Somewhat off topic, but the quote from the article "Professor Parkinson actually apologized for not giving me a top grade on it, explaining that he had a strict

Somewhat off topic, but the quote from the article "Professor Parkinson actually apologized for not giving me a top grade on it, explaining that he had a strict rule never to give a top grade to a Sufficiency that took more than the basic half-semester." is something that I disagree with it. I find that applying strict rules to assignments without flexibility is essentially academic laziness (and I say that as an academic) . It tells students formalities are more important than content. While I recognize that sticking to deadlines is important, we should have enough flexibility in our rules to make exceptions. If the teacher apologises for his strict rules, it is clearly a case where flexibility should be applied.