So good to hear from you Patrick! Sounds as though you are doing well. I wish you the best of luck on your new job and hope that this is the start of a successful and prosperous career!

Stay in touch.

For sure, DC. How you been?

I'm pretty damn good Patrick. Can't really complain. I can't believe that you have already finished college! Congratulations!

See,I always knew that you had it in you!

My goodness. Where have the years gone?

Thanks DC. I have no idea man. Time flies. I am going to be turning 23 in June. It's wild. Once I get settled in at my new job, I am hoping to start graduate school for my Master's in Secondary Counseling here at West Chester. I tried out history right after I graduated, but I just wasn't really into it.

GOOD FOR YOU PATRICK! EXCELLENT!

Tomorrow morning my wife, son and I will be attending a reception and open house for incoming students at the college he has decided to attend. He's going to major in business administration and finance and selected the school because of its reputation in this area. He also liked the fact that it is a smaller school within two hours of home. He was also fortunate to receive a pretty nice academic scholarship.

Back in 1984, my father got me a job making $50K+ a year right out of high school. It was pretty much an offer I couldn't refuse. I was a top student in high school too, and my mother was not happy that I chose the job over education. But what could I do? $50K back in 1985 was lot of money, especially to a teenager. 26 years later, I don't regret it. I've moved up the ladder, and make a lot of money despite my lack of a college degree. The days of getting a job like mine without a degree are over though. College is pretty much mandatory now if you want to earn a decent living.

Yeah, well, some of us weren't so lucky. Or maybe it was the field I had chosen, but it wasn't about the money. My first "career" job in counseling only paid $19.5k/year (about 1990) to start, but it was probably the best job I ever had (again, not monetarily). Of course after a career change some years later (unrelated to my college major) income more than tripled for a while. So I don't think it's necessary to have a college degree. At least not if you're smart enough to teach yourself.

You got to read this article:

Once the vast majority, [men]now make up just over 40 percent of the nation's college students.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41928806/ns/business-consumer_news

It was luck and politics. The job was what it was, but I was good at it. I did get to put my smarts to use when I moved up into management. Out of over 450 people that tested for the position I eventually got, only 9 of us passed the test. I was/am inline for another promotion, but with things shaky in NJ, I don't feel comfortable starting a new position at the bottom of the totem pole.

From time to time I let ya'll know some interesting stories about my students. Here's one from the fall semester.

I had a guy in an online class who failed to turn in November's assignments - three of them. So, I flunked him. He claimed that he had submitted the assignments. Well, the instructional system we use at the college doesn't lie. We had it examined and, sure enough, there was no evidence that he had submitted the assignments. Well, my boss said that in my syllabus I stated that doing the assignments is not an option, and that if you don't do them you will "probably" fail. She's right. It says that. It meant that if you don't do all the assignments because you were in a coma, I might exercise some latitude and let you complete the assignments when you emerge from your coma. Still, my boss said that "probably" might have been misinterpreted by the student. So, I said Okay. Change his grade to a D. She agreed. I'll let you know what happens next.

Just curious about something.

The student was already caught in a lie stating that he HAD submitted the assignments and then it was subsequently proven that he did not. So there was no misinterpretation because when the student deliberately lied, assuming that maybe everyone would think his work got lost in cyberspace...he wasn't really questionning the grade. Was he?

So shouldn't that alone negate the 'probably' issue? How can you (and your boss) you give a 'D' grade on work that does not exist? And how did the unsubmitted assignments fare against his other work throughout the course.

Should've failed him.

Well, the fact that he lied never came up. Assigning a D will lower his grade point average and will probably not transfer to any other educational institution. He'll end up having to take it over.

Well, it should have.

What you're telling us is that you failed the fellow because he failed to turn in 3 assignments. He then said he did turn them in, which was proven false.

You and your boss then decided to upgrade him to a 'D', because of a completely unrelated issue that he may have misinterpreted your definition of what would 'probably' fail him. Except he lied about it anyway. How could the lie NOT come up...it was the first thing you mentioned here!!

That's great. I don't know what the subject of the course is, but hope that all those who DID submit all 3 assignments (or even 1 or 2) were graded just as generously.

Nothing personal mind you...I'm just interpreting your post & really can't get around that deliberate lie, assuming the computer records can truly be depended upon. If he said he submitted the assignments when he knew he didn't...then it's because he KNEW he would 'probably' fail for not submitting them. Otherwise, why would he bother to lie about it??? He could just say, "You didn't say we would DEFINITELY fail for not turning them in, you only said we would PROBABLY fail! What about all my other work?"

Oh, well...no skin off my nose. Can't wait to read what happens next.

I didn't press it. To tell you the truth, I just didn't want to debate or argue the point and if the Dean got involved, this thing could have dragged out into the summer.

I don't blame you, am sure you have more important things to attend to. (Although teaching is one of the most important professions there is.)

It was a bad decision. At least he'll have to re-take the course.