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A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

pike.psu.edu

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Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#11

Post by D_Alex »

btilly wrote: post #4

This is indeed a strange and worrying phenomena. I am in fact aware of cases where a student has managed to lose 3 or more grandmothers while pursuing an undergraduate degree. This leaves the student with a negative number of grandmothers. The underlying mechanisms allowing this is highly mysterious and is certainly deserving of further research.

We might also be able to solve the world hunger by giving heaps of homework to mediocre students. Valuable nutrients which now end up in dog food could be made available to the starving masses.

Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#12

Post by droithomme »

Yes, every teacher has experienced this.

A lot of teachers have become jaded and will assume every student who brings this up is a liar and a cheat.

The problem though is that although the majority of the cases are made up to get out of exams or assignments, a small number aren't. These students, in addition to losing their beloved relative then can become very distraught to find themselves unexpectedly saddled with a false accusation of being a liar.

Because of this, when I taught, I would nod and sympathize, then say that because there had been some abuse of this in the past, they could have an extension or such only if they provided an actual published obituary from a newspaper or funeral home. Some other teachers use another method, of having a certain number of exams or assignments that can be dropped without penalty. Of course what often happens in those cases is students drop an early exam, and then later claim injustice at not getting an extra one for the deceased grandparent.

Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#13

Post by 1123581321 »

droithomme wrote: post #12

Yes, every teacher has experienced this. A lot of teachers have become jaded and will assume every student who brings this up is a liar and a cheat. The problem though is that although the majority of the cases are made up to get out of exams or assignments, a small number aren't. These students, in addition to losing their beloved relative then can become very distraught to find themselves unexpectedly saddled with…

My senior year of college I wrote to the provost expecting a close relative would die close to my exams. His sympathy was immediate, and separately from that, an obituary or other certificate would set the incomplete/rescheduling machinery in motion. He did not apologize or explain, so by presenting his personal sympathy and his professional administration of a system he was able to protect both the school's expectations and an emotional, stressed student. I think this is the best approach.

Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#14

Post by mblake »

droithomme wrote: post #12

Yes, every teacher has experienced this. A lot of teachers have become jaded and will assume every student who brings this up is a liar and a cheat. The problem though is that although the majority of the cases are made up to get out of exams or assignments, a small number aren't. These students, in addition to losing their beloved relative then can become very distraught to find themselves unexpectedly saddled with…

Sadly I have experienced this.

I was in mourning after losing a relative and refused to participate in an overtly cheerful activity.Not only was I reprimanded for it, but later heard the professor felt the need to complain to other people as well about yet another kid 'whos grandma had died'. It just so happened that my grandma had not died, nor would have I cared much if she would've had, but a much more cared for relative.

Thankfully it was quite a lot of years ago.

Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#16

Post by rflrob »

kenthorvath wrote: post #10

Of course, students have no reason to report deaths of relatives when there are no consequences to missing class. So, deaths most likely only get reported during exams.

Furthermore, more conscientious students are more likely to grin and bear it, thus giving the A students a lower rate of reporting.

Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#18

Post by pkaler »

I can add one more anecdote. My grandmother passed away before my first semester final exams in my first year. My parents didn't actually tell me until after my exams finished.

The thing is that she passed away in India. My grandmother would spend summers in Canada and winters in India. She passed away the same week a cousin married.

My hypothesis is that stressful things happen at the end of seasonal quarters. Final exams just happen to be one of those things. Flu season also happens to be December/January. Allergy season is around May/June.

I did a quick Google search but I can't find any information regarding death rate and monthly distribution. I would assume that it is evenly distributed but I wouldn't be surprised if the assumption was incorrect.

Re: A student's grandmother is far more likely to die just before an exam

#20

Post by michaelt »

rflrob wrote: post #16
kenthorvath wrote: post #10

Of course, students have no reason to report deaths of relatives when there are no consequences to missing class. So, deaths most likely only get reported during exams.

Furthermore, more conscientious students are more likely to grin and bear it, thus giving the A students a lower rate of reporting.

I agree, but that still doesn't explain why the reported death rate for grandmothers is 24 times higher than that for grandfathers.

I suppose it's possible students care about their grandmothers more than their grandfathers.

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