Student and Faculty Excuses for Procrastination

Student excuses for late assignments are becoming more creative, designed to elicit sympathy and guilt, but faculty excuses are equally deplorable.

Nobody believes the old stand-by excuse that “my dog ate my homework” anymore. It’s doubtful anyone ever took that excuse seriously. Student excuses are, however, becoming more creative and some may be true. Increasingly, student excuses are designed to elicit sympathy and may even play to the instructor’s guilt: “I had to miss class to attend a job interview and without that job, I can’t pay my tuition.” But as one professor lamented, “Is it our job to verify student excuses?”

So talking about educational performance, it is even better to ask for assistance from essay writer websites while preparing this kind of assignment. To tell the truth, it will help you more than poor excuses. At least you do not need to compose heartbreaking stories and go deeper with your lie. It can significantly harm your studies. 

Instructors can Usually Spot Phony Excuses

On the day the semester paper was due, an instructor received an e-mail from a normally good student that said, “My best friend at work lost his uncle yesterday, so I stayed up with him all night talking. I’ll be in class next Monday. Hope you understand.”

If true, the student may have done the ethical thing but should the instructor stick to his policy and deduct one letter grade because the paper will be submitted late?

Students use the excuse that they were kicked out of their parent’s homes to gain extra time on assignments, avoid being dropped from a class due to excessive absences, and explain why they had no internet access. The latter can usually be solved by reminding the student that computer labs are still functioning on campus.

One instructor teaching a distance-learning class shared that a student sent him an e-mail advising that he could not complete an assignment because a local tornado had interrupted power.

Unfortunately for the student, the email was sent before news reports of a tornado hitting that particular area and the instructor caught this.

Faculty Excuses Are Just as Unrealistic as Student Excuses

Many instructors love the classroom experience and thrive on being the “sage on the stage” but they hate grading essays and papers, especially if they do not work for large institutions that provide teaching assistants. According to the best essay writing service reddit, one of the chief complaints students list on course evaluations is the inordinately long time it took to have their assignments graded.

While instructors are not obliged to excuse such tardiness to their students, some do, particularly when students begin to ask openly if their papers have been graded. Perhaps the worst instructor excuse came from a professor who apologized to her students, stating that while away on a conference in New York City, she accidentally left their papers in a taxi cab. That is as unbelievable as saying, “my dog ate your homework.”

Support Honest Excuses with Documentation and Hope for the Best

Student illness that interrupts academic responsibilities can be easily verified through campus offices. Some university clinics send emails to professors about student absences related to verifiable illnesses. This became a standard feature during the 2009 swine flu outbreaks on numerous campuses.

Students that lost class time affecting contact hours should obtain written documentation from their health care providers to verify the excuse. In some cases, e-mails or letters from campus counseling services may suffice.

In one case, a student who claimed his computer crashed before he was able to print the finished essay submitted copies of a payment invoice from a local computer repair shop to substantiate the excuse.

In other cases, the simple truth may be the best policy to follow. Instructors tend to react cynically to student excuses and may be astonished when a student is honest: “I procrastinated but I hope you will still accept my paper as a late assignment;” “I had three other major writing assignments due this week and became overwhelmed. Please allow me to turn in the paper late.”

In this case, I suggest finding a peer and asking him to “help me write my essay” to avoid undesirable results. However, do not forget to check out such writings thoroughly to ensure that it is plagiarism-free and well-written.

Face to Face Excuses Rather Than E-Mail Usually Guarantees a Positive Response

Talking to the instructor face-to-face invites discussion and usually results in a mutually acceptable solution. Students should be attuned to following proper guidelines when arranging a meeting with the instructor during office hours.

E-mail is the worst vehicle for communicating an excuse, even a legitimate one. It is far too easy to delete and forget or, worse, to give the instructor a swift way to grade one less paper: “Sorry, John. The rules are very specific. Check the syllabus.”

Avoiding an Excuse by Starting Early on Assignments

Ethically minded instructors like to believe that student excuses aren’t bogus. But why put it to the test? Starting early on assignments guarantees that no student will ever have to reinvent the dog that eats homework assignments. Savvy instructors can spot a creative excuse and this only prolongs an already negative situation. Avoid the harp and the violins on the due date by resolving not to wait until the midnight hour to complete an assignment.