What Can an Educator Do?

Students who have had some failure in the past are coming back to class. These students may have dropped out of school or experienced so much failure they gave up (or were pushed out). Now they return to class and the instructor is left to find ways to make their new experience successful.

The semester moves along until suddenly (or not so) too many things begin to get in the way of the student's success. Work changes the student's schedule or increases the number of hours needed to work; therefore, the student cannot come to class or complete those final assignments. So, now the instructor must find ways to retain the student is flagging in attendance. However, the student resists the instructor's efforts--even to the extent of cursing the instructor for his/her attempts to help the student makeup time or work.

What does a student expect? Should the instructor ignore the rules of attendance (often there is a minimum of seat time required)? Should the instructor exempt the student from the required work/assignments? Should the instructor allow the student to sleep in class, leave to talk on the cell phone, turn work in late, not participate in class? These are all blocks to success. So what is the instructor to do?

While I want students to succeed, I'm weary of student abuse. The more I give, the more they demand (or take). The more I allow for some leeway, the later the work comes. I'm frustrated and feel like some of my students--let's quit this gig. So what can the educator do?