ABSTRACT
Poor softy Sharon! One of her students, Margi, at Stingy University, on an industrial park somewhere in the north of England, has been poorly for most of the year with an unknown and undiagnosable illness which seems to make her feel very tired. Her colleagues call it ‘Yuppie Flu’ and are not generally very sympathetic, noting that Margi does not turn up for lectures and does not finish assignments. But Sharon often feels tired herself, and quite appreciates the fact that Margi makes a special effort to come and see her to apologise for not handing in many (actually, any) assignments that year. So, after Margi has gone, Sharon simply invents marks for her course record, based on what she thinks Margi would have achieved had she been feeling more herself. The end-of-year exams, however, present more of a problem, as
strictly speaking these are based precisely on what is written in three hours in the exam hall – no exceptions. And Margi only manages to scribble a few lines:
But she suspects that her colleagues that inadequate exploration of ‘the influence philosophical theories on contemporary issues in practical ethics’, which was the exam question. Nonetheless … she writes firmly ‘79% – Excellent, insightful analysis and good use of sources’ on the official marks sheet – she quickly moves on to the next paper. It is a little more than she thinks the essay really deserves, but she
wants to compensate for others treating Margi’s case with less understanding. At the exam meeting, it turns out that Margi has obtained – even
after medical reports are called in – such low marks in all her other subjects that were it not for her ‘stellar’ performance in philosophy and ethics she would not have even scraped a pass degree, which surely everyone deserves. Hearing this, Sharon smiles to herself. She had wondered if she had been too generous, but now she feels sure that the end result is only fair. It must be right occasionally to ‘bend the rules’ given the range
of circumstances, she thinks. Margi is a basically a good girl and deserved a little extra help.
