And the world did not end...

I read with interest the-morning-after-discussions-of-the-rapture-that-wasn't... it was, at first, even entertaining, especially that last piece on entrepreneurs offering post-rapture services.

Then, I read an open letter from a community college English composition prof to his students who failed... I should say I read most of it. I understand his frustration... all good teachers feel it every day, but I also heard an undertone of excuse making that makes me uncomfortable.

He titled his piece, "If the Dog Ate your Homework, Read This." This quintessential ridiculous excuse one expects to hear from students...that excuse signifying laziness: a student too lazy to do his/her homework or even to come up with a better excuse.

As I said, I know all too well the frustration born of what feels like students not trying... and certainly there are students who don't try. My experience, however, is that is nearly always a reason why students don't try. It may not seem like the "job" of a community college prof to find out why a student isn't or won't try, but who will do it? If every teacher throughout a student's career takes that same position, then who will do it?

I was struck by the similarity of the frustration level and the sense that we can just throw up our hands...and the contrast between that which we can something and what is happening to us... that is to say, we need to spend more time earnestly dealing with real issues we face every day ... not putting them in boxes either by putting them in the hands of "god" or by labeling students as lazy without investigating where the behavior initiates.

I hope I am making sense...