Vetstradamus: Conveniently Sick Classmate
Posted on October 1, 2009
Dear Vetstradamus,
I am a second year vet student and I am extremely bothered by the behavior of one of classmates. This individual routinely does not study for exams and then develops a mysterious illness or other excuse to miss the exam at the intended date and time. Time and again, professors allow and seem to encourage this behavior by accommodating the person, giving them extra study time. I don’t think this is fair to me and the rest of class who took the exam on time. Most professors won’t return our exams until everyone has turned theirs in. I don’t really consider this person a friend so I don’t think I should say anything directly but I don’t know what I can or should say to the professors or administration. I am very frustrated by their enabling this person and it seems to encourage the behavior to continue and get worse.
-On-time and Ready
Dear On-time,
You are correct that the rewarding of this repeated behavior is unfair to you and the rest of the class. You should consider that the individual may have a real problem (medical or personal) that is preventing them from keeping up with everybody else. As you point out, it can be very frustrating to see the same person take advantage of the system repeatedly with different classes and professors without recourse.
Having seen the other side of the system, I can tell you that in all likelihood, the administration and professors are well aware of this student’s behavior and have specific instructions and policies about how to deal with these situations. This may not seem to be the case but realize that it would be inappropriate and unprofessional for them to express otherwise to the rest of class. Additionally, their punitive options may be limited, depending on the school’s policies. Ultimately in a small profession like veterinary medicine, everything usually catches up to the people that abuse and take advantage of the system at the expense of others. You should be proud that you are not the person that needs to bend the rules and you should not compare your own success to those that do, since it is not even a comparison.
