Should a professor be allowed to assign work outside school days?

I have class on Wednesday. I work every other day. Professor emailed my entire class yesterday (Thursday) and assigned us something due on Friday, the following day. I got home from work at 10:30PM on Thursday night, and had to be up for work again at 6:30 AM on Friday.

I totally didn't do that assignment.

At first I thought "what a presumptuous cunt" but then I wondered if it was my duty as a student. I work full time, and surly if my boss called me on an off day with an emergency project I would have to do my best to at least attempt it. There's my job at stake, whether it's right or wrong is almost irrelevant. Should this apply to school? Where I pay them instead of getting paid?

I'm always under the assumption that Professors can assign you work on days you have class. So if you're off class Thursday, it's not fair to assign an assignment on a day that you're not scheduled for class.

Then again we are expected to work through out the week by out professors no matter if it's studying, reading a chapter, etc.

At what level are you studying? I'd assume it's on University level?

YES.

Grab a 24-pack of Red Bull, because you're not getting much sleep if you plan on passing that class!

He may have just forgotten to set it on the Wednesday but it still seems harsh to expect the work in the following day. If he's not a total ass, you could probably explain and he'd be okay with it.

That definitely seems a bit unfair. Especially if he gave no forewarning that he might hand out assignments on short notice. At the least he could've just assigned it as extra credit or something.

Yes totally fair. Common where I went to school (UK).

What is unfair though is

1. The short notice. 1 day is shitty.

2. Even in this modern era - assuming everyone can access email in a timely fashion to hear about such a tight deadline.

@alternate: On a wider level, I feel it's not a huge deal. But for my personal situation, #2 is very true. I got the email at work, and wasn't able to work on it for 5 hours while I finished up my day. I have a full time project based job. I work in eBook publishing, and if I have to get a book done it's got to be done. I can't just leave and say "sorry I have homework to do."

I'm sure he can do whatever he wants. Does it make him a dick? Yup. Can he do it and get away with it? Yup.

It's for your benefit that professors assign homework, because it's not for their benefit. You go to college/school to learn after all!

I only had that happen when class was cancelled and the Prof. posted what would be do the following class. Nothing like that, I don't think I would like it.

Yeah, that's why it is called 'home'-work.

@BoogieWithStu: No.

It's not your fucking job to be at his beck and call 24/7. You see him at class, if he tells you to check that e-mail in class cool, if not and he starts assigning shit left and right on your off-hours he can go fuck himself if he starts deducting points. If you want to get technical about it they're only crediting you a certain amount of hours for that class right?

It's college and some people are busting their ass and barely covering it at the same time. As someone who is also juggling work and school non-stop I wouldn't take too kindly to that if he was a hard-ass. If not and it was just something he forgot then cool.

No ..... I dont believe in the whole home work crap , unless its university / college stuff , but a heads up for such a thing should happen during class and not after hours

He shouldn't be allowed to, no, but the fact is that he can and does. You can't tell him to shove it where the sun doesn't shine, you can't tell him that you didn't do it because you didn't have the time, and you can't really do much of anything about it. And you know what's worse? Chances are good that you'll eventually have a boss in a real job like that, and missing an assignment there could easily cost you your job.

Such are the pains of not being in the topmost echelons of society. Fuck the rich and powerful.

I have never had a professor who would do that. If I was ever in that situation, and the teacher refused to provide an opportunity to make up the grade, I would complain to a higher authority.

@BoogieWithStu: You could just do what I did when I was in college and not have an email address. Of course, that was back in the 60's.

A professor that inspires you, like Aristotle. If i had a teacher like that, i would rule the world by now.

this college?

cause if it is you are not college material. drop out now and save yourself some money.

if you are not interested in doing the work to better yourself don't waste the professor's time.

I believe that if it isn't touched upon in class. It shouldn't be asked of you.

