Natural Selection

HAHA! I submitted the final results yesterday, so finally the semester is finally, officially, over.

I received the following SMS message while marking the exam scripts in the morning:

SIR..TLG SY..SY DH REPEAT 4 KALI B.MATE..TIGA THN SY KT SINI XDPT ENTER DEPTMNT LG..DH XDE SUBJECT SY BOLEH AMBIL SEM 1 NNT.LOAN SY DISEKAT.KALO SY FAIL LG B.MATE SEM NI,SY KENA DISMISS.SY SANGGUP BUAT ASSGMNT TAMBAHAN UTK UP MARKAH SY.SY HANYA NK C JE..SY BNR2 MNT TLG, PLEASE HELP ME SIR.. [Matriculation Number] [Name]

Coincidentally, I was marking the particular student's exam script at that very moment. It was the same student from before who followed me to my office after class. After that one encounter when he asked me to give him a (free) pass, not once did he ever come to see me for consultation. In fact, he only submitted three out of eight assignments I gave the class. So don't blame me for being less than sympathetic. Besides, his final marks were too low for me to push to a pass.

Some people are reluctant to fail students and allow them to be dismissed from the university. Kesian, they say; but not the cold and heartless me. I say we pass them if they deserve to pass, and let them fail if they don't. Natural selection, baby. Besides, it is not the end of the world to fail a paper and get kicked out of university.

Anyway, seven students failed out of a class of thirty-four. I wish them all the best.