Another Rant About Dishonest Students

As the title of this post implies, I doubt I'll say anything that hasn't been said before. I just need to vent.

One of my stats students got mono around the time of the third exam. These things do happen. She was gone for a week or more, and with the third and fourth exams close together, I just told her let's skip the third exam and prorate the others, rather than trying to cram in a make up, especially since she undoubtedly had work to do in all her other classes. What a nice guy, right?

She came back just about the deadline for the fourth paper, an "Investigative Task." So I didn't press her on it. I don't think I even set a deadline. I just said, "When can you get it to me?" So a week or so after everyone else turned it in, she came in and said she was having trouble with it. I tried to explain what I was expecting, and give her some ideas about what to do. She seemed happy enough, and a few days later, she turned in a paper.

Having read the title of the post, you can guess where this is going. Her paper was pretty much identical to one of her friends'. She changed the font.

I don't understand what she was thinking. It's not like I was being a real ass about getting this done. I would think she could have said to me, "I'm having trouble getting this done, and I have another paper to do, can I have a few more days?" You'd think she'd at least try. But no, she decided that I'm a pushover, or an idiot, or both, and that it wasn't worth the effort to try to do this assignment.

As you can see, I'm so mad I could spit. I sent e-mail to the two of them, suggesting that they come to see me. She has already come and thrown herself on my mercy. I'm relieved that she didn't have the temerity to deny having cheated, but I still feel betrayed and insulted.

I've told her that I am giving her a zero for this paper, and that I want her and her friend to hand back in the first three papers, so I can inspect them for signs of foul play. I imagine that they will be OK.

If any students are reading this: if you wonder why your professors are hard-asses about deadlines and excuses, this is why. Because we've had experiences where we've tried to be nice about it, and we've gotten burned.

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