Done...

...but for the grading papers and administering the exam. Now I'm really faced with the question of how many can I fail. In one section, 18 out of 30 registered turned in the final paper. I'm scared to think how many will come out of the woodwork after the fact and I cannot imagine how some of those will do even if I were to accept their papers. But the fact is there are plenty of students who were there today, and Monday and every day before that who want to learn and the others are just gumming up the works.

I gave a speech today: according to 2006 stats, Salem State accepted 25% of its students as "Special Admissions" meaning they did not qualify for state college by virtue of poor SATs or GPAs. Now only 10% of the class that came in 2006 were special admits, and that puts SSC not far out of the norm for other state schools. But the 25% figure of admissions is staggering. I'm not sure how the college got dispensation from the state to do that, but it has got to be an interesting story. I do know that SSC claims to have support services for these students, but clearly the support services are not there. It is an open secret that the so-called "Learning Center" is unresponsive and I have still not had a reply from my request f0r them to do something about the 17/27 LC students they dumped in one of my sections without telling me (the idea is that the LC students should either be "mainstreamed" in ones and twos or put in a block in a section with 20, not 30, so they can get more attention).
So, we're back to the old question: let them slide or fail them? If I thought they were given the best chance and didn't take it, then the answer would be much easier, but I see them getting the wrong end of the stick. Of course they don't help themselves much either at times...