Woman grieving mom's loss asked 2 professors for a 24-hour extension. Their responses had a stark difference

Experiencing the death of a loved one during school or college is a devastating experience for a young student. It can send the student spiraling down into a well of emotional vulnerability. In such cases, the onus is on the faculty members to allow the grieving student some time and space. A woman named Hannah (@radicavaqueen) posted a tweet in 2020, recalling the instance when her mom passed away. She asked her professors for a 24-hour extension. She was stunned when she received her professors' responses having a stark difference.

While the second professor responded in a way that depicted support, compassion, understanding, and empathy, the first professor's response was a bit harsh. Even though the first professor gave Hannah the extension, it was not as much as she asked for. On the other side, the second professor not only gave her a one-week extension but also extended a gesture of sympathy. He told her that she was free to share her intense emotions or memories of her mom with him if she needed to. 

“Professor 1 only gave me an extra 12 hours,” she wrote in the tweet, “Professor 2 told me to do the assignments for the week when I could and asked if I wanted to share my favorite memories of her instead.” Given that she had lost her mom only the previous weekend, the response of the first professor clearly showed a slight lack of empathy and sensitivity. “Be like the second professor,” she proclaimed in the tweet.

Thousands of people commented on the post, sympathizing with Hannah, and said that while there was a stark difference between the two, both were teaching Hannah a lesson about life and the reality of the world. @hyperglycemic wrote, “The second professor is human - they're compassionate and understanding. The first professor gives you an insight into reality. The world would never stop for our losses, and we need to come to terms with that.” @cryptoplissken said, “The first professor taught you that you need to keep moving forward even in times of loss.” @drrasheeed811 put it even more bluntly, “Life doesn’t care if a family member dies and your first professor has that life lesson built into his response.”

However, many others took a different stance and opposed the approach that the first professor took. "I can't believe the first professor would be that way," commented @tl812. @granitelb said that the first professor missed the whole point of education by excluding empathy from it. A professor emerita, @vanmey2000, who seemed to affirm the second professor's response, said empathically, “I never put deadlines or conditions on a student dealing with the loss of a friend or family member. My guess is that is true of legions of faculty members. Sorry that the first professor doesn't get the larger picture. Please accept my sincere condolences.”