Sometimes I don’t understand people and their use of email. I don’t know about you, but when I get an email of any significance I usually read it. Let’s say you were teaching a class—we’ll call it SENG 691P. Would you consider an email with the subject SENG 691P - Assignments significant enough to read?
Monday night, I emailed 3 out of 4 assignments, due yesterday evening by 6:00 pm (the missing link being the one I forgot was due Monday by 5:00, but was for the Tuesday at 6:00 class). Anyway, in that email, I explicitly told my teacher “I lost track of the due date for the assignment [blah] that was due [Monday] by 5:00, so I won’t have it this week.” This was to prevent him from putting my name on the opening slide with the rest of the class, as he does each week, to talk about one another’s assignments. But I guess the English language failed me, because he put my name up there with a blank topic and called me out on it, having no clue I had emailed him. Without a real excuse, explaining myself in front of the entire class was exactly what I intended to avoid. It would have been much easier had he read his email (although he claims to have searched for it twice).
I’d hate having to manage an entire class and their emailed assignments, so I’m glad I don’t have to. But at the same time, it’s irritating to me when the people who do have to do it, don’t.
01
Chris on Wed Feb 28 at 07:56AM
Wow, this sounds like kindergarten, when they put the names of students who got in trouble up on the chalkboard. Public humiliation.
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Ryan on Wed Feb 28 at 09:05AM
Yeah, it was dumb. Since people don’t volunteer to talk about their “topic of the week” assignment (which is also dumb), he’ll put up everyone’s names along with their topic, forcing them to speak. And he has us email that particular assignment to the entire class, and not just him.
So my name obviously stood out, and when he got to it, it was something like this:
And after telling him I didn’t have one, he kept on going “Yeah, I realize you forgot to send it, but you can still talk about what it was.” After a minute or two, he finally realized that I didn’t HAVE a topic, because I didn’t DO the assignment. All he had to do was read an email that he already had open (since he sent me a reply saying he got the other assignments)—I’m so tired of school.
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Chris on Wed Feb 28 at 09:27AM
I really am surprised that you are still in school, really. I would have figured that with your job and everything you’d be sick enough of school to just get out. Good for you for sticking it out, but I just couldn’t take it anymore personally. I couldn’t stand the thought of having to do projects for school now. In fact, I feel almost like I never even went to school, especially since I learned practically nothing. :-)
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Ryan on Wed Feb 28 at 10:36AM
I think you had it a bit worse than I do, though. I hear the CS Masters program is pretty tough (plus teaching 3 lab sections). But it’s crazy to think I spent years studying circuits and computer engineering stuff, and now do nothing with it (and have no desire to). I guess I could say I learned how to program in college, (as I wasn’t programming in assembly at age 12—it’s no wonder you know just about everything). But most of what I learned about programming came from my own interests toward the end of undergrad.
So yeah, it’s tough to keep going. Especially since I transferred from a school prior to WVU and lost 3 semesters worth of credits in the process, putting me at around 8 years by the time I finish everything this coming August. There are a few attractive reasons for me to keep going, though, so I’m taking one day at a time.