No Good Deed, Part 3

After receiving another email from my problem student during Thanksgiving break asking why I had not responded to her last email, a time she specifically said NOT to email her due to her stress, I finally broke down. When honest won't work, give them what they want and call it for the lost cause it is.

The email I sent her was so nice and sweet, you could have sugared your coffee with it. I told her, given her unfortunate circumstances, I would accept all of her work, late and otherwise, without any penalty at all. The only catch was that I had to receive by the last day of class, no exceptions. That gives her three weeks to turn in 15 weeks worth of DB postings, quizzes, and papers. If she can do it all, I will keep my word.

Now, before you think I'm cashing in my integrity but letting her do this when any other student would not be allowed, I understand your thinking. It choked me to do it. However, given the tone and language of her letters, I truly do believe she will do what I first claimed she would do in my first email - set herself up to fight her grade by making me the bad guy. Instead, I gave her EVERYTHING she asked for, taking me out of the equation on her grade entirely. Kind of like playing tug-of-war and letting go of the rope.

Let's see if she falls.