When you get an older student in your classroom, somebody who is older than you are and has teenage children, you expect some level of maturity and responsibility. At least, I expected it. Boy, was I wrong. I just got an email from such a student who didn’t come to the mini-quiz because she had something she thought was “strep throat” but then it turned out not to be strep throat.
What is this “strep throat” deal? Is this what people used to call a sore throat? And is this disease so crushing that it prevents students from showing up for a 15-minute-long mini-quiz?
I’m annoyed because now I will have to create another version of the mini-quiz specifically or this streppy student and I have enough things to do as it is. And this is far from being the only instance when this immature mature student has aggravated me. Adults are annoying and are a lot more irresponsible than us, kids.
Clarissa's Blog 
It’s a bit more serious than just a sore throat: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptococcal_pharyngitis#section_1
LikeLike
Since the doctor didn’t find anything, it wasn’t even this strep throat thing.
I’m thinking she must have learned this “strep throat” thing from her children.
LikeLike
Well, one of them might have had it. I had it as a kid.
LikeLike
I have also had a similar experience with older women students. I have an older student in my class this term, and she is a drama queen. She isn’t very well-prepared for the class, and doesn’t know a lot of the background material. But, unlike the younger students, she doesn’t think twice about interrupting the lecture to ask very basic questions. She always has some kind of silly demand — she sits in the front row yet can never hear me properly, she is always too hot or too cold, etc.
My guess is that she is a housewife. 🙂
LikeLike
I also have my suspicions as to my student. There has been too much drama with her participation since the beginning of the course.
LikeLike
I had it a lot in elementary school, but I didn’t usually miss school for it. You usually wait until the doctor actually diagnoses something. I’d go to class with fevers or mono (I’ve done it; it’s not fun), even strep throat, unless I’m explicitly told not to go to class by a doctor. Stomach viruses are pushing it, though. I’d rather not have to deal with that in the middle of class. So unless it’s something really, really bad, there’s no excuse to not go to class.
LikeLike
Syllabus: “There will be no make-up exams, quizzes, essays, or homeworks, no exceptions!”
If a student is sick I allow him/her to take the quiz in a separate room and leave once s/he is done.
LikeLike
I always allow everybody to do make-up exams and quizzes and normally nobody abuses my kindness. But this time it just bugs me to go to all this trouble for something so insignificant.
LikeLike
Strep Throat is HIGHLY contagious. I’ve been told in classes and work before, when this time of year comes around, that if you think you have it, you should stay home until a doctor confirms that you have passed the contagious stage.
It really is more than a sore throat– you can’t even swallow with it.
LikeLike
And it can also develop into rheuamtic fever if not treated, which can cause severe heart and joint damage. My mother had rheumatic fever, developing from strep throat, as as a child. This was before antibiotics, and she had to spend six weeks in bed.
LikeLike
I think people are missing the point here. This student is not sick. She told me the doctor found no evidence of any disease, yet she will miss class again today because she is “kind of still feeling unwell.” What is causing this phantom sickness is that it’s raining and she probably doesn’t want to get out of bed.
LikeLike
My point was that if she missed the quiz when she THOUGHT she had strep throat, that’s understandable. Missing after it was confirmed it was not strep or just because she feels unwell is less so.
LikeLike