Class time is the teachers time to lay out the plans for assignments, homework and studying. (If they said I will be posting an assignment online Thursday then yes its your responsibility.)

You are not on call in school. You have should have no obligation to check online to see if you have a random assignment in your class or via email.

If the teacher isn't setting aside the time in class they are failing at their job.

All this being said. We are all wrong and the Teacher is right because we are students.

EDIT: This isn't homework we are talking about. Homework is assigned during class time to be done for a later date.

Short notice homework sucks. He should have informed you about your assignment in class. My professors list all of my homework assignments in their syllabi.

I would complain to the faculty. That's completely out of order.

At my school (the flagship liberal arts school in Canada, comparable to... a leading US state school, I guess) all deadlines for marked work must be enumerated on the syllabus and cannot be changed without substantial prior warning.

@Jumanji said:

I would complain to the faculty. That's completely out of order.

At my school (the flagship liberal arts school in Canada, comparable to... a leading US state school, I guess) all deadlines for marked work must be enumerated on the syllabus and cannot be changed without substantial prior warning.

I go to a small shitty community college in the US and it's pretty much the same here so I'd complain as well

Usually a college professor would given you a syllabus on the first or second day of class. Then discuss with the class what needs to be done during the semester and what is expected from you. A few people have mentioned it before but there is a reason why its called homework. There is never enough time in a class period to cover all the important materials. Working outside of class is suppose to supplement that information. Working off the clock is different. That depends on how your employer does things. If you are payed salary or have to punch a time clock. The point is that you need to prioritize what is important and budget you time accordingly. When things have to get done. They have to get done and making excuses is not going to help you.

Whether you should do something unreasonable because something valuable to you is at stake and whether work being asked of you outside of work/school hours is acceptable are two different questions. Personally, I think that in that situation your professor gave you far too little notice on the assignment, and shouldn't have been allowed to do things the way they did. I don't think school work is about you "paying" the school though, it's about you learning, and if they aren't properly facilitating that they're the ones in the wrong.

Right or wrong, that's kind of how the system is. Of course, I'm a full-time student so I guess it's less of an issue for me.

Absolutely fucking not UNLESS it was stated in the Syllabus. Try to make good with the professor, and if heshe won't budge, complain to the department's Dean about this prick.

You're paying YOUR hard earned money funding this broken ass scam of an educational system. You have more power than you realize. The most valuable thing I learned in college wasn't even taught in college and that is to be persistent until you get your damn way.

College?

What a fucking scam. You can literally learn everything those asswipes charge you through the nose for on youtube/in a public library. I've stumbled across ( much to my dismay ) videos of doctors going step by step how to do organ transplants, or basic human anatomy online. My point is, stop paying d-bags to teach you shit from a book, go to a trade school and become a help to your local community. Half the shit these people teach you turns out to be outdated in a few years anyway. What a joke.

A lot of people in this thread misinterpreting "assignment assigned on Thursday and due on Friday" as "homework." Homework is announced in class or on the syllabus. This is an assignment that was given without an adequate amount of time for the students to complete it. 
 
@Gamer_152 said:

I don't think school work is about you "paying" the school though, it's about you learning, and if they aren't properly facilitating that they're the ones in the wrong.

What kind of classes do you people take? I haven't had homework in over a year.........(I'm a criminology major)

@ajamafalous said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I don't think school work is about you "paying" the school though, it's about you learning, and if they aren't properly facilitating that they're the ones in the wrong.

I don't think you need to put paying in quotes there; pretty sure he meant physically paying the school money to attend it.

Ah, I gotcha. I've been up for too long to deal with all these Americanisms. Regardless, I still think what I said applies.

That sounds like some bullshit. If I was you I would do it and not bitch but at the end of the semester when and if they do teacher reviews I would give him poor marks. If he assigned it during class as homework then fine, but to email students with assignments due the next day is a bit harsh. Students are not on call 24/7.

