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[polenta]

I am an adjunct on 12-month contracts in a small liberal arts college, charged with teaching a full course load which includes a couple of large introductory courses per year.

At the end of last Winter semester (in May), my department head ("the Boss") called me into his office and demanded an explanation of why my students' grades were so low. (About 15% failed, and another 15% received a D.) The Boss then threatened to not renew my contract unless I could pass more students and give better grades the next time. We need more enrollments, he says.

Of course, the next time is now, the semester which is about to end. So, I need a hitman. Anyone for hire?

[sciencephd]

OK, I will play devil's advocate here.

Why not just give them higher grades ?  You can always "blame" him for eroding standards.

[larryc]

Your boss may be bullying you, but this is not bullying. He is just telling you how it is and what is expected of you.

[polenta]

Your boss may be bullying you, but this is not bullying. He is just telling you how it is and what is expected of you.

Well, I suppose that is one way of seeing it. But:

1. At my institution, department heads are not the people who decide whether contracts are renewed (the regulations regarding this are found in a little something called the Faculty Association Collective Agreement).
2. Giving everyone good grades results in a flooding of the department with dumbasses. We already have the highest enrollments in our university,and the highest number of students per faculty member.
3. Telling adjunct faculty to pump up the grades amounts to a kind of officious meddling that violates the principle of academic freedom. And it is also a good way to kill morale.

[terpsichore]

Is this really the hill you want to die on? I get that you're frustrated, and venting on the fora is fine. But then, for the sake of your career, consider following the sage advice of larryc and sciencephd.

[polenta]

Is this really the hill you want to die on? I get that you're frustrated, and venting on the fora is fine. But then, for the sake of your career, consider following the sage advice of larryc and sciencephd.

Well, yes, that is exactly what I intend to do. :)

[ghillbilly]

I think you should pick your battles wisely....is this battle the right one?

[larryc]

Your boss may be bullying you, but this is not bullying. He is just telling you how it is and what is expected of you.

Well, I suppose that is one way of seeing it. But:

1. At my institution, department heads are not the people who decide whether contracts are renewed (the regulations regarding this are found in a little something called the Faculty Association Collective Agreement).
2. Giving everyone good grades results in a flooding of the department with dumbasses. We already have the highest enrollments in our university,and the highest number of students per faculty member.
3. Telling adjunct faculty to pump up the grades amounts to a kind of officious meddling that violates the principle of academic freedom. And it is also a good way to kill morale.

Oh I agree with you, but this is not bullying.

[anthroid]

Your boss may be bullying you, but this is not bullying. He is just telling you how it is and what is expected of you.

Well, I suppose that is one way of seeing it. But:

1. At my institution, department heads are not the people who decide whether contracts are renewed (the regulations regarding this are found in a little something called the Faculty Association Collective Agreement).
2. Giving everyone good grades results in a flooding of the department with dumbasses. We already have the highest enrollments in our university,and the highest number of students per faculty member.
3. Telling adjunct faculty to pump up the grades amounts to a kind of officious meddling that violates the principle of academic freedom. And it is also a good way to kill morale.

Oh I agree with you, but this is not bullying.

No, it is not bullying.  Personally, in my role as department chair, I would be wondering why 30-40% of the students are earning below Cs.  That's kind of a high number.  However, I tend to worry more about why 30-40% of the students are earning As in introductory classes, which is, of course, a different discussion.  Still, OP, what's going on that you have a significant failure/D rate?  In my 20 years of college teaching across the Carnegie categories, I tend to find somewhere around 10-20% F/D rate.  Yours seems high.  Your chair may be right in questioning what's going on.

[kedves]

I don't have as much experience as Anthroid, but it seems high to me, too.  I've been teaching for about 10 years at various places, 4 years full-time.  In my intro course, I usually have about 10% Fs or WFs, 5% Ds, 40% Cs, 35% Bs, and 10% As (sometimes as high as 15%).  I can't do much about the Fs; they represent students who quit trying.  But it's not easy to get a D.  I don't teach math or science, or any courses designed as weed-out courses. 

I've taught at an elite research university and am now teaching at a middling regional university. The students are different; there's no question about that.  But it's part of the job to teach in a way that reflects an understanding of the students' academic background and the institution's culture. I don't see it as "giving everyone good grades."  But if you want to stick to your guns, I'm sure someone else would happily do your job.

[polenta]

Your boss may be bullying you, but this is not bullying. He is just telling you how it is and what is expected of you.

