About 1/3 of my students come to my early morning class regularly. We've got an in-class exam coming up. How problematic would it be if I only verbally reminded students of the exam? It was previously announced and clearly shown on the schedule. Of course this is to make a point, and could backfire WRT having to deal with a slew of doctor's notes and other such headaches.

Hey Fam,

I was just informed by one of my students that our next class midterm exam falls on the release date of GTA VI.

They were wondering if I could change it.

Type of 5 in the chat if you think we’re cooked.

Title says it all. I am a non-US faculty in a college in the US. I am also one of the few international faculty members here. Many international students come to my office hours, talk about their lives, and end up crying. They talk about their stress, anxiety, and loneliness. They miss their home and family. They tell me they are worried about what will happen to them after they graduate, after they lose their student visa status. One student had a panic attack in my office while talking (I had to carry the student to EMS).

I feel terrible for these students. They have no one to talk to except for me. And all I can tell them is to seek counseling services and other campus resources. At the same time this is really affecting me negatively. I guess I am lost — how do I be an empathetic human being without carrying the emotional burden?

I have so many students this semester with “car issues” that have resulted in a handful missing class. They’re starting to blow up my emails with this constant issue and I’m just at a loss now. Their grades won’t be affected too much as long as they do all of the online work but I’m hesitant to share that because I feel like it might encourage them to just keep missing class or making any efforts to show up. Like take an Uber/Lyft or public transit? Our community also has a bus line that runs throughout the city and even outside of city limits to accommodate these students but mine don’t seem to even try to use that option despite it being free!

Back in my day we made every effort to show up, rather than blowing up our professors with emails of our struggles that are starting to seem more like excuses for not coming in at all. Any feedback on how to approach this?

I've commented here many times about the strange accommodations requests other people have received, and I finally got one myself.

I was told that any assignments on paper can't be graded with a red pen, and that I can't provide any feedback that the student might perceive as negative, as they find it traumatizing.

I'm flabbergasted. I don't grade with red pen, but it's absolutely my right to do so. I'm not going to tell a student that every word they write is utter perfection.

Hello co teachers,

I've tasked my students to submit an essay and there's one trend that keeps appearing. There's an unusual amount of bold letters and statements. I know a bold text signify their importance but it's the first time I've seen students use this style of writing, and worringly a number of student's submissions are like this.

I would like a genuine and honest opinion, have you seen this in your class as well? Should I be concerned that my students are using AI in creating their paper?

Your insights would be most fruitful, thank you!

Hey!

What are y'all's thoughts on ending class early?

I did so on Monday as I ran out of information. I feel like I am adding too much to my lectures on the designated lecture day, but I trimmed too much.

And then today I ended early (~10 minutes) because of a similar fashion and some videos I was going to show on YouTube stopped working.

I feel a little guilty, but I have gone over a bit lately...

The email was written by AI and the student said that his ADHD makes it "difficult to keep up with deadlines," and "having some flexibility would help me stay on track." He also wanted to know why he couldn't submit his assignment that was due two days ago.

This is an online asynchronous course. It's also an accelerated course. So like...no. There IS no extra time.

What he didn't send me: an official accommodations request form.

Also, it's 2026. We all have ADHD.

Somehow my algorithm dropped me off there and my gasts are flabbered.

It’s called cheatonlineproctor (intentionally not tagging it) and it’s just post after post about trying to cheat on exams.

I’m just so tired of this crap. I’m sure it’s not even the only one.

Anyway, just wanted to share it for everyone’s awareness.

Update: they banned me lol

It’s Week 10. 8 of my 24 dual-enrolled students are failing. The withdrawal date is 2 days away. I’ve emailed them, I’ve emailed their counselors. Many times. Lots of emails. No replies.

Normally I’d say fine, fail the class, enjoy yourself. But dual-enrolled students are different because their high school credits and college acceptances (and free college credits) are at risk. This means that in December I’m due for panicked emails and, worst-case scenario, counselors picking over my syllabus trying to find places I’ve been unfair and complaining to the program coordinators.

But I am holding the line! There will be NO make-ups and absolutely NO extra credit. But please withdraw, guys. Just withdraw. Respectfully, get the hell off my roster.

By the way, the counselors don’t want these kids to withdraw because then they have to find something to do with them for the rest of the semester. Whole setup is reeeeal stupid.

An admin in the provost's office of my school--the one who "resolves" faculty issues, lamented that faculty don't see ADA accommodations as opportunities and instead complain about having to help disabled students. If you had the opportunity to meet with such an administrator, what would you say?

I'm getting students giving me paragraphs about their grief or anxiety or even just absolutely unhinged medical information. I hate to kick them when they are down but I absolutely don't need to be reading this, I have my own shit to process.

On the one hand, they are still so young and don't really understand a lot of social rules that I consider normal. On the other hand, they are mostly dumping this on me to improve their grade, not because they don't have access to therapists or support services.

What are y'all doing?