@Gamer_152 said:

@ajamafalous said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I don't think school work is about you "paying" the school though, it's about you learning, and if they aren't properly facilitating that they're the ones in the wrong.

I don't think you need to put paying in quotes there; pretty sure he meant physically paying the school money to attend it.

Ah, I gotcha. I've been up for too long to deal with all these Americanisms. Regardless, I still think what I said applies.

O_o? The fuck? Sounds like you've just been up to long, what makes that an "Americanism"?

In my opinion, if it is not on your class syllabus then there should not be a spontaneous assignment due in a relatively short amount of time. If it was on the syllabus and it was said that it was always going to be due Friday but he only posted it on Thursday, then that is your bad but it doesnt sound like the case. If a prof is going to assign homework outside of class, he/she should give at least a full school week (5 days) before it being due.

@BigChickenDinner said:

@Gamer_152 said:

@ajamafalous said:

@Gamer_152 said:

I don't think school work is about you "paying" the school though, it's about you learning, and if they aren't properly facilitating that they're the ones in the wrong.

I don't think you need to put paying in quotes there; pretty sure he meant physically paying the school money to attend it.

Ah, I gotcha. I've been up for too long to deal with all these Americanisms. Regardless, I still think what I said applies.

O_o? The fuck? Sounds like you've just been up to long, what makes that an "Americanism"?

In the UK we usually only refer to educational establishments that teach people up to the age of 16 as "schools" so the phrasing "paying for school" doesn't really come up.

@Gamer_152: Okay, totally makes sense now.

I majored in graphic design and our profs always told us to check our emails several times a day for updates on our assignments. We would sometimes get an update on Saturday or Sunday for something due on Monday or Tuesday. You couldn't use, "I didn't check my email over the weekend" as an excuse because the syllabus for all classes always gave a breakdown of how much time you were expected to spend working out of class (usually 10-15 hours per week). This is the reason why students were advised to take no more than TWO art/graphic design classes a quarter. Printmaking was the worse with the expectation being 10-20 hours a week out of class session. That classroom was actually open 24/7 since people were there all hours of the day including Saturday and Sunday.

I never met a professor who would assign so close to the due date and not give extensions to students who need it - like those who have a job or a game for the university's sports team.

@BigChickenDinner said:

College?

What a fucking scam. You can literally learn everything those asswipes charge you through the nose for on youtube/in a public library. I've stumbled across ( much to my dismay ) videos of doctors going step by step how to do organ transplants, or basic human anatomy online. My point is, stop paying d-bags to teach you shit from a book, go to a trade school and become a help to your local community. Half the shit these people teach you turns out to be outdated in a few years anyway. What a joke.

You honestly think that is enough to actually perform one of those procedures? What if I do not want to have a trade job. I plan on researching Cancer Biology or entering Med School. Is there a better alternative?

@Dany: How else do you think people get trained on an organ transplant? You think they just sit in a classroom and talk about it? No, I bet they pop a video on and let you watch it. Then You probably do it to a cadaver a few times. Watch the videos some more etc. Like I said, Whats the point in paying for that if they have it online for free? Med school? researching cancer biology? You think this stuff cant be found anywhere else?

Yeah I do think having someone take you step by step during a live surgery is enough to teach you how to do it. How else would you learn it? If you want to pay these assholes to teach you shit they are reading out of books, be my guest. If you want to sit behind some desk for the rest of your life with no real useable skills, be my guest. Learning how to be an EMT takes YEARS in the civilian world, the military teaches you those same skills in 2-3 weeks. Think about that. Why the huge difference?

Our continuous assessment doesn't work like that. We have a course infrormation document for every class, and the assessments are dated and detailed in there (i.e. class test for 15% of your grade on this date) so that there's ample time for organised students to prepare.

