I think I hit a nerve.

when I was in school, my professors would not give a freshman any grade higher than an A-. Their rationale was that 18 kids are too dumb to earn A's as the material was actually difficult back then and not in pop up book form like it is now.

Glad I did not see this thread earlier.

I will add that a student does not get an incomplete for doing no or very little work all semester. No work more than likely means an 'F'.

I have reported grades than kept students from graduating and will do it again if the scenario presented itself. Grades are reported based on the grade the student earned. It does not matter if it is a 59.001 or a 59.999 it is still not greater than or equal to 60.

Have I given grades? Yes. I usually bump up grades for little things like perfect attendance or taking all quizzes.

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I think I hit a nerve.

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We can't all be education majors and skate down easy street.

That's true

I am in a situation now where I know I'm gonna be borderline between D/C. I emailed the prof and asked him to consider bumping me, but not with a sense of entitlement. I know he has every right to not bump me if he doesn't feel I deserve it, but the assignments in that class were crazy hard and he knows that. At least 12 hours per assignment, sometimes more. Not to mention I missed class once all semester (for my brother's wedding), while some students never came to class and just showed up for the tests.

It's up to him, but I think he knows I made the effort and hopefully he'll bump me.

Also, I think a prof should reserve the right to bump on a per student basis. If one of the guys who never came to class ended up with a 69 and I finish with a 68, I think I should get the bump and it wouldn't be unfair to not bump the 69.

I definitely agree with that ^^. Individual justice doesn't matter on the outcomes others get, only on one's actions.


I think the entitlement here comes from the meat-grinder of grades that is the letter system. It frustrates students that an 89.99999 receives the same amount of grade points as an 80.00, because there's obviously a different amount of effort there (And a significant amount, at that). You feel as if you've wasted your time earning the extra 9.9999 points when you could have coasted through the semester to just get the 80.

Sharkleo,

I would take into account things I noticed in class. Even with 96-97 kids I taught, I would have notes in excel. When I got to doing grades, I would do it with UIN's and then go back and look at the grades.

Students that came in a lot to ask questions, those who emailed me about class things to make sure stuff came in on time, etc. got a boost if they were borderline.

If they failed class rules or turned things in late, they did not get any consideration. Since the tests are multi-guess, missing 1 or 2 T/F questions could be the difference in 0.01 to 0.1 of your grade.

I know of other teachers/profs at A&M who do the same thing.

~egon

Generally, I round up if the grade is .5 through .9. This is not a policy, but a gesture of good will.

However, if the student really missed tons of class and/or was a general pain in #$%^$%, then I will leave it. I have had students ask me to round a 78.9 up to a B. That is crazy! I also have students who want to come by to talk about grades the last week of classes to try to convince me they turned in missing work, etc. I refuse to discuss assignments from months ago because students neglected to look at their grades online until December.

Hard work, a good attitude, attendance at extra credit sessions...that is what will convince me to help a student out with rounding.

lets just round up and give everybody a trophy for showing up

I've taught at Blinn (Business Communications) and UGA (Intro to Computers for Teachers). Never have I been placed "under pressure" to round a grade up or pass a student, graduating or not.

In fact, I had a student last spring who was graduating in May and had already been accepted to graduate school in Charleston, SC. She was stressing about other classes and getting ready to move and slipped on the last few assignments in my class. Her grade fell from an A to a B. I told her so long as she could live with a B, she could take the 0 grades on those last two minor assignments and not stress about it.

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I would take into account things I noticed in class. Even with 96-97 kids I taught, I would have notes in excel.

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And to back up the Doc, I've never had more than about 50 students in a semester. However, I too use notes in Excel (I use Google Spreadsheets now) to track my comments on individual assignments and performance in class.

I think a lot of students do this because some professors are suckers and are willing to change grades. I personally never asked for a grade change because my pride is more valuable to me than a couple of percentage points on a grade. I don't like charity, it makes me feel dirty, but I can't really blame students who ask when there are professors out there willing to indulge their entitlement.


[This message has been edited by El Tigre (edited 12/13/2011 6:26p).]

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I think the entitlement here comes from the meat-grinder of grades that is the letter system. It frustrates students that an 89.99999 receives the same amount of grade points as an 80.00, because there's obviously a different amount of effort there (And a significant amount, at that). You feel as if you've wasted your time earning the extra 9.9999 points when you could have coasted through the semester to just get the 80.

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and yet you want the same credit as someone who put in the extra effort to earn a 98%.

This semester, I have over 100 students, but I still try to keep very accurate records. Had a student today arguing about a couple of zeroes. Said he knew he had the work and he could show me the saved dates on his flash drive. I told him the due dates and how he was absent on those days. I guess he thought I wouldn't have my own records. He apologized and wished me a Merry Christmas.

I also don't get pressure from anyone to pass students. This just doesn't happen at the college level, or it hasn't happened to me.

I do get guilt trips quite often though. "I would really like a better grade; I have really improved this semester." "My parents will make me come home if I don't pass this class. " "I will lose my financial aid. " That's when I remind students how much help I offer during the semester, applaud them for their efforts, and remind them that grades are based on performance not effort.

In real life, not everyone gets a trophy!

I used to feel like I should give graduating seniors the benefit of the doubt. That feeling was replaced with contempt after about 3 years of teaching.

rhos makes me laugh about that millenial comment. is someone jealous that they're over the hil? jesus titty ****ing christ

The prof I talked about did indeed bump me. Whoop!

Yankees

Had one prof that put in the syllabus very clearly that 89.9999 is a B.
He also liked lots of home/lab work and gave a quiz that counted on the first day.
I got a 35 on that quiz, but earned an A in the class.

In STAT303, I earned a 74. She called that a B and I didn't complain.

I felt no pressure. I would feel bad for them, but not guilty at all. They chose not to do the work. The reason profs always say it is to try and keep people from begging on those grounds. I do not want to have anyone get a worse grade then anyone who did worse than they did. For this reason, if I bumped one, I bumped everyone ahead of them who was short a few points.

We get every sob story in the book; after catching a few lying, you quit trusting, and just have hard-and-fast rules

sweet I got called a millenial and accused of being over the hill in the same thread. WIN.