“I pulled my back reaching for the butter in the refrigerator.”
This was one of the funny “student excuses” I came across after reading countless real-life dilemmas students have told their professors as to why they missed class online. You know the drill. I had car trouble. I was sick. I couldn’t get my paper to print. I was working. I had no time and so on.
There seems to be an excuse for everything. There even used to be a website to buy a corrupt-file for $3.95 so your professor wouldn’t be able to open the assignment and then they would have to give you an extension, because technically you turned it in on time.
I understand these things really do happen. In fact, last year I had to prove to a teacher a friend of our family passed away. I was so pissed that I was forced to bring in the obituary and send a link to my professor of the newspaper who published it. During that time, I was so livid that I lost all respect for that professor. But now, I understand why professors do what they do. They are as sick of last-minute “lame” excuses, as we all are.
It’s more than just missing class. It’s not following through on your word, even if it’s only a meeting, a project or an extracurricular activity. Not following through on your word affects people in a negative way.
This year more than ever, I’ve come in contact with more excuses than I care to hear in my lifetime. I can only imagine what our professors go through on a daily basis. There are plenty of student excuses to go around too. I had other homework. I pulled an all-nighter and have to catch up on sleep. I missed my alarm.
There always seems to be a last-minute excuse, especially for planned events, group meetings, homework studies and whatever else that has been planned weeks or even months in advance.
I get it. Life happens. But as I was reading about all of these excuses I read something really interesting from Advice for College Students: “There are a limited number of good jobs out there, and college helps ‘weed out’ the people who are unlikely ever to get those jobs.”
The students who aren’t going to put in the effort in college aren’t going to put forth the effort for their real job. I guarantee their bosses will be a less tolerant of their excuses than our professors are. Some students are wrapped around the idea that they will become motivated once they get paid for what they are asked to do.
I don’t see that happening anytime soon. If students aren’t motivated in college, how will they know what motivation is post-grad? I’m not a perfect student by any means, but reading all of these excuses and dilemmas made me realize how much harder I have to work during my last semester in college in order to transfer these skills into the professional work place.
We all want to be hired and make our college degree worthwhile. So let’s do it. Let’s stop making excuses.