Well, I suppose that is one way of seeing it. But:

1. At my institution, department heads are not the people who decide whether contracts are renewed (the regulations regarding this are found in a little something called the Faculty Association Collective Agreement).
2. Giving everyone good grades results in a flooding of the department with dumbasses. We already have the highest enrollments in our university,and the highest number of students per faculty member.
3. Telling adjunct faculty to pump up the grades amounts to a kind of officious meddling that violates the principle of academic freedom. And it is also a good way to kill morale.

Oh I agree with you, but this is not bullying.

No, it is not bullying.  Personally, in my role as department chair, I would be wondering why 30-40% of the students are earning below Cs.  That's kind of a high number.  However, I tend to worry more about why 30-40% of the students are earning As in introductory classes, which is, of course, a different discussion.  Still, OP, what's going on that you have a significant failure/D rate?  In my 20 years of college teaching across the Carnegie categories, I tend to find somewhere around 10-20% F/D rate.  Yours seems high.  Your chair may be right in questioning what's going on.

Fortunately, I also have excellent colleagues in my Dept who were willing to give me their advice on this matter, and share tips to improve student performance. I do agree that 30% earning less than a C is a bit of a problem, but not one that has solely to do with my style, which I have anyway learned to soften. In the past, I have been somewhat inflexible with freshman-year students, not giving them the benefit of the doubt and providing no opportunities for fixing their slip-ups.

So, this semester grades will be better. Rather than give everyone higher grades, I've decided to give my students the opportunity to improve their grades (turn a blind eye for a late paper, schedule make-up quizzes, etc). But even yet, there will STILL be about 15-20% who will still get less than a C. That's the way it goes. Of course, this is a problem. But not mine, as once the grades are all tallied, I will be giving them extra grades. Like someone said, this is not the hill I want to die on. :D

Oh, my integrity... sigh...

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Every college or university has to have one or two departments where the weaker students go; they have to get their degree in *something*.  At your school, this appears to be your department.  I don't think that is such a bad thing, except that a couple of fields have this reputation nationally, and it can taint their professors (who are generally as smart and accomplished as anybody, excepting perhaps people in my own field).

I can certainly understand people who don't want their department or their course to be the 'gut' that students take to get their degree, but try the following calculation: estimate the ratio of your undergraduates who are genuinely 'A' of 'B' students (by your personal standards) to the ones who actually get As or Bs.  Now, apply this ratio to the size of your faculty.  How many positions do you lose?  Does this include your job? - DvF

[anthroid]

Oh, my integrity... sigh...

"My integrity"?  No, I don't think so.  As you continue to post about this, you seem to have less than a good fit with the students you are teaching.  You also seem to think this is about you.  Perhaps you ought to consider moving to a different institution.  I do NOT want an adjunct around who seems to think that she or he is somehow compromising standards to teach our students.  I don't need you--you'll offend the students, you won't be an effective teacher, and I'll have to clean up after you.

How about if you just move on to the Ivy Leagues, where everyone will meet every single one of your impossibly high standards?

I'm thinking OP is actually probably a pretty poor teacher who needs to be monitored by the chair, at least based on later posts.

(Sorry, but OP is ticking me off.)

[polenta]

Oh, my integrity... sigh...

"My integrity"?  No, I don't think so.  As you continue to post about this, you seem to have less than a good fit with the students you are teaching.  You also seem to think this is about you.  Perhaps you ought to consider moving to a different institution.  I do NOT want an adjunct around who seems to think that she or he is somehow compromising standards to teach our students.  I don't need you--you'll offend the students, you won't be an effective teacher, and I'll have to clean up after you.

How about if you just move on to the Ivy Leagues, where everyone will meet every single one of your impossibly high standards?

I'm thinking OP is actually probably a pretty poor teacher who needs to be monitored by the chair, at least based on later posts.

(Sorry, but OP is ticking me off.)

Holy Jesus... PMS?

[grasshopper]

Oh, my integrity... sigh...

"My integrity"?  No, I don't think so.  As you continue to post about this, you seem to have less than a good fit with the students you are teaching.  You also seem to think this is about you.  Perhaps you ought to consider moving to a different institution.  I do NOT want an adjunct around who seems to think that she or he is somehow compromising standards to teach our students.  I don't need you--you'll offend the students, you won't be an effective teacher, and I'll have to clean up after you.

How about if you just move on to the Ivy Leagues, where everyone will meet every single one of your impossibly high standards?

I'm thinking OP is actually probably a pretty poor teacher who needs to be monitored by the chair, at least based on later posts.

(Sorry, but OP is ticking me off.)

Holy Jesus... PMS?

Oh, boy. Rein that in right now. That's inappropriate in several different ways.


Yes, you do seem to have a very bad fit with the institution. And frankly, if 30% of your students are doing poorly, then you probably do have some hand in that.

And yes, I do have PMS, thank you very much. But that doesn't change the fact that 30% of your students aren't learning.