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Final Exam
Copyright © All rights reserved
By Ken Chapman, Ph.D.
Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc.
Some years ago at Ohio State University in a huge lecture hall, approximately
one thousand students were completing a calculus final. The calculus teacher
was not well liked. He was one of those people who would stand at the front
of the class and yell out how much time was remaining before the student’s
doom was sealed. At the end, he would have the students stack the incomplete
tests on a huge podium at the front of the room. With a thousand students in
the class, this made for quite a mess.
During this particular final, one student who took the test needed
a decent grade to pass the class and graduate. His problem with calculus was
that he did poorly when rushed and his instructor standing at the front of the
room, barking out how much time was left before the test had to be handed in,
did not help him at all.
Wanting to assure himself of a good grade, he hardly flinched when
the professor said, “Pencils down and place your scantron sheets on the table
at the front of the room.”
Long after the test was officially over, as the professor prepared
to pick up the test papers and leave, the student finally put down his pencil,
gathered up his work, and headed to the front of the hall to submit his
final.
“What do you think you are doing?” the professor asked as the
student stood in front of him about to add his exam to the pile. “Turning in
my exam,” retorted the student confidently. “I’m afraid I have some bad news
for you,” the professor gloated. “Your exam is late. You have failed and
consequently, I’ll see you next term when you repeat my course.”
The student smiled slyly and asked the professor, “Do you know who
I am?” “No,” said the professor dismissively. The student looked the
professor dead in the eye and said slowly, “I did not think so,” as he lifted
up one of several papers and shoved his test neatly into the center of the
stack. Then he turned around and walked casually out of the huge lecture
hall.
Bad behavior often produces bad behavior [or at least conniving
behavior as in the story above] --- not always, but often. If you want the
people you work with to disagree agreeably, be sure to model that behavior.
If you want them to extend courtesy to others, be sure to be courteous. If
you want the people around you to have a constructive attitude, be sure you’ve
got one. Our best argument is our example!
For more information about Ken
Chapman and Associates’ Leadership Development Programs, contact Ken Chapman
at 205.366.0265 or email Ken at
kchapman@leaderscode.com.
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