Donate blood for college assignment

[jwhtewolfd]

Just chiming in on the mandatory "volunteering" issue. I'm an athesist, but in my area, if you wanted any kind of decent education, you went to catholic high school. So I did. We had to do a mandatory 45 hours EACH year.

So here you had an athesist, who doesn't like kids, teaching arts and crafts at Vacation Bible School for 4 summers. Do you think I or those kids got any benefit from that?

I graduated high school in '01 and I have yet to have an inkling of an urge to volunteer for anything.

 

[Sparx]

donating is really not that big of a deal, especially with given alternatives.

she's in college, let her figure it out for herself.

and i have to have 40 hours of volunteering this semester to just apply for my major, so i definitely do not think its going to be impossible for her to find two hours here or there. and if she can't, well she can deal with the consequences.

 

[Pigeon]

If you have to do its not volunteering is it? What someone does with their own time should have nothing to do with her teachers. If someone told me I had to volunteer I wouldn't. Give blood or give your time not the college's choice.

I agree completely. Volunteering should be, well, voluntary, not something coerced by the school.

I volunteer and my 12 year old volunteers--because we want to and because we think it's important. But I'd raise a stink if the school tried to mandate it because it is none of their business. They should concentrate on teaching subject matter and get their noses out of people's private lives.

 

[Mermaid02]

Really? Are you kidding me? If you ever did ANY type of prep for a syllabus, you would know that the alternative extra credit must equal the time that the others are giving by donating.

I hardly think having a student "write a paper" (one page) summarizing a journal article that they found on a subject pertaining to the course on many of the websites available to them (not wiki) is "punishment".

Any DECENT student could do it in less time than it would take to donate blood. Quit trying to bring up "body parts". It's not like the kid has to donate a kidney to pass the class. She just has to do another option and is upset because she doesn't want to. Mommy should NOT be involved.

First of all- I agree, Mom should NOT be involved. The girl is in college and can do as she wishes.

Second- no I have obviously NOT written a syllabus and you I'm sure, are much smarter than anyone who hasn't. That was your point right?

Third- Your blood is part of your body... is it not? They wouldn't even let me make an autologous donation before I had surgery because my blood sucks.

Are you KIDING OMG that is the most insain asament

WHAT?

 

[daughtersrus]

OP, donating might be the "best" option for her but I find it hard to believe that she doesnt have 2 hours durign the week where she can volunteer.

Last year I was taking 16 credits, working 25 hours and volunteering 4 hours every week both semesters.

She was given alternatives...she can make her choice of what to do. Nobody is forcing her to donate. She can volunteer instead.

I dont think its wrong to have volunteering as part of the grade. We were required to volunteer 10 hours in high school for our government class and noe one had a problem with that requirement.

First of all- I agree, Mom should NOT be involved. The girl is in college and can do as she wishes.

donating is really not that big of a deal, especially with given alternatives.

she's in college, let her figure it out for herself.

and i have to have 40 hours of volunteering this semester to just apply for my major, so i definitely do not think its going to be impossible for her to find two hours here or there. and if she can't, well she can deal with the consequences.

Like I said, DD made the choice to donate her blood. I'm not against that but as her mom, it's natural for me to be concerned for her safety on the way home because of her past experience. My only involvement (besides posting here) is to tell DD to be sure to let the staff taking her blood know what happened last time. I also asked DD to call me when she was coming home so that I would know when to reasonably expect her. I have not contacted the school or professor in any way.

DD made the choice to donate blood in part because she hopes that it will take less than 2 hours on Monday (this is the only day that is allowed to volunteer and it must be 2 continuous hours) but she also believes that giving blood is a good thing to do. DD is taking 18 credit hours one of which is a teaching class that requires 64 clinical hours in a school setting. Setting up the clinic hour schedule was a bit difficult to arrange with the various teachers and principals so she's really not wanting to try and change that.

As an adult, I think that it's inappropriate to have a regular assignment (not extra credit as some have suggested) like this. If the option was to write a paper, it could be done at any time between the time it was assigned and the next class but this is one that requires the students to be at a certain place, on a certain day for a given set of time.

