May 20, 2008
A Virtual Wager on How Many Desperate Student E-Mails a Professor Would Receive This Finals Season
It’s time to turn in final grades for the term, and one professor posting to The Chronicle’s forums knew he’d get the usual burst of students sending e-mail pleas for higher marks. So he asked his colleagues to send in their best guess of how many of his 300 students would send in a desperate message.
Dozens of people wrote in with their guesses. Check out the thread to find out who won, but here is a sample of one of the desperate e-mail messages:
“Well the thing that’s just killing me is that I had the flu and my asthma was acting up very bad the week that you gave the 5 points extra credit and I was not able to attend class. I really was not able to attend because I could barely breathe and would have been a huge distraction to the class. I only missed my grade by a single point and I just wanted to see if there was anything we could do. If you could please help me I it would be appreciated more than I could describe with words. If I were to get a D in this course all of my hopes and aspirations for pharmacy would be instantly gone.”
This was just one of the four messages the student sent. He called the professor on the phone as well. The grade wasn’t changed. —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Tuesday May 20, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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I have to shutdown Blackboard’s gradebook during exam week. I can’t deal with the “negotiating” for grades that students seem to think is their “right”.
— DrMink May 20, 10:21 AM #
I always have this issue but I tell my students in advance that I do not negotiate. I had one threaten me with “Don’t make me have to contact the chairperson? “
— Albert Bramante May 20, 05:12 PM #
We have a responsibility to the students and to the community to hold students accountable. We are not caring for students if we pass them or give them a higher grade when they do not understand the material and have not accomplished the course objectives.
— Lloyd Sandmann May 20, 06:40 PM #
In some ways, dealing with a grade setback is a far more long-lasting educational experience than whatever the subject matter might have offerred. Stick to your guns, instructors!
— John May 21, 06:45 AM #
It’s nothing new or glitzy, but I have had great success by telling students at the beginning of the term, “I don’t give grades. You will receive the grade you earn.” Negotiate? Heaven forbid! This is not a used-car lot!
— Sally May 21, 07:02 AM #
Yeah…what I love is that it is all my fault they got the grade they did.
My best one this semester was a student who has memory problems and so disability services had me break her final into pieces, a few chapters at a time, over several days. She got an F and so told me that the accomodations stunk because she didn’t get a good grade AND that since all parts of the test weren’t identical it wasn’t fair. Well she got the same test as everyone else. Umm perhaps her effort stunk?
— annon May 21, 09:51 AM #
It is often hilarious! I had one student say that “I ruined her semester” and that I was “no good” as an instructor because she did not get the grade she thought she ought to have.
— Gary May 21, 10:27 AM #
I’m also amazed at the percentage of emergencies and tragedies that arise at the end on my online classes. A few years ago, when a student receiving a low grade informed me his spouse had been murdered, I was appalled – and sent several messages and follow-ups to see how my student was doing. A year later, I had the same student in a different class, and his spouse was murdered again at the end of the class.
Sorry to say that I’ve become jaded by the claims of murders, fatal diseases, pet euthanizing, and other disasters (such as visits from in-laws) claimed by students at the end of each class. Some are likely valid, but I’ve lost the ability to discern the real from the fake.
— Dr. J May 21, 11:29 AM #
If you think it’s bad now, you should have been teaching during the Vietnam war: “If you don’t give me an A I’ll be sent to fight in the jungle. You’re against the war, aren’t you?”
— Edward M. Whitee May 21, 11:59 AM #
Now if these students would only take this energy into last-minute negotiations and apply it throughout the semester, they would be as appalled as the “A” students who earned their grades. Too bad ratemyprofessor.com and the like exist so students can retaliate.
— Dr. B May 21, 03:09 PM #
I recently discovered that a student was, according to a colleague in another department, suffering from a horrendous illness which required an extension on her term paper. She never missed any of my lectures and raced crew throughout the semester. My colleague was stunned by this news. The stories are often very creative.
— Dr. D May 21, 10:57 PM #
I have found it very helpful to put the monkey on the student’s back. If the course objectives are clearly articulated, it is easy to ask them to articulate how they have demonstrated mastery of each objective. At least once during the semester, I find it helpful to ask the students to articulate the grade that they deserve for a particular assignment (such as a paper or group project) and to provide a rationale for it. I believe that the student’s ability to reflect on their own performance is a critical skill.
— Amy May 24, 01:16 PM #