Mini Vacation

As I was preparing for my Friday class called “Negotiation Workshop” I received an email from the Office of the Diliman Chancellor, Dr. Sergio Cao, suspending classes from 10am to 12 noon to allow students to attend a convocation organized by the Office of the Student Regent and the University Student Council.  The event supposedly “aims to unite the students in the upcoming SONA to act together along with the faculty and other sectors of UP to stand in the call for PGMA’s resignation.” 

Normally, I’d be disappointed because I enjoy doing the Workshop where students use role simulations from Harvard’s Program on Negotiation. The role simulations are designed to teach the participants certain lessons about principled negotiation.  I also require my students to prepare a journal where they document their learning experience for the day.  I end up with a mountain of reading material but I think it’s important for them to reflect on the day’s activities.

Anyway, I send out the following email to my students:

According to the Chancellor, he’s canceling classes tomorrow from 10a.m. to 12 noon to give students such as yourselves a chance to attend the Student Convocation at the UP Sunken Garden.

I will be there taking attendance.  You have to find me and sign an attendance sheet at 10, 10:30, 11, 11:30 and 12 noon.  Failure to sign one will be counted against you in the computation of your final grade.

I’ll see you there.

Thank you.

I considered placing a smiley face on this email just to let them know I was kidding but I thought the email was obvious enough. After all, I’m not going out there in the Sunken Garden with a sign-up sheet.  That’s crazy.  I would like to think I have better things to do than babysit them.
But  I (to borrow a word from Dubya) “misunderestimated” the gullibility of law students.  I found out this morning that they all trooped to the Sunken Garden and waited for me and my vaunted sign-up sheet.  I found out when one my students sent the following text message at 11am:

Gud am sir, wer here at d grandstand. Nothing is hapening po. Cn we leave now? Ty po.

Oops!  I called her up to tell her it was a joke that apparently, noone got.  As soon as I got back to the College, I sent out this email:

it wasn’t obvious that i was joking about being there?  why would i go to a student convocation?

I guess it was the closest to an apology I could muster at the time.  I didn’t expect anyone to reply but I did get this:

Professor,

No it wasn’t obvious. My classmates will jump through hoops (and I with them) when you mention attendance and final grades in the same sentence. Every person in a white shirt, barong, or any car slowly driving by elicited “It’s him! It’s Sir Disini!!!”. Besides there was that very stern “Any absence will warrant a 5″ on the first day of class. The paranoid among us suspected a role simulation of sorts, with you sitting somewhere far away with a pair of binoculars and bugging equipment. They also acted accordingly. It was Role Simulation “Sunken Garden”.

It has been asked, can we submit a journal on what we learned?

At least they haven’t lost their sense of humor.  So, here it goes:

I’m sorry, guys!  Consider it a late April Fool’s. 

In the meantime, I’ve learned we’re off on Monday as well, but I will take attendance outside the Batasan for my Bills and Notes students from 1:30pm to 4:30pm.  See you there!