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There's a moment, every term, when the student looks at his or her reading list, notes the number of papers still to be written, comprehends the various lengths of those papers, estimates how much time these and other projects will take, and then calculates the approximate number of hours left before each of several due dates. That moment is most often followed by an intense period of screaming, weeping and gnashing of teeth. I am on the edge of that moment. All, however, is not lost. By the grace of God and the help of coffee, the student is almost always able to hand in the required material by the deadline. This author, for one, has yet to request a deadline extension. He doesn't quite comprehend the notion...what is the meaning of death if it can be so easily postponed? And is the granting of a deadline extension a salvific act of grace on the part of one's professor? The author (who, in a semi-haggard state is enjoying the use of the third person) says "No". Pushing a deadline back doesn't actually prevent academic death, it merely delays it. In this regard a deadline extension is comparable to modern medicine. The coursework is like death; it's still due and if the student is to pass, to graduate, it is his or her own completion of the assignment that will accomplish academic salvation. The professor merely withholds judgement for a prescribed period. So we can't compare the gracious professor to Our Lord, no matter how beatific he or she may behave. Has the reader preceded us? (Now the author has moved into the plural, which is a true stylistic flourish.) There is a flaw in the dynamic of academic salvation, namely that it ascribes salvation to works. True grace is unearned and, while it's tempting to view some students' grades and suggest that there have been gifts freely given, the academic world in principle is founded upon salvation by merit. Good works earn one the sanctification of respectable grades, justification by a diploma and (for those blessed elect) access to the Elysium of academia everlasting, the domain of angels and dons. So, you see, graduation is not achieved Sola Fide, by faith alone. Rather it is our Good Works, pleasing in the sight of the College, which earn us the saving degree. Let's not even get into predestination or purgatory, eh? |
