posted
Here's the deal. My last 5 week course was Race, Culture and Oppression taught by a professor who had no idea how to teach.
We didn't get ANY of our assignments and grades back (except one out of seven) until the class was over.
I was doing fine until the last assignment (I had a B+ and considering I was in the hospital most of November, that had to be pretty good, ne?)
Our last assignment was another assessment of our standpoint at the end of class compared to the beginning, using things we'd learned in class.
Problem
We didn't learn ANYthing. So I took the parameters of the assignment and filled them. Did what I was supposed to. Except I took an unorthodox approach. I analyzed humor from a cultural competency standpoint.
He gave me 11 out of 20 points on it.
I worked my ass off. I had another student read it to make SURE it did fulfill the assignment's requirements. I know that none of the points taken off were for formatting and grammar and general writing ability crap.
So that lowered my grade to a B-. Which, in my program, is failing.
posted
sure you could protest it if you actually think it would do any good. I would take that B- any day... *sigh*
Posts: 252 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Yes. Is he the head of the department? If not, I would take it up with the head of the dept. Of course, other people better versed in the politics of university would have better advice.
I would definitely challenge it though. 11 out of 20? That is insane. (mack told me a little about this assignment/class yesterday) Even if your approach was unorthodox, it should have met the requirements (according to what we discussed yesterday).
Besides, who is this guy trying to fool with 'requirements'? How can he give you requirements when he can't even be consistent using the required reading?
Pfah. What a bonehead.
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I just read the MSW handbook for my program, so a B- is JUST above failing.
But are you kidding?
Even if I wasn't trying, I don't tend to scrape by.
I think I'll email my advisor and ask what to do. I'm really frustrated...I should've just half assed it.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I think you should first try talking to your professor, asking him to explain why he gave you the horrible grade he did, since you were under the impression that you completely fulfilled his stated requirements. Then, if he blows you off or his explanation is woefully inadequate, you can go to the department head with your complaint.
Posts: 851 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
I would definitely try talking to the prof.
I think it's important that you also try to explain that not getting back 6 of 7 assignments robbed him and you of important pedagogical opportunities. Ones that, you believe, would've helped you to learn more about how he deals with variations from the assignment, for example.
Then you could take your final project as an example. Showing point by point how it met the assignment's guidelines and yet somehow didn't give him what he truly meant when he wrote those guidelines. If you and he had had an opportunity for prior feedback on earlier assignments, you feel like you might've had some notion of whether to trust his requirements alone or perhaps need to get clarification first.
But in the absence of that instructive feedback, you feel as if he should grade based on the requirements as he wrote them.
Be respectful and blunt.
And don't offer sexual favors in exchange for a better grade. That never works! I should know!
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Bob, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times--I'd already turned in my grades; there was no way I could change your score to an A at that point. I did make you pancakes the next morning though! That ought to count for something.
Mack, Bob's is the best advice so far. Do talk to the professor, going over the points Bob suggested, and make it clear that if he's unreceptive you'll have no qualms about talking to the department head, the dean, or whoever the logical next person would be.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Does the teacher have a rubric for the assigment? It's getting very hard for teachers to grade on a whim anymore.
I must point out that several times when a teacher gave me the rubric and asked me to grade my own work, I saw where I misinterpreted the instructions, or simply left out part of the assignment. But at least I understood why. And in most cases, the miscommunication became clear, and the teacher allowed me to resubmit the work. After all, the point of education is to learn, not to be vindictive.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
What do you have to lose by prosesting? Though I would be very careful. Don't do it often or you could be labeled as a "troublemaker"
Unfortunately I know of a case of a girl who was always protesting her grades, who was hearing impaired. I don't know if she was actually always given reasonable accomodation, but among the faculty I overheard she was labed as a "troublemaker". I don't think it was entirely her fault but I think it may have been partly.
posted
My dad is a temporary department head at a university right now and we just had a conversation the other night about a very similar situation. He said that in grad school, in his experience, passing is passing (I'm oversimplifying a LOT) and his advice to the student in his department was to just let it go. This was after she already talked to the prof about the problem and got nowhere, however. I wonder what your advisor will say. Hey, ask Dr. F for advise too.
posted
Actually, that WAS true of my grad program as well. You passed, you passed. No harm no foul.
There were very few profs, however, who would assign a "minus" to a B grade in my program. That just sounds weird.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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