Question for parents, from a professor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a college student and someone who has been in the workforce for over 36 years... there is no such thing as a strict deadline in the real world. Unless you are carrying the new kidney to a patient, most deadlines are important but not the be all end all. Sure you may feel bad or a boss my be disappointed for a bit but after a day or two - other more important things come up.

Oh lord, you think deadlines are for fun so the only consequences are feeling bad? How about not getting paid because your contract said you would deliver by that date? How about your work not being published in time for the annual meetings? How about not delivering actual products to your customer and having to give a refund? How about not being prepared for your court date? There are real, often financial consequences for not doing your work on time and you invariably damage your relationship with the people who are paying you to do it. I’m not saying we’re not human and every project is important, but ignoring deadlines is lazy and disrespectful. If you can’t do it on time, you shouldn’t agree to that deadline at the outset.

[Anonymous]

Know what always amuses me? People who think being a total hardass teaches anything other than how to be an asshole.

Sure, maybe for military boot camp when you are trying to keep enlisted men from getting killed and you have 6 weeks. But for parents, teachers, bosses, it's always a net negative.

Have rules and be reasonable about them.

As for OP: Hey Prof, what are YOUR goals and objectives for the class you teach? What do you want to result when the semester ends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think sliding scale point deductions (5% for one day late, 10% for two, 20% for 3, etc) are both fair and most like the real world. If I give my boss something a day late but it’s good, he only knocks off a little.

This, except in a true emergency.

[Anonymous]

OP I have 2 college age kids. One goes to a State school majoring in finance. Deadlines are strict. The other goes to a SLAC. Deadlines are whenever. The whenever deadlines cause a LOT of stress. DC keeps working and working and working and never gets a break. It’s also not the real world. So I don’t think you are doing any favors with whenever deadlines. It’s the worst thing about DCs SLAC. Which is a top 10.

[Anonymous]

I used to be a college professor. Students would ask for an incomplete. After a few years I stopped giving them except in true emergency’s. I would say “ however much you don’t feel like doing it now it will be 10x worse later. Then it becomes an F. Try your best to do it now..” so many incomplete s turned to F. I felt bad about them but that was the university rule.

[Anonymous]

Bear in mind that professors often provide references for grad schools, jobs and security clearances. Even if I am lenient with extensions, I am going to answer that question about promptness in meeting deadlines and demonstrating maturity honestly. if your child struggles regularly with following directions, I notice and remember this. There may not be an immediate penalty for that assignment, but I am also not going to hire you or recommend you either.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know what kind of professional jobs are totally lax about deadlines. None I worked in. Must be a different world. Working for the State?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sliding scale point deductions (5% for one day late, 10% for two, 20% for 3, etc) are both fair and most like the real world. If I give my boss something a day late but it’s good, he only knocks off a little.

This, except in a true emergency.

Yes, or build in for emergencies. I used to drop a homework score, for example. I think flexibility for true hardship is fine and reasonable. But I am also in a workplace that expects people to live up to deadlines, not procrastinate, and generally be the type of person that meets the expectations set. Of course, if I have an employee and they are unable to finish something because somebody else has asked them to do a higher priority project (emergency), I totally understand. Or, after discussion, we agree that the scope of work was more complex than either of us first imagined, then we renegotiate. But for our contractors, I am likely not to hire again those that don't meet deadlines without a reasonable explanation.

Some of this also depends on school and culture. At one place I taught, kids were more concerned with grades than learning, and I was stricter there to avoid cheating and kids completing assignments in class while I went over problem sets. Two kids in college now, out working in the real world myself. I don't think it cuts it to not be able to meet deadlines for the most part.

I also agree with the comment on procrastination and perfectionism. Best to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Covid makes everything different. But Covid is ending.

[Anonymous]

Be firm on deadlines. Maybe you can offer one “get out of jail free” card for each student to use when they need to miss a deadline. Do not let kids take the tests twice. More leniency for freshman, a little less for sophomores, and stricter for juniors and seniors. It may also depend on what the assignment is and how late it is. Allowing extra credit is a way to build in some generosity, though its admittedly more work for you, as long as you have a firm deadline for the extra credit. No extra credit for kids who blow off the class, find out their grade, and then decide they want to do some work. I like what a PP said about communication, so if you can build some scaffolding into assignments or learning the material, that will help them. Even at work we often have status reports or check-ins on projects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even the real world often has extensions for true emergencies.

True but plenty of students want extensions because they have a lot of work during paper season. They should manage their time. That's an important skill too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a college student and someone who has been in the workforce for over 36 years... there is no such thing as a strict deadline in the real world. Unless you are carrying the new kidney to a patient, most deadlines are important but not the be all end all. Sure you may feel bad or a boss my be disappointed for a bit but after a day or two - other more important things come up.

Found the federal employee

[Anonymous]

I'd prefer you teaching my kids strictly by the book unless emergency can be documented. I don't expect you to fix their mistakes and laziness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I have 2 college age kids. One goes to a State school majoring in finance. Deadlines are strict. The other goes to a SLAC. Deadlines are whenever. The whenever deadlines cause a LOT of stress. DC keeps working and working and working and never gets a break. It’s also not the real world. So I don’t think you are doing any favors with whenever deadlines. It’s the worst thing about DCs SLAC. Which is a top 10.

Except the SLAC's approach is actually really similar to how many industries work, and is a major reason a lot of people struggle to acclimate to a work environment after being in a very rigid, rule-based education setting.

I worked in law and consulting for 25 years. Yes, sometimes there are hard deadlines. They are great, I love them -- nothing motivates like simply having to complete something by a set date or risk losing a client or a project or a bonus or whatever.

But 90% of the time, my projects operate on a rolling basis with no firm deadline. It's like "as soon as you can get to this" or "let's try to finish this before the quarter ends" but if something more urgent comes up, things get pushed all the time. Everyone is juggling multiple projects at the same time of varying levels of importance.

You have to learn how to prioritize, how to set deadlines for yourself and stick to them (I'm going to finish the outline on this by Friday so that I can send it around for comments). The people who are most successful are the people who can self-motivate and organize themselves in a way that gets work done even though often projects just disappear off everyone else's radar until suddenly one day you get an email that says "Oh hey, is this done?" And if you've been ignoring it in favor of items with clear deadlines, you are screwed. I've had subordinates who expect everything to be laid out for them with clear deadlines, and for me to say "this is what you should work on first, and this is how, and then do this" etc. They don't last. That's not my job -- they have to learn to prioritize and figure it out on their own. It's about maturity and self-sufficiency.

So while I understand that hard deadlines are easier and lack of them is stressful, this is really just the reality of many white collar jobs, and both of your kids should be learning how to deal with the kind of nebulous deadline culture because it's not going away anytime soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I despise profs who are sticklers for student deadlines. It’s cruel and completely unnecessary.

You know who misses all the deadlines at work and who never gets fired? Tenured profs.

BS. What deadlines do we miss? We have grant deadlines, publication deadlines, reporting deadlines, grade submission deadlines, and on and on. Trust me, we're not imposing anything on students that we don't have to deal with ourselves.

Anything related to teaching? Showing up to class on time, grading assignments, providing assignments….