Welcome To My Hell

I am technically on Spring Break this week but since I have the three foot thick stack o' papers to grade I figured I would go in for a few hours today.

Talk about creepy. Everything was quiet. Creepy quiet. Even the secretaries were quieter than normal. Part of me was thankful for the quiet but another part of me wanted to crank up the speakers on my computer and blast some Led Zeppelin.

Why is it that students can't follow instructions? I give them a very simple assignment. Before they write their term papers, they are to outline their information first and give me a bibliography. Not too tough right? Hell, I even give them an example of the type of outline I am looking for along with a sample bibliography. Couldn't be easier, eh? Ya right.

On the first paper I come across, the student did not even have the right topic. He was supposed to do a biography of Karl Marx. Instead, he gave me the ins and outs of Marxism and whether or not it "works." Good ol' zero on that one. Rolls eyes.

The next one doesn't even have a bibliography attached. Ah, a 50 for that one since they did half the assignment correctly. Sigh.

The third...oooh wait. Could this be? Whoohoo! It was a really crappy outline and the bibliography didn't follow Chicago Style but she at least followed instructions. You know it's a sad day when you are overjoyed by the fact that at least one student followed the assignment properly.

I got through about 15 papers before I gave up. There is only so much abuse I will put myself through on vacation.