Just basically making my own life more difficult

I called a halt to the grading very early today. I did finish everything for tomorrow's class, but I really made no inroads on everything I need to get done for Tuesday. I may be in the office very late tomorrow night, pushing myself beyond tiredness, in order to get it all done.

So, knowing that's what would occur, why did I opt to halt early today, you may well ask? Because I had life maintenance to do. And that took precedence.

I do want to relate a moment when I was grading that let me see (as if I needed more evidence) just how little patience I have left with the students who cling to the "I shouldn't have to work hard or do anything I don't find fun" attitude. A student wrote in his essay, "I think the solution to the problem with high school students being unprepared for college is that college should be easier." And I came within a nanosecond of writing, "And I think you're stupid to think so." Geez. Cranky a little there, Prof. P? I didn't tell him his conclusion was stupid, but I did tell him that he had not clearly demonstrated its validity (or even argued for it) in the body of his essay.

I was thinking earlier about the student who absolutely insisted that college should teach life skills, such as how to do household chores or handle personal finances. We do have a class in personal finances--in the Finance and Economics department--and I imagine that it is both of practical use and academically sound. But I could not get the kid to see that "How to Do Laundry" or "Changing the Sheets 101" are not the purview of an academic institution. "But that's what students need," he kept saying. He's the one who elicited the comment "THINK" on his notes. Interestingly enough, he's rather stopped brown-nosing. Huh. I wonder if the fact that I am increasingly impatient with him has anything to do with that. Nah. Of course not.

But let me close with some positive thinking. Several of the students wrote papers that were damned good. There may be a student or two in each of the 101s who manages to eke out an A. That would be lovely. I hope so.

And I'll leave it at that. May you all have a calm and peaceful Sunday, with no sense of dread about the week to come.