know that I sound cranky and that is because I am! I have all these damn students, no time to work on my stuff, and I have gone through 2 campus interviews that have made me want to climb the bell tower with a rifle if I only knew how the hell one worked.
So this is the time, every year that I begin to question what the hell I am doing in academia? Is a little freedom and free Fridays during the summer really worth this crap? But I will get over this as I do every semester with the help of many pints of Guinness.