@BigChickenDinner said:

@Dany: How else do you think people get trained on an organ transplant? You think they just sit in a classroom and talk about it? No, I bet they pop a video on and let you watch it. Then You probably do it to a cadaver a few times. Watch the videos some more etc. Like I said, Whats the point in paying for that if they have it online for free? Med school? researching cancer biology? You think this stuff cant be found anywhere else?

Yeah I do think having someone take you step by step during a live surgery is enough to teach you how to do it. How else would you learn it? If you want to pay these assholes to teach you shit they are reading out of books, be my guest. If you want to sit behind some desk for the rest of your life with no real useable skills, be my guest. Learning how to be an EMT takes YEARS in the civilian world, the military teaches you those same skills in 2-3 weeks. Think about that. Why the huge difference?

@Jay444111

This is what you sound like sometimes. Are you two by any chance related?

He gave you a whole day. That's plenty of time.

Yea, assigning homework through email on a non class day seems pretty fucking bull shit to me. He at least should have warned that it would be coming. What if you didnt check your email? Seems pretty egocentric.

@Doctorchimp said:

his beck and call

Also, you're an adult, and you are studying, he is the professor, he can set you work whenever he wants. You're there to learn, regardless of the day.

Now, if he was an asshole because you didn't have the time to complete, then yeah, he's an asshole, but that's a different story all together.

That seems like perfectly normal behavior where I'm from. Teachers did that in public school to where I went to school.

Fun fact about the Wisconsin public school system, Madison Metropolitan District: they are no longer allowed to grade Homework.  That was a really weird revelation when I found out while grading student work.

So to clarify a few things:

I am a Computer Graphics and Animation student. The assignment was due to her lack of preparation for Wednesday's lesson. She (as she very frequently does) took too long with the lesson and didn't finish it. She let class out on Wednesday with no warning of extra assignments. I work 3 days a week. However, it is a full time position where I am required to work 35-40 hours. Because of this, I work 12-13 hour days on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I commute to Manhattan, and that takes 1.5 hours each way. She emails us on Thursday at 6:29 PM with the assignment and an accompanying video tutorial, saying it was due at 5:00PM the following day. Also, she was counting this assignment towards some classwork participation grade (which is insane for a college level class) I was at work, and would not return home until about 10:30PM. I had to wake up the next day at 6:30AM. So I get home at 10:30PM, take a huge dump, and fix myself something to eat. I am ready to work at around 11:10PM. I watched her tutorial, but did not find it too useful, so I looked for other tutorials on the subject. I watched 30 minutes of a proper one and attempted the assignment. I got it sort of working, but not fully. Something was still wrong. It was now 12:20AM and I was tired. I decided that some clown ass participation grade wasn't worth having a shitty, sleepless day at work, so I went to bed and didn't hand it in. Only 4 people out of a class of 10 did it.

Look, I probably shouldn't have made this thread to begin with because I realized something. I could have done it. I totally could have. If I gave a fuck I could have stayed up and learned it and done it properly. But I didn't give a fuck. Maybe I was using "LAST MINUTE ASSIGNMENT WAAAH" as an excuse to make myself feel better, but frankly, I should have done it. This professor isn't particularly good at her job. She's a very nice woman, but she had no production experience and uses methods that the industry abandoned years ago. Last year we had an AWESOME professor. The dude worked on Kung-Fu Panda and knew EVERYTHING about Autodeak Maya, Motionbulder, and motion capture. Also he treated us like adults and didn't take shit form anyone. If HE assigned me this last minute work (which he wouldn't have to begin with because he always had his shit together) I would have done it without hesitation. I would have stayed up until 6:00AM, gotten 20 minutes of sleep and then went to work. It all boils down to us not giving a fuck. That other, cool, professor? He got a real job and moved the fuck away from here. So now we're stuck with someone who's last Maya project was (I'm not shitting you) from 2007.

So I'm wrong. I should have done it. Sometimes life sends you a sidewinder. I made a choice. I valued sleep over my grade. Grades, at my point in college, don't mean much.