Since I graduated college in 2004 and have spent the last few years working as a public school teacher, I have had a lot of opportunities to ask my professors to help me extend my degree.
When I have asked my professors for an extension, I have found that very few of them have ever had to extend what they are already teaching. I have gotten the impression that most of them have no clue how to ask for an extension.
I think part of this is because they are not teachers. They are not teachers because they don’t have any formal education. But they are also not teachers because they don’t have a specific job to teach. Some professors are actually in the business of “teaching” their classes. But most professors are not teachers. They are in the business of “teaching”. To be a teacher is to be in the business of teaching.
So how do you ask your professor for an extension? You should probably say something like, “I have a question about this paper class. I need an extension to get this done.” And then ask your professor for the extension. That will get your professor in the right frame of mind to ask for an extension. Don’t do it in a smarty-pants way. You can look smart, but people will laugh at you.
Well, I don’t think I have a smarty-pants way to ask my professor. I think I just said, “I have a question about this paper class.” I think I just said, “I need an extension to get this done.” And then I’m thinking, “Okay. That’s smart.
You can ask your professor for an extension to get things done. You can ask your professor for the extension to get things into the right frame of mind to get things done. You can ask your professor for an extension to get things done, but in general, you can ask for an extension if you need to. Why? Because it shows that you care, like a parent does.
One of the more important things I’ve learned from my professors is that they want to see you care. They want to see that you care about the fact you are studying, and you are paying attention, and you are working hard. They want to see that you care about your grades, and you are putting forth the effort. They want to see that you care about your reputation. Because all of those things are important to students.
The reason an extension is important is that it shows that the student is trying, and it also shows that the student cares. The second reason is that it shows that the student is working hard and paying attention. Many students I see at the University of Chicago don’t have their eyes on their work, and they don’t care about their grades, and they are not working hard. They are just sitting around, getting lazy. You have to be careful here, because students are lazy too.
This is one of those times when it might not be easy to ask for an extension, especially if you have a good reason for wanting an extension. If you want an extension and you have a good reason for wanting the extension, then you have to really work on your “lazy” problem. One way to be sure is to talk with your professor, and try to be as honest as possible.
I know it’s easier said than done, but I think you have to be very honest with your professor. You have to be sure that you are asking the right question.