It had never even occurred to me that I may need to tell students that they need to do what assignments require in order to, say, get passing grades on those assignments. 2026 is full of surprises.

Is anyone else confused by the constant use of headphones 24/7 by so many students?

I'm a young enough professor that I remember the first iPods and people carrying their music with them everywhere, but it seems like a relatively new thing that students simply never take their headphones off, ever, unless told directly, and even then they do it begrudgingly, or even outright refuse.

Is it a coping mechanism? Are they just incapable of disconnecting from social media and this is their best way to hide the fact that they're using it in class? Are they listening to music?

I absolutely understand some students using them for focus and attention and neurodivergent students needing to wear them, but I've never gotten an accommodation request to allow students to to wear headphones.

I see students continuing to wear headphones while holding full conversations, and while supposedly working on in class projects, and all manner of classroom activities, where I would have thought that they'd have been a hindrance.

I've seen students pull their hoodies up to hide them or pull their hair over them to hide them., anything other than take them out and actually engage in class.

It's not all students, but it seems to be a lot more lately.

My students are presenting today, right?

They are a group of about 50 and none of them study the same career / major.

The one doing the introduction goes: “we are the people you can see the names there on the screen and myself”.

and I’m like “who are they and who are you? Use your names. It’s a courtesy here in the classroom and tomorrow when you are at work, giving a speech or presentation at a wide range where you go to work, unless a small knitted group”.

Grading exams. Easiest question taken straight from a video we watched in class, talked about, read poems about... I showed them interdisciplinary connections between literature and history. They helped me shape the question about this very topic on the exam for extra credit....

More than half still failed the question...

Cooked.

I am nearing the end of my first full year as a professor after graduating with my PhD last year. I was naive and thought it would simply be a multiple of what my TA duties were like. Unfortunately, it is much worse. Now that I am the primary instead of just a TA, the floodgates have been unleashed upon me.

I had no clue how whiny and entitled all these students are. They can’t do anything for themselves and need their hand held to do even the simplest things. They refuse to take any initiative or accountability for their own actions or grades. I make announcements in class about upcoming assignments, post them in Canvas (and on the calendar) and send email reminders 2 days before the due date. I still have students complaining to my superiors that I’m allegedly not giving enough notice about assignments. These students are the ones that don’t show up for class and refuse to check their emails/Canvas. My department head knows this and tells me not to worry, but the little brats go ABOVE the department head all the way to the provost to complain. The provost always sides with the students. The university system is a joke. It’s basically a big for-profit machine whose only purpose is to incentivize students to enroll rather than actually teach them.

Then, the students are brutal in their course evals. It’s soul-crushing. I pour my heart out every day to try to get them to learn, but it doesn’t matter. If they don’t like their grade they can’t admit any fault of their own and make up BS about me in the evals. Mind you, the good students all give me glowing reviews, but that doesn’t matter apparently. The squeaky wheels get the grease. By no means do I think I’m the best professor there is. This isn’t an ego thing. This is about them flat out lying about me because they remember that I didn’t excuse one of their absences or wouldn’t extend an assignment deadline for them. I don’t know what to do. This year has been very eye-opening for me. I think I should just start letting students get away with whatever they want so I can be popular, because popular professors are the ones that get the best evals and get promoted. I’m so dismayed that this is what’s become of our education system. I’m even more concerned about what the future holds. As bad as I think I have it, I’ve seen true nightmare fuel from stories shared by our elementary/middle school comrades. I don’t know if I want to be around when that generation hits college age.

I try to tell myself almost continuously to be grateful to have this job. I spend all day in a cushioned chair, in air conditioned rooms, tapping my fingers back and forth. And in theory, it should be amazing: I'm supposed to be able to sit around all day thinking & talking about whatever I want to. And it's among the most stable jobs in the workforce right now. And I get paid pretty well to do it. And that's why there are 400 applicants for every one of these jobs, and I somehow got one.

But I think the biggest reason why I can't manage to convince myself of that is because I'm a constant ball of frustration and irritation all the time, because like 95% of the job now is...endless, meaningless frustrations. As opposed to sitting in a meadow somewhere with the sun on my face thinking about the world & trying to understand it better, all I do is deal with bullshit hoop-jumping that doesn't help anyone, that it's someone else's job to do, etc. And rather than deal with any of that, no one who leads the institutions dealing the bullshit care about addressing it, even though they very much could.

So, instead, I spend my days...haggling with students over late assignments. Trying to sleuth whether or not they know the material or AI does. Trying to police whether my staff are actually producing the 40 hours worth of work I'm paying them for or staring at TikTok all day. Doing all of the dumb work a PI should never be doing because I can't fire anyone, and trying will be more work for me. Trying to accomplish anything in our research management systems. Trying to guess a journal's submission requirements before I submit something, only to find out there are 500 unwritten rules that you only find out about after you submit & they kick it back to you. Fighting with slimy reviewers who clearly don't know your space at all. Trying to buy a computer that a sponsor gave my university money to buy for me. Reporting all of my sources of support down to the 0.01 calendar month. Repeating the same study protocol info in 10 different fields to 10 different groups who all say they need to review & approve of what we're doing. Helping my university earn piles of money so they can immediately burn it on hiring more "support" people whose job it is to make up new shit for me to do, rather than actually help with any of the things I have to do.

