Background provided by Instructor: I received this email from a student after the class ended when they checked their final grade (C). They lost points for never doing the final paper. They had received many reminder emails, including the opportunity to take an incomplete and send in the final paper later. Their decision to wait to read the assigned paperback in the last week is telling.
Email from student: I do not understand why I am being penalized a whole letter grade just for one paper. I understand that I signed up for this course but I have had work in the morning and baseball games every night and honestly do not have much time to read a book in a week. If there is anything else that I can do I will do it.