Yesterday, I got an e-mail from a student of mine from this past spring semester. He is one of the most creative students I have ever had. He spends his free time, when he is not working on someone else’s film, building elaborate sets in his apartment. He is curious, hard working and talented. What more can you want in a student?
He wrote wondering if I could help him out because he is in danger of failing a summer advanced camera class because he missed two class meetings because he had a paying job on a film. He has aced the camera tests and done all the work and is arguably one of the best students in the class, yet he is in danger of failing because of policy.
I told him there was not much I could do since I can’t (and shouldn’t) convince another teacher to change their rules mid-semester. I told him he needed to plead his own case. To me this is another example of a disconnect between what we are teaching and how we are teaching it. Who wins by failing him?
PeterH
