The end of the fall semester is usually marked by a blissful sense of relief. The stress of classes and exams and papers is traded in for gorging yourself on cookies and begging Mom to make your favorite meal for the fifth time this week. Yet even amongst all the holly jolly festivities and drunken nights with high school friends, there’s still that lingering sense of anxiety, as you spend all your free moments obsessively checking StagWeb (RIP), hoping and praying that you’ll discover that being caffeine drunk and sleep deprived for a week straight actually amounted into something good.
Fairfield University claims to have a policy that requires professors to submit and post all grades within 72 hours of the final exam. However, as everyone here in Stag Country can attest to, the amount of professors who actually adhere to this rule is slim to none.
Why is it that if students do not comply with school policies, they are penalized, but when professors completely neglect to follow procedure, there are no repercussions?
If a student doesn’t hand in a major assignment on time, that’s it, game over, your grade in the class is ruined and so is your GPA and good luck getting a job one day, because you are lazy and did not meet the deadline and no one will hire anyone like that. But submit grades four days after they were due? No sweat, it’s cool.
This is not an attack on any instructor who has neglected to post grades in adequate time, nor is it a reflection on any instructor’s capacity to teach a class. In fact, if there’s one thing that this university definitely does excel in, it is the quality of its professors, and their passion for the students. That palpable care and commitment to the student body is what draws many students to Fairfield, and undoubtedly what keeps them here too. If you need a recommendation letter, or advising, or just a little extra help with your studies, there are countless men and women who would be more than willing to help you.
But that still doesn’t change the fact that the so-called “break” has the dark and evil cloud of unfinished academic business. All I want for Christmas is to know my GPA. Really. That’s it.
Yes, professors teach more than one class, and they do have lives outside the classroom. But if we struggle and stress and push ourselves to meet a deadline, it is only fair that professors do the same. We do our part, and you should do yours.
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