Today is the day that I am giving the first midterm exam of the semester to both of my classes. This semester, I've instituted a somewhat harsh make-up exams policy: unless you have a university-related absence (eg, a game or a debate) that you tell me about in advance, you can't make up the exam. Instead, the weight of that exam is applied to your final exam.Is this a fair policy? Maybe not, but I don't care. I've gotten so tired of students lying to me about why they didn't show up (there's one with a sketchy story almost every exam or other due date), and it's a huge pain to come up with another exam for absent students.
But here's an interesting side effect: today, for the first time in I can't remember how long, none of my students have had a grandparent suddenly pass away right before the exam. That's right: my no make-up exams policy is saving lives. Glory!