lionThis was the week of no return. At an average of 100 pts a week, the 11th week marks the point at which some students have enough points to pass the course. They will pass regardless of what they do for the remainder of the semester. The students who have enough points for their 1.0 are not the ones who will stop now, 4 weeks short of the semester. This was also the week when one student dropped to the point that passing was numerically impossible, even if 100% of the remaining points were earned. However, if I curve the course, and everybody else except this student gives up, then the student could pass the course. Will a student who lets 11 weeks slide without performing the minimum be motivated to finish with a perfect score for the rest of the semester? Will the students who have scored near maximum scores for 11 weeks stop and let the slower student catch up? Neither scenario is likely. Procrastination is catching up with the students at the back of the pack. The time to stop letting points slip away passed last week for one student. Three more are facing that point of no return soon. I think about this because the Lions beat the Packers today, posting a 2-7 record, with 7 games to go in the season. If the Lions win every game from now until the end of the season, and everyone else stops trying, they will get into the playoffs! However, it is my fixed opinion that procrastination does not work. A Lion Super Bowl victory in a few months may give me reason to reevaluate my views on procrastination, but I will wait until the last minute to get to that.