Tasha Dhanraj is late with her coursework

For the first time in my life, a punitive measure has been taken out against me. I have been given a ‘Stage One’ for handing in my Maths coursework two weeks late. I have never felt so cool. The assignment was due in the day before the Christmas holidays. I handed it in the day we came back. My reasoning was that if I missed that deadline then my teacher wasn’t going to check her email over Christmas so it made no difference.

It was a second draft of a 14-page project that was as tedious as the mark scheme is pernickety. The mark scheme is so ridiculous that there are even two marks for ‘Commitment’. I am sorry, Mister International Baccalaureate Minister of Maths, but unless you are intending to court me then I see no reason why my commitment levels are any of your business.

“The 13 year old goodie two shoes inside me is crying at the very thought of punishment”

I spent hours and hours on the first draft, having recently returned to college from my glandular fever affair. The feedback was that it was very good but had one tiny tweak, which meant I had to change all the data, all the graphs and all the ‘interpretation of results’. So yes, it was two weeks late…

There are four people in my Maths class. I gave it in at the same time as my friend, Sean. Aside from this incident, I have handed in every piece of homework on time and I’m always punctual for lessons. The two remaining people in the class are frequently late with homework and attendance. She gave us all ‘Stage Ones’. I really like the other people in my class, but it did feel quite unfair. Either way, I did deserve it. I hadn’t behaved accordingly with my Student Contract.

The die hard, 13-year-old goodie two shoes inside me is crying at the very thought of punishment, but the cool, chilled 17 year old I am today is far more sensible. A ‘Stage One’ means a letter home. No! Not a letter home! What if I get a paper cut trying to open the envelope? My mother had the same approach. Her response: “Oh, who gives a stuff?”
She was right. I don’t give a stuff. All my fears of getting into trouble have been realised and I don’t care. In these times of government cuts, maybe my college should dump the ‘Stage One’ and save the money
on stamps.