Dear Students and Staff,
This is a historical moment indeed! The blog of the English Department at Oranim will serve all staff and students, giving everyone a place to air their views, raise important topics, and share. All teachers in the department can send posts to the blog and all students can reply to these posts. I sincerely hope this will become a place where we all feel comfortable to share and discuss issues of importance.
To start us off I am presenting a topic which has been bothering me for a while, and I invite everyone to write back with their input.
While most people in the English Department are mature, responsible people, some do not display these characteristics, making it difficult for the rest of us to function. For example, course syllabi usualy state due dates of assignments, which means the assignments have to be in by that date. Students who find it difficult to comply by this request can approach the teacher asking for an extension, and are usually given one. However, many students simply ignore these dates, and when a failing grade is posted on the site, phone the teacher in a panic, asking to hand in the paper at a still later date. I don't know how other teachers feel about this, I know that I take it as a personal affront. As I take the time to plan my course carefully, I expect the students to take me seriously in all respects, including due dates. If someone has a serious problem s/he can approach me, and they will always get an extension. However, when they completely ignore both the due date and the assignment itself until alerted by the system that they are in trouble, and then expect me to give them even more time, I feel this is not only disrespectful to me, but also to their peers who did take the time and trouble to hand in the assignemnt on time. Some of my colleagues tell me that I shouldn't take this personally, but I am finding this difficult. I would love to hear what you think about this issue.
