A first

during lunch today one of my students from last semester came by to see me. he brought along his girlfriend b/c he wanted to introduce her to me. nice. right? i thought so. the interesting thing about this student is that he earned an F for the class (however, b/c of a ludicrous loophole at my instituion that allows students to withdraw all the way up until the week before finals, he got a W for the course). he is a very likable kid, and even though he turned in a blatantly plagiarised paper (straight-up copy and paste job), i really didn't want to have to give him the grade he earned. that's how likable and smart this kid is. even so, i called him into my office and gave him the news that he would be receiving an F for the paper and an F for the class. period. at the time, i was upset (so, obviously, was he) that i had to take that particular course of action. in retrospect, any other course of action would have had dire consequences on a number of levels (which i won't go into here).

so this kid comes into the office with his girlfriend slappin me five like we're long-lost buddies and tells me, "i tried to get you for 099 again this semester. why aren't you teachin it? it's all good; i'm gonna try to get you for 101 next semester!" we chat-chit for a minute, then he takes off. "see ya next semester, mr. drew," he says as he leaves...

definitely a first.