The Proper Way To Earn Extra Credit
I realize most of my posts about students and academia in general tend to highlight the challenges and the challenged. In the interest of clarity, I gotta say it’s not all like that.
Ever been to a Grateful Dead concert? Academia is not all that different: you’re gonna encounter several students (and an occasional colleague) who’ve apparently dosed one too many ten-strips, papers appear as long periods of random noodling, a guy with no shirt on is throwing a Frisbee, somebody smells funny, and there’s either a kind veggie burrito or bio experiment (nobody’s really certain which it is) on the bottom shelf in the adjunct lounge fridge.
Admittedly, the Dead’s music is an acquired taste. Their live shows, even more so. Some of their concerts have been, well, bad. Others have been remarkable works of art and inspiration. But most fans, even the band members (the original and the more recent incarnations), know it’s a roll of the dice which one you’ll get. What they—they being the band and us fans—hope for during a concert is “a moment,” that point during a live show where everyone and everything seems to converge in a shared feeling of harmonic union and joy.
Such rare moments occasionally happen in academia, too.
Y’all might have read the jumbled, practically incoherent email from a student asking for extra credit in one of my recent posts. They’re not all like that. Sometimes, we in academia have “a moment,” too. It might be during class, a conversation in the quad, in a paper or email. It is a rarity, probably even more so than “a moment” at a Dead show, but they do exist. So, where ever and whenever it occurs, it’s special.
I had one of those moments yesterday when I checked my email. I found this (yes, this. Word for word. All I did was copy and paste):
“I’m just going to let you know now that I won’t be in class today for a very very reasonable reason. I was with some friends last night and the girl driving started doing like 40 over the railroad across from the McDonalds and the whole car came off the ground and when it landed my whole right side SMASHED into the car (I was in the trunk). I think I might’ve either sprained or bruised my right butt, idk what it’s called but I can’t even lay down or get up without it hurting. If there’s anything I miss can you just send like a pdf or something so I can at least take advantage of the day out? Thanks”
Damn right I sent the student a pdf of the class notes. Excused the absence, too. If you’re a teacher, it just dosesn’t get much better than this. Made my day. Even through the impersonal email format, the student and I shared “a moment,” a shining beautiful instant that transcended time and space. For a brief and fleeting second, I was that student, that student was me. And if this student ends up teetering between a C or B, a B or A, at the end of the semester you better believe I’m gonna give a few extra credit points.
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