Excuses

The article On Deadlines and Dead Grandmothers by Thomas Benton talks about how when exam time comes, professors hear from many students claiming to have dead grandmothers, wanting to delay taking the exam.  The author is torn -- offering sympathy and an extension would be kind if the claim is true, and yet if it is not true, he wants to challenge them.  He concludes by saying, "Maybe if I were a more open and approachable professor, with a longer history of generosity and kindness, fewer grandmothers would have to die."  That is, if the students felt he would give them an extension without a dead grandmother, then they would not have to make up false excuses.  I would like to see an educational system which encourages truth-telling.  I know that if it were easily done, we would have it already, but still, that's what I'd like to see.