You've got to come to class

Last semester I had a student who didn't register until the second week of class was over. I don't know who allowed her to in so late. She did not do well in the class at all. I decided that I wasn't going to let another student show up after missing two weeks of class again.

Well, sure enough, I get an email today saying that one of my students this semester isn't going to show up until this week (2nd week of class). She hasn't shown up yet. Homework is due tomorrow. I do not accept late homework.

It's fine if she wants to show up, but the onus is on her to catch up. --

Yesterday I saw a student of mine from last semester who missed one week of class for political activities during election week. He was really bright and had the highest grade out of all the students up until that point. Sadly, it went downhill for him after that. He just couldn't keep up and ended up with a C in the course.

I was so disappointed because I knew he could have done so much better. Of course, getting a C in one class isn't the end of the world, but at the end of the first semester of one's freshman year, one hasn't proven much else to the world yet.

-- However, I have confidence that he will do better this semester now that he has experienced a little bit of college and realizes that he has to stay on top of his work.