Having spent my formative years in Singapore, where chewing gum or littering is considered as an offence, I have a hard time understanding why would schools even accept late assignments. Prior to taking this course, as educator, I thought it was my responsibility to create a learning environment that simulated real life situations. Tardiness, such as lateness for work or meetings, are usually not tolerated by most employers, business partners, or customers. By accommodating students’ late work without any consequences, it sends a wrong message to students that such behaviour would be acceptable in the real world of work.
According to Brookfield (2015, p. 275), “to teach is to help someone to learn”. If so, one may argue that by not accepting late work or penalizing late assignments, I am teaching students’ valuable life lessons. Furthermore, if students want to be treated like adults, they should behave like one, accepting responsibility for their own actions. Perhaps this is a classic example of Kidder’s paradigms (Vancouver Community College, 2017), pitting “short term versus long term” and “justice versus peace”.
Having read Brookfield’s “A Skillful Teacher” (2015), my biggest takeaway is “perfection is an illusion”. There is no such thing as a perfect teacher, a perfect classroom, let alone a perfect student. As an educator, if I truly believe that my job is “whatever helps students learn” (Brookfield, p. 3), I need to give students every opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the course. According to Suskie (Brookfield, p. 186), “an evaluation is helpful to the extent that it clarifies for the learner what is meritorious about her work and what needs further effort”. Tardiness relates to students’ values and attitudes. Therefore, it is certainly not one of the criteria for measuring students’ competencies and proficiencies in terms of skills and knowledge they have acquired in class. By deducting points from students’ late work, it diminishes the value of assessment since the grades or scores would be compromised, making it less reliable and valid.
Besides, such late work policy may have implications on other stakeholders, who are dependent on an accurate assessment of student’s progress and efficacy of teaching practices, to aid them with their decision making. By taking points off students’ late work, it will distort the overall measurement of what has been taught and learned.
As I witness and embrace diversity in my classroom or workplace, I have come to realize and accept that there are no universal solutions or policies for responding to various ethnic, gender, culture and learning styles. My overriding principle and practice is to be respectful, thoughtful and sensitive in whatever decisions I make. After all, ethics is about doing “the right thing all the time, not to do the same thing all the time” (Vancouver Community College, 2017).
References
Brookfield, S. (2015). A Skillful Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Vancouver Community College. (2017, April 4). Ethics and Professional Conduct. Retrieved
from http://moodle.vcc.ca/pluginfile.php/801111/mod_resource/content/2/3260%20
Course%20Book%20Ch%207%20p59-77.pdf