“Dear Teacher,
I’m writing to ask for an extension for the paper that was due at midnight.”
These words are a student’s anthem as they stare off into space at 2 a.m, wondering how they ended up in this situation again. With a paper that isn’t anywhere close to done and was due at midnight, the “due tomorrow, do tomorrow” philosophy strikes again.
Do you admit that you procrastinated, or do you lie and say that your computer was attacked by a virus?
Often, students claim that they had to stay late at school for extracurriculars–a valid excuse. After all, with the exorbitant amount of extracurriculars the average student participates in, it can be hard to find time for school. Some common activities include football, theatre and marching band. These are all activities that require students to commit to multiple hours a day, five or six days a week.
Others insist that they were caught up with their job. It can be hard to manage both school and work at the same time.
Some take a different route. They may claim that they thought they had submitted the assignment.
“The stupidest attempt at making an excuse would be ‘I didn’t know that I had to do that [assignment],’’’ English teacher Alec Hicks said.
Hicks has also heard some other interesting excuses.
“[People have claimed] ‘My computer was dead all weekend and I couldn’t charge it,’” Hicks said.
In contrast, a valid excuse is being sick. This is entirely believable with all of the illnesses going around.
Perhaps even more believable, sometimes students claim that they were at a college visit and couldn’t complete their work. With how intense our academic atmosphere is, this is common. There are only so many days off to visit colleges, so sometimes these visits have to coincide with weekends normally spent doing homework.
Most commonly, a surprising amount of students simply don’t make an excuse at all; they just turn in their late assignment without any comment.
History teacher Beau Obetts has experience with this.
“[The assignment] was literally over 200 days late; they turned it in over the summer…There was no excuse that went with it,” Obetts said.
Hicks shares a particularly memorable excuse.
“I’ve had situations where people have told me they went on vacation and they left their backpack at their aunt’s house in South Carolina and then they had to get it all brought back up or mailed to them,” Hicks said.
Among the various elaborate stories you can come up with, you decide to tell the truth: you procrastinated and now need an extension for your paper. You’ll get it done as soon as you can.
“Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, your student.”
