If you belong to the old teacher’s society–I taught 30 years–you have heard some excessive excuses. Even more imaginative than “my dog ate the paper”.
I was teaching journalism students how to edit when the unfortunate Kent State, Ohio, shooting happened. Although two states away, the administration at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said that “highly disturbed” students could choose to take their grade before final examination, and be excused from the test.
A parade of students waited outside my door to learn their pre-final grade. All decided—after hearing they were graded C or better—that they were “highly disturbed” and could not stay on campus for a final examination. That year North Carolina beach resorts were inundated by Tarheel students two weeks earlier than usual.
To his credit, a statistic professor named Blalock gave “incompletes” and said he would give the final exam when the “disturbed” student returned. Wish I had thought of that alternative.
A better excuse came from Rick Fish in 1968. He enrolled in the second course I taught—editorial and column writing.
Those writing students often heard me praise comedian, movie actor Will Rogers who wrote a three-paragraph, front-page column syndicated for 1930’s newspapers. Will was best remembered for his home-spun quote, “I never met a man I didn’t like”
Rick Fish was one of those writing students. I’ve never forgotten his excuse. When time came for the final exam, Rick sent a letter asking to postpone his final exam because:
“Measles—like Will Rogers—never met a man he didn’t like.”
Rick went on to cover the Texas legislature for the two Houston dailies and the Dallas Morning News before he died.
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