God I'm so burnt out.

I genuinely do not know how to handle this situation.

This semester I have been dealing with a plague of hushed whispers the second I turn around. It comes with the territory whatever whatever.

But I have one student in particular who does this every fucking time.

I see him on his phone while he’s supposed to be working.

Me: “Hey man, do you mind puttin that away? Cool, thanks.”

I turn around and he whispers some shit under his breath about me. This time he got a bit bold and just straight up whispered “….fuck you….” He made sure the girl who sits in front of him heard. She laughs.

This past time I snapped, turned back around, and said, “dude, you gotta not talk shit about me the second I start to walk away.”

“I WASNNNTTUHHHHHH” in that iconic Gen-Z way of showing exasperation by trailing off your words into a grunt.

I stared at him for a moment, truly not sure what to do about this. In what fucking universe do behavioral problems need to be on the radar of a university professor? Sir, you’re a grown man.

So, I ask you all, please, what in the hell do you do about these underdeveloped little shits?

I am about four years out of my PhD and currently in a tenure-track academic position. I wanted to hear from other early-career economists or others who had difficult graduate school experiences, particularly those who received very little mentorship from their dissertation advisors.

I had a pretty bad PhD experience. My advisors were focused on administrative ambitions and were largely unavailable. When I considered changing advisors because of the lack of mentorship, the situation became uncomfortable, so I stayed and essentially managed my dissertation on my own.

I eventually graduated, found an academic job, and published a couple of papers. I am grateful for that, and I wouldn't say I am particularly unhappy with where I am. But looking around at people at similar stages of their academic careers, I sometimes feel that I am quite behind in terms of publications, research collaborations, and professional networks.

One thing I have noticed is how much of an advantage a supportive and well-connected PhD advisor can provide, even years after graduation. Many of my peers seem to have developed their research networks, collaborations, and professional visibility through their advisors. I never really had that foundation.

I attend conferences regularly, have research collaborations, and work with coauthors who are mostly at similar stages of their careers. But building a research network without senior mentorship or established connections can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. I am in a small college, so there is not other people in my college too.

So I wanted to ask those of you who had similar experiences but eventually managed to thrive in academia:

- How did you build your research network independently of your PhD advisor?

- How did you find senior collaborators or mentors after graduate school?

- What helped you improve your publication record and establish yourself in the profession?

- Looking back, is there anything you wish you had done differently during your first five to ten years after the PhD?

I am particularly interested in hearing from economists who stayed in academia and managed to build successful research careers despite having little support or mentorship during graduate school.

Last week I got some sad stories about why people couldn't take the midterm on time. Mental health crises, overwhelm, etc. I caved and agreed to let three students take a new version late. Today was the day.

Two of the three had new sad stories about why they couldn't take it (one said they were sick; one said they forgot their notes). Then sad faces when I told them they can take it now or take it before their final exam in 8 weeks. (Both opted to take it now.)

Not again. You can take the test when it's offered or on the designated makeup day and that's it. My bad. Give em an inch. Etc.

I don't know what on earth to do. I'm like shaking. I made a new account. My students say nothing in class, not even a good morning. When I ask them to respond to discussion questions, they do not. The room is silent. Because of this, I struggle to learn their names. It's been draining. Today I received this email from a chosen leader.

We all agree that you treat this class like it is our only class, and we have other things to study for. It is not possible to do all of your work and other professors. We talked about it and we talked to 4th year to see how it was with Dr. (Redacted) and she doesn't do her class this way at all so it really isn't fair that we aren't getting the same education as them. These are the things that will help.

1. Split the class (which is 2 hours) into 16 parts. That's 7.5 mins per person. See each of us for that amount of time so we can get help with the problems/parts of the assignment we don't understand. Most of us are neurodivergent and do not do well with so much of the group stuff that you do and it's honestly way too much group. If we need to we can listen in but that time belongs to that student.
2. Assignment 6 Needs to move to the EARLIEST November 16. Making it November 1 is not fair and you obviously did not speak or cordinate with other teachers. When you said it's not your job to manage our load with other classes...it literally is.

I'm speechless

update: the same student has had chat gpt or one of those programs create a syllabus for the class. One that they would like me to follow. The chair thinks it’s “silly” and just tells me oh just ignore it.

I did this a few years ago and it was good for some distraction. If you haven't seen it on social media, there's a trend where instead of ghosts, creaky noises, peeled grapes, etc. in a haunted house, it's scary/annoying things specific to your job. So...

A haunted house, but it's a speaker on academic burnout where attendance is mandatory.

A haunted house, but it's a student who never comes to class, fails the midterm, and asking what they can do to pass the class.

A haunted house, but someone stole my energy drink from the break room fridge.