I am a firm believer that students should be given every opportunity to succeed academically but I also believe they should be taught responsibility in schools. That said, I do believe in giving students a "zero" for missed assignments or at least penalizing them for late assignments. My reasoning behind this is the mere fact that it teaches students to take responsibility for their actions. If students are not penalized for late/missed assignments, it does not allow them to take responsibility for their actions/education. This may in turn lead to them thinking that "slacking" or not completing a given task is acceptable to do in the "real" world where that may hold jobs. When in fact, in reality, slacking off or not completing a given task (assignments) may lead to losing a job. Allowing students to hand-in late assignments without being penalized is also unfair to other students who hand in their assignments on time. For this reason, I believe in penalizing students 10% per day for every day that passes and the assignments is not handed in.
I completely agree with your view Riham. Failure is a part of life and allows people to learn from their mistakes. If failure is not allowed, then it only does a disservice to students because they aren't being taught accountability, responsibility and the opportunity for improvement. You should read this article from Canadian Family magazine, it really makes you think! http://www.canadianfamily.ca/parents/why-schools-need-to-scrap-the-no-zero-policy/
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have put it in better words myself! Thank you for sharing the article, it was an interesting read! :)
DeleteHi Riham and Josee,
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you, about giving students an opportunity to learn about life from experiences. Taking responsibility for your work is part of learning, either as student or teacher.
There are, however, circumstances when a student is missing school due to illness or other extenuating circumstances.
Are you going to apply the same philosophy to all students, regardless of why student submitted late their assignment?
I believe in the possibility to make-up the missed work (for example a missed laboratory) if students are willing to take it and submit their assignment later than the rest of the class.
So far, it was a successful experience for me.
Violeta Bolozan
Hey Violeta,
DeleteI agree with you. Not all students have the same circumstances so as teachers we should be lenient to some degree. I have had some students who did not hand-in their assignments because they were away on a school trip. For circumstances such as that, I decided to give my students an extra few days to submit their assignment without being penalized (because I was aware of their circumstances).
By being completely clear at the beginning of the year, going over rules along with the Learning Goals before you start the class students are better prepared for what is to come and what is expected from them. Students do need to be taught to be accountable and to learn how to better manage their time efficiently as this is a quality that will be very relevant to both their education and future career oppurtunities.
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