I guess I must have guilted some of them: there was evidence that some of them actually practiced.
One kid professed that he practiced "a little bit."
I said, "By 'a little bit,' do you mean you looked at the guitar as you walked by it?
I told you I'd know if you did or didn't practice."
"I'll do better for next time - I promise!"
On the bright side, we worked on a two-chord song at the end of class... and by "worked on," I mean: I played and sang slowly while they tried to keep up with the changes.
"Four beats -
feel the change!"
I am hopeful... but I am an optimistic kinda guy.
On another guitar related front: the replacement Bose S1 arrived today (a battery issue with the one I have). I put the old one in the box the new one came in, taped it up, took it to the UPS Store and they scanned the barcode Bose sent me... done. Easy. Kudos to Bose - they certainly understand customer service done right.