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It is the last day of the year, but is not yet the last day of the term, that will be Monday, January 4, 2010, course card distribution after a two week break, or for some students, two weeks of working on things they should have done during the thirteen weeks of the term.

Or, worse, there will be students who will be rushing on the Sunday before the course card distribution (January 3) what then have to submit, showing again that they have not learned not to do things last minute.

And then they will be the ones who will be impatient for the teacher to give them a grade as soon as possible on that day.

Maybe it would be better to do away with finals week altogether, so that students do not think that it is only their efforts on that week that will count towards their grade, when in fact it is for the whole term.

After all, what we want the students to learn is to have consistency of work, not just work during a short period of time.

So maybe like random drug testing, it should be possible for the teachers to already give the students their grade anytime during the term if he feels that the student will not be able to make it during the rest of the term.

And there will be no bargaining. What the students seem to be learning best is how to convince their teachers to give them another chance even when they don’t deserve it. Especially since they just give the same excuses over and over again to teachers they think do not talk to each other.

That’s why I believe there is an advantage to having few teachers for a student especially when it comes to major subjects.

That way it is certain that the one chance that a student is given during the first subject will be followed up on in the next ones.

So now I’m leaning towards the camp that displays a student’s pre-final grade and indicates that he will not be able to pass even if he gets perfect in the finals. The students’ attitudes have gotten THAT bad.

And it’s too bad that it is only in difficult highly technical subjects that there is such a strict policy.

After all, students should not have an easier time in minor subjects because it is “just history” or “just English”.

It is just as important as the other subjects, because you can still not graduate for not passing it, and, would the commission on higher education have required it if it were not in some way important?

So if students are in school and they do not learn anything, even in terms of changing their bad habits, they are in it for the wrong reason.

The diploma means nothing to them because it does not measure any achievement except for deceiving their teachers.

The school’s reputation would be worthless because employers are expecting a certain standard, which will not be met in these mediocre products. And as they say, it only takes one very visible bad apple.

Now, that’s something to think about for the end of the year, waiting big changes.