DS's professor saying assignment submitted at 11:59pm is late

[Anonymous]

The deadline was 11:59pm. DS submitted it at 11:59 and the website marked it as late because it was set to put anything later than 11:59:00 as late.

DS emailed professor, and he said that because the website marked it as late, it was late.

DS takes full responsibility for submitting last minute and told me that he has learned from this experience. He wasn't able to work on the assignment for several days as he was experiencing symptoms of a chronic illness and did not ask for more time to finish the assignment.

Other students in the course experienced the same thing and are going to higher-ups in the professor's department.

Usually I would let him figure this out on his own. As the assignment being graded as late may significantly affect his final grade (which is important for admission to grad/professional schools), should he also go to higher-ups in the professor's department? Or should he just accept what happened?

[Anonymous]

Why don't you let him decide?

[Anonymous]

Omg land the helicopter immediately.

[Anonymous]

He is an ADULT. Let him deal with it!!!!

[Anonymous]

Maybe he can loop back with the professor and explain that he did not want to reveal information about his chronic illness unless it was necessary, and give particulars about what was going on with his health?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is an ADULT. Let him deal with it!!!!

This.

You have to stop now or you’ll feel compelled to speak to his supervisor at his first real job.

[Anonymous]

23:30 here. You would think from the previous responses that nobody ever ask their parents for any advice after their 18th birthday. That is just not the way families work and that is not the way young adults necessarily need to work in order to grow and evolve.

[Anonymous]

Your college student! Man. I'd make my high schooler handle this on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:23:30 here. You would think from the previous responses that nobody ever ask their parents for any advice after their 18th birthday. That is just not the way families work and that is not the way young adults necessarily need to work in order to grow and evolve.

There’s a difference between a parent giving advice and a parent posting on an anonymous forum asking what to have her adult son do.

[Anonymous]

I'm a professor and would have given your child a break due to the circumstances. That said, I would warn your child that appealing to higher-ups based on what you described will probably go nowhere. Most chairs/admins defer to faculty on grading/lateness policies. The only exception is if the instructor is an adjunct or TA/grad student.

[Anonymous]

Suggest he wait to see how it works out for the other students in same position who are going higher.

[Anonymous]

You have to butt out. Listen to your son and say things like that’s a tough call and I hope you and the professor work it out. But don’t tell him what to do.

[Anonymous]

OP here. As I said I usually would let him figure this out on his own. He generally doesn't ask me for advice but asked me about this.

I would absolutely never speak to his supervisor.

[Anonymous]

I have a chronic illness that requires me to spend 50% of my existence in the bathroom. I understand chronic illnesses can be rough. But let me tell you now, it never made a difference between me submitting something at 11:59 and 11:59:01.

If his illness was the reason for the delay, it still shouldn’t have come down to a game of minutes.
Professors don’t budge on stuff. It’s how they turn teenagers into adults. It’s unfortunate, but he will recover from this grade dip.

[Anonymous]

Thank you to all who have posted helpful responses.