Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Returning to my story last time, several times during the day since the course card distribution while the student was still waiting for the Dean to sign his letter, he approached me with alternative scenarios, including one where in he automatically passes the mechanics lab subject if he submits his individual reports. I kept repeating to him our agreed upon procedure: if and when the Dean accepts and signs his excuse letter for why he did not pass his individual report, then I will take a look at his reports.

He even gave his reports already to the secretary to be stamped with the receipt date in anticipation of his letter getting signed.

The Dean refused to intervene on his behalf, though, invoking teacher’s final judgment (score one for the home team). And when the student did pass his three reports (in anticipation of when the Dean would sign his excuse), they were all one page each. There was definitely no room for a thorough analysis and conclusion that would have boosted his grade up. Plus, it showed that he lied about passing the first two reports, which would have shown more preparation than that.

So even though he kept begging for reconsideration after, I could not reward such desperate and last minute effort. What’s worse was that he was interrupting my session with two other students in the middle of their academic advising (well, one student and his friend who was accompanying him).

Okay, it’s not really worse because these two students who stood by while I played the immovable object were not exemplary performers either, and it was good for them to see that their potential teacher again in the future has limits that they should not cross, and they had come dangerously close to doing so in previous subjects.

They both passed their Trigonometric Applications under me; one last term and the other two terms ago, but the first one also failed in Graphics Two, so hopefully he has an idea of how much effort he should put up next time he’s in my tutelage.

Going to Saturday’s ecology trip now, only nine out of the sixteen students we were supposed to bring with us showed up at the school until half an hour beyond the supposed departure, so we left them.

Meeting at the outskirts of Batangas with the delegations from the other schools of the system though took longer than expected also, so we actually had to scrap one of the two activities planned for the morning (snorkeling and hiking), which means half of the participants only did one and the rest did the other.

The afternoon orientation also ran an hour longer than expected (considering that clean up after the morning’s activities was also delayed) so all in all the group got back to the school three hours beyond what the program said (which was a very optimistic estimate anyway).

The students had a lot of fun though, and I’m sure we will be able to fill in the seven vacant slots for the real one staring on the twenty-eighth (with either the same people or new ones; the school has already paid for that many joiners) after the stories spread.

It was tiring (keeping me from posting that day) but worth it. And that’s the week. Class dismissed.