Do You Agree With The New Policy That Allows Teachers To Deduct Marks For Late Assignments?

       "You're fired!"- These are the words a journalist might hear from his editor if he failed to finish his article before the newspaper's deadline again. Penalty is to be expected if someone is late filing his or her taxes because tax authorities are not forgiving. A patient may die if the nurse that should administer the medication "takes her time".

Yet, in our schools, some times, there are no consequences if we do not finish our work on time. Instead of scolding those students, some teachers may say something different, like "give it to me when you get a chance" or simply "take your time". I believe that this should not be the feedback you get from someone who is supposed to prepare you for the future - university, a job, or even just everyday life. Shockingly, since the "no penalty policy" that was introduced in 1999, this was and still is how some teachers react when an assignment is not handed in by the due date. While this may seem okay for some kids, it is not doing them a favour, because they won't be prepared for what will be waiting for them after they have finished school. If everyone were to start failing to respect due dates and schedules, our whole society would fall apart. Imagine what our communities would look like if doctors, construction workers, and even teachers, started postponing their duties and jobs.

"The do-over generation, raised to believe they can do anything but never have to do it on time, has grown up in a school culture many teachers and parents accuse of prioritizing encouragement over consequences, inflating marks to contend with soaring university entrance standards and shying away from penalizing youth for fear of driving them out of school all together"(Siri Agrell of Globe and Mail). How can it be possible to finish anything if there is absolutely no effort put into work? What was the policy of not having to do and hand in assignments on time teaching generations of students? We should take the responsibility for our tasks and also show respect towards the others who might depend on our timely work. If I become a doctor one day and despite my knowledge and skills keep showing up late for work, then taking my time seeing my patients, it will end up leaving half of them not being attended to at the end of the day. Will those sick people realize they should blame our education system for this neglect? I am not the only one that believes that the policy of not penalizing belatedness, only has negative effect. Almost all teachers across Canada have the same opinion on the matter. Their jobs are to teach their students all the little and big things that will eventually help them achieve whatever they strive to in their lives, and to become happy people. Failing to teach them promptness, may end up causing painful failures for many young people as they step out of school.

One of the most important values we are taught in school is that everyone is equal and should be treated with the same respect. While sometimes many students do not hand in assignments on time, there are even more people that take the effort to complete and hand in their assignments before the deadline. Picture this: you just hand in a project you worked extra hard on exactly on its due date. Two weeks later, the girl you sit next to hands in her project, and gets the same high mark that you got. How can this be fair? In my opinion, it is anything but fair. I don't see any respect here towards those, who fulfill the requirements and work hard. By not penalizing the ones who are always late we are actually taking away the incentive from those students who try to work in timely manner. If this should be the law that we follow, we might as well not give any due dates for anything as they become pointless...

So, my answer to the question is that I agree with the new policy that allows teachers to deduct marks for late assignments. First of all it helps teachers teach pupils to respect their own and the time of the other, teachers are getting the chance to prepare us for the future, for our life, and finally it allows teachers to treat student equally. Of course, I am aware that some people, due to various conditions are different, and because of that unable to finish their work in the same amount of time as most of us - that is, however, a different topic. Being someone who loves to learn in an environment where each of us REALLY has an equal opportunity succeeding in school, I believe this law is a wiser choice then the previous one.

Grade One: finishing my math homework