The Golden Rule Doesn’t Apply To Teachers

I’m teaching a class that has suddenly been moved from being held on campus to being held exclusively online. It’s been a rough transition for most of us and I’ve made the due dates very flexible, more like suggestions than hard deadlines. This particular week, we have a multiple-choice quiz due on Wednesday and a one-page paper due on Friday. The quiz’s due date is fairly strict because I post an answer key the next day.

On Monday, I receive an email from a student apologizing for last week’s paper being late, asking if they can still turn it in, and asking for an extension on this week’s paper. I email back that it’s fine that they’re late; there will be no penalty for late work and they should just finish both when they’re able.

On Thursday afternoon, I receive an email from the same student, saying, “I passed in the quiz yesterday and it hasn’t been graded yet. Why hasn’t it been graded? When are you going to grade it? I passed it in yesterday.”

I guess I don’t get the same consideration for extensions.