festival of idiots

there's nothing like final exams to bring out everyone's inner idiot. like all 4 of the other exams i have given over the semester, i have announced what day and time the final exam will be at the beginning of every class leading up to the aforementioned test. this semester, one class was scheduled to take their exams today and the other is to take theirs on wednesday. guess how many students showed up today? 20? HA! 10? i laugh heartily in your general direction. try 3. yes, my devoted reader, you read it correctly...three. 3 students out of the original 31 came to class with a scantron, a no. 2 pencil and a couple of functioning brain hemispheres.

now, guess how many frenzied emails and phone calls i got from various students who claimed that they did not know when the final was/their [insert relative here] is in the hospital/they have 3 other exams today, can they take our exam another day? no, not 3...not 31 either. try 4. i honestly expected more than that. the most humorous question had to be, "what section am i in? i don't know if i'm supposed to take the test today or wednesday!" the most annoying phone call had to be from the young lady who somehow got one of the secretaries in the evening dean's office to call me and leave me a message telling me that she [the student] didn't know when her final was. i could almost hear the secretary rolling her eyes over the telephone.

so, i am either going to have a lot of people show up on wednesday or i will be doleing out a lot of "f"s this semester. whatevah. it really doesn't put me out that much to sit around the classroom for a couple of hours, waiting to see if anyone shows up. today, i read a few chapters in my latest obssession, the voice of knowledge. wednesday, i'll probably bring the ol' portable dvd player and a movie or two. i mean, why can't my inner idiot come out and play, too?