Late work (#1321)

Topics/tags: Teaching

The other day, a colleague posted something like the following question to Facebook.

For the first time in my career, I had it happen: A few students who hadn’t submitted work for the past month just decided to submit all their work four days after the drop-dead due date at the end of the semester. What should I do?

We’ve all had problems like these. And many people responded in a way you might expect, a variant of Too bad; so sad (as in, it’s late, they get a zero).

I’ll admit that now that I’m an older (and somewhat curmudgeonly) faculty member, I respond somewhat differently than I did as a younger (perhaps still curmudgeonly) faculty member. Here’s a modified version of what I wrote in reply.

Hope springs eternal [1].

More seriously, we don’t know everything going on in students’ lives. Some of our students don’t have good executive function (but are working on it). Some of our students have had tragedies in their lives. Some have been ill but haven’t let us know. Some may have housing or food insecurity [2]. So many things could be going on. In situations like these, I try to balance what I think is fair, what my workload will be (we have to take care of ourselves), and what I know or have heard. It can be helpful to ask one of our wonderful colleagues in academic advising for advice.

Another issue is that this kind of last-minute work is more likely to involve some failings of academic integrity, which means that grading the work may be worse for the student.

Are there things to add to those comments? I always have things to add. But those latter two paragraphs cover the primary issues.

We should respond to students with charity. I know, I know. It feels like students who turn work in late are being irresponsible or disrespectful. And perhaps we should be preparing them for the real world, one in which deadlines are enforced. However, my many years of teaching suggest that what we consider irresponsible is more frequently an issue not wholly in the student’s control. Those who lack strong executive function may not be able to organize themselves. Depression, anxiety, perfectionism, and many other hidden differences can make it difficult for students to complete work on time. Do we need to force students to disclose all of these issues? Even those who don’t face those persistent issues may face short-term issues they don’t want to disclose.

I also reflect on power structures and deadlines. There are circumstances in which I face firm deadlines, such as conference submission deadlines. But I also know that all sorts of deadlines are more flexible than we like to admit. I know folks who’ve been able to get a bit of extra time on, say, a personal statement for a triennial review. And, hey, even the College administration regularly ignores deadlines, such as our contractual deadline for salary letters.

Perhaps more importantly, I know that I like to be treated with sympathy and charity when I can’t get something done quite when it’s due. I should treat others the same way. In most cases, there is no harm in letting work be slightly late.

I must admit that there are deadlines I treat as inviolable. The College’s deadline for work is one such deadline. Ignoring that deadline affects not just me but also my colleagues. Professor Rebelsky let me turn in work after 5pm on Friday of finals week. Why won’t you? But if I’ve said that something is due on Monday of finals week, and they turn it in on Wednesday? I’m not sure that’s a deadline worth enforcing. Well, it’s not worth enforcing unless I won’t be able to grade it promptly.

What about that other comment, the one on academic integrity? It’s complicated. I’m fortunate to teach students who generally understand the value of doing work themselves. But I’ve also seen that even students with good intentions succumb to temptation when stressed. And the students who turn in work late beyond the final deadline are among the most stressed (and among the most behind on sleep). I don’t look for academic misconduct from such students. However, it seems that the students who are stressed enough to take inappropriate shortcuts are also stressed enough that they don’t hide those shortcuts well. And, although students may not realize it amidst their stress, it’s better to fail a course because you didn’t complete work than it is to fail the course and also have an academic honesty hearing go against you.

And that brings up another implicit question: If a student turns in late work and you find that they appear to have violated principles of academic integrity, what should you do? Should you just treat them like the work wasn’t submitted? Or should you report the issue? Grinnell tells us that we should report the issue. Perhaps it’s better for students if you don’t look at their late work. It’s complicated.

In any case, I hope that we can remember that these things the students do that frustrate us are often due to circumstances not completely in their control and mental/emotional states that are affected by stress and lack of sleep. After all, isn’t be kind one of the most important things we can teach them?

[1] That is, our students hope that we’ll adjust our policies. I suppose this answer is another variant of too bad; so sad.

[2] At Grinnell, our fantasy is that the enforced minimum meal plan limits or eliminates issues of food insecurity. Still, I worry that some students face these kinds of issues.

Version 1.0 of 2024-01-12 .