Thanks for letting me share my opinion!

 

[m&m's mom]

Second- no I have obviously NOT written a syllabus and you I'm sure, are much smarter than anyone who hasn't. That was your point right?

BTW- I did not interpret that the post you are quoting was trying to act "smarter". I took it as someone who has "been there" giving their educated opinion.

 

[okeydokey]

If you have to do its not volunteering is it? What someone does with their own time should have nothing to do with her teachers. If someone told me I had to volunteer I wouldn't. Give blood or give your time not the college's choice.

Well if a paper is due for the class you do it on your own time, right? If you don't write the paper you don't get the credit. If you don't do the blood drive or the 2 hours you don't get the credit. Still the student's choice.

 

[Mermaid02]

BTW- I did not interpret that the post you are quoting was trying to act "smarter". I took it as someone who has "been there" giving their educated opinion.

I disagree- it "sounded" very condescending to me.........

 

[brittanyherndon]

First of all- I agree, Mom should NOT be involved. The girl is in college and can do as she wishes.

Second- no I have obviously NOT written a syllabus and you I'm sure, are much smarter than anyone who hasn't. That was your point right?

Third- Your blood is part of your body... is it not? They wouldn't even let me make an autologous donation before I had surgery because my blood sucks.



WHAT?

let me put it an other way are u KIDING ME why would a teacher give points for that not every one can donate blood. There has to be another way to get the points.

 

[Had2stopLurking]

BTW- I did not interpret that the post you are quoting was trying to act "smarter". I took it as someone who has "been there" giving their educated opinion.

Thank you.

I apologize if I came off as condescending Mermaid. It was not the intention of my post.

I agree with Pigeon that Professors do and will change their syllabus regularly; but anything having to do with a student having to do anything physically, we must get it approved by the department and/or ethics board (at least that is how it works in the science departments at my university).

One semester I was going to do a project on the relationship between testosterone and behavior by simply having the students scan their right hand and measuring two fingers (the ratio of your index finger and ring finger on your right hand is determined by how much testosterone you received while in the uterus) , and it took me months to get it approved and there was nothing more to do than scan their hand and measure two fingers (no fingerprints were even shown). For students not wishing to participate, I had to come up with two other options of an assignment that would take equal time.

To summarize, in MY experience, any time that a student has an assignment that would involved any part of their body or person, it MUST be approved ahead of time. Other assignments/lesson plans can change at will.

Thank you

 

[m&m's mom]

let me put it an other way are u KIDING ME why would a teacher give points for that not every one can donate blood. There has to be another way to get the points.

There are and the other options have been posted on this thread.

 

[daughtersrus]

I think the child in question didn't do the other alternatives and now "needs" the extra credit and is crying wolf. .

As I've said before, this is not the case and I'm not sure how you jumped to this conclusion.

I am assuming (after many years dealing with students) that the child in question had the opportunity to donate blood or do an alternative assignment (perhaps writing a paper) for extra credit. The child most likely did not do the alternative and is now crying wolf to "mommy" and is saying it's "required".

Your assumption was wrong. As stated in the OP, this is an assignment, not extra credit. The OP also states that it is next week and that an appointment to donate has already been made.

Really? Are you kidding me? If you ever did ANY type of prep for a syllabus, you would know that the alternative extra credit must equal the time that the others are giving by donating.

Once again, just pointing out that the assignment in the OP is not for extra credit but for a regular assignment.

I hardly think having a student "write a paper" (one page) summarizing a journal article that they found on a subject pertaining to the course on many of the websites available to them (not wiki) is "punishment".

Any DECENT student could do it in less time than it would take to donate blood. Quit trying to bring up "body parts". It's not like the kid has to donate a kidney to pass the class.

Writing a paper was not an option. Once again, the choices were to donate blood at the drive on Monday, work the desk for 2 hours for the Red Cross on Monday or to volunteer for 2 hours on Monday in the Science Dept.

She just has to do another option and is upset because she doesn't want to. Mommy should NOT be involved.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that my DD is upset. I had a conversation with my DD about this assignment. If talking to my child means that I'm involved, then yes I am involved and I'm proud of it.