It's Getting Better... Slowly

So yesterday I had an email from one of my students saying that they couldn't afford the access code for the lab manual and the online assessments. The night before class and when the first pre lab is due.

Not being able to afford things is something I understand very well. However in this instance, it was a curveball of a problem.

I spent an hour trying to answer the person's email. I kept thinking and thinking of how to approach it. I thought if I emailed them the pdf for the lab so they could at least do the exercises and catch up on the online assessments later, that wouldn't be so bad. But then I stopped. And thought, "well what if it's just an excuse to not do it?" In TA training I was taught to beware the excuses "my grandma died" or "I haven't been able to access the website," and also how to deal with those excuses. Requiring a death certificate for proof of a University Excused Absence seems harsh but it's the undergrads' fault for being lazy, using the same excuses one too many times.

So when given this problem, I had a number of different scenarios go through my head. I sent an email to the head TA and the Lab Supervisor forwarding the email sent to me, asking what they thought I should do. It's what they're there for, no? I haven't heard from them yet, actually. I thought the problem a delicate issue. As graduate students with a stipend that is little better than minimum wage, I think we can empathize with the undergraduate student in question. I imagined needing to ask the student for a bank statement, and decided that that was a little too invasive for my taste. I then decided to email the student, attaching the lab information so they could do the exercises and a word document of the pre lab questions so at least the work would be done, and on time. I apologized for the financial problems, and asked if they would be willing to meet with me to discuss the situation.

The student had asked me the week before how much the lab manual was going to cost, and I could tell when I answered with the estimate that it was a pretty penny for some online pdfs and lab questions. And it is. $77.16, for online material is a lot to ask. But that's not my decision.

Two hours after sending the email to the student I went to bed without a reply. This morning when I got up, still nothing. I began to wonder if it really was just an excuse. I asked a fellow TA in class this morning what he thought I should do. "Have them take the pre and post lab quizzes in your office, you can input the grades later when they can afford it."

Seemed simple enough. I was preparing myself for the encounter when setting up the lab. The student walked in and I said "I need to talk to you." Apparently the student got my email, and did the questions. Had the answers written on a sheet of paper. And said that the refund check that they were waiting for had been dispersed today, so they weren't going to have a problem with next week's assignments.

*phew*

I can also tell that one group in my Wednesday class is going to be a bit of a problem. They're the kind of jock guys that seemed to always get their way in high school, popular, seem to think whatever they're saying to be smooth and charming is hilarious. The kind of guys in high school that I steered clear of. The term "pompous ass" comes to mind, actually. But I have to teach them. So I'll try to be as... non-judgmental and fair/indifferent to their antics as possible.

And now, I go get lunch so I won't be hungry during my massage. I've been waiting to get these knots worked out of my back forever and now I can't sleep because of them. For $55 this massage better damn well be worth it.