Revenge of Grumpy Bear

[Shrain]

No, no, no! This twerp gave me an A-, wrecking my lovely 4.0 grad gpa!   I can't freakin' believe it! I worked extremely hard in that class, contributing a lot more than others did. The few classmates who know about it are similarly surprised by what I got.

I mean, the guy never even read our articles! Not only that but he never graded a thing. Nada. Zilch. Where does he come off giving me a pesky A- after his performance this semester *and* the stunt he pulled with the evals?

Well, I'll tell you what. I'm not gonna just roll over on this one. Hell hath no fury like a grad student....

[stacer]

Hey, at least you got an A-something. Brenna can attest that our English 330 class was taught by a certain someone who shall remain nameless who didn't even give us a syllabus until the week before finals--no booklist till the first month was over, that sort of thing. And she just kept saying, "You should be reading in such-and-such," but never really discussing what we were supposed to read, and handing out probably more reading and assignments than I ever had in one grad class, but never really having deadlines. That prof gave me a C--ME, a C!

This same prof is always interested in getting my card and referring her pet students to me in case of internships, etc., but wouldn't give a friend I knew in Boston--who was in the same class with me--a recommendation for an internship. Well, that friend and I are both professional editors, now, so no harm done professionally, but really, what a waste of a semester. The only real benefits I got out of that class were discovering TLE, getting the job with Mel Thorne, and going to the printing museum in Provo for a field trip.

[The Lost One]

Awe, the trumped up expectations of grade inflation. When I taugh, it seemed like all of my student expected A's (probably because that was all they got in high school). The ones that I gave A-'s and B+'s always seemed to be the ones that complained the loudest. I would always ask them who cared about them getting an A- or a B+ (as opposed to an A).

I say Shrain, blow off the A- and move on. Besides, no one like someone who has a 4.0. Only feaks have 4.0s. A 3.9 something is much more socially acceptable.

[Harbinger]

Ooh, ooh! Can I guess what your grade in English was?  

(Let's just say he's probably not a "feak.")

[The Lost One]

I got an "A" and look at how much good that did for me.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Yeah, it turned him into a lawyer.

I think, though, Lost One, if you read her previous grumpy posts you'll see that she has actual grounds for such a complaint.

[42]

I completely agree that Shrain should file a grievance against this innstructor. His behavior seems both unethical and unprofessional.

[Shrain]

My thanks, guys. (Wow, Stacer, that's quite the maddening experience!)

I'm still pretty stunned that he would be so unprofessional the whole semester, then pull such a blatantly unethical stunt at the end and expect me to be "okay" with a grade that I don't deserve.

I strongly suspect that he's just ticked that I was one of the outspoken members of the class who tried to address our concerns with how things were going. Sour grapes. But he has no legs to stand on in order to get away with tromping on my academic record! Truth be told, he probably thought I'd just wouldn't dispute my grade. Because, after realizing that he wasn't listening to any of us, I gave up on voicing concerns in the last thrid of the semester.  

However, I paid $3,000 bucks for this class, and I am not about to forgo saying my peace on this. I especially want to ensure that he won't be hired back for a second round.

[Spriggan]

whine, whine.  Maybe getting an A- instead of an A will deflate your ego a bit.  In the real world that won't make one bit of difference.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Sprig, you a little bitter this morning? It's ok, you can tell us.

[Shrain]

whine, whine.  Maybe getting an A- instead of an A will deflate your ego a bit.  In the real world that won't make one bit of difference.

heh. It makes a difference to *me* because there's no good reason why I should get less than I worked for. To me, it's irrelevant whether or not it matters "in the real world," (i.e., would it possibly kill my chances of getting a particular job among similarly qualified individuals).

It's sort of like fronting all this money for a particular product and you assemble as required and it's got a flaw. So you take it back and make sure the whole line is recalled.

[The Lost One]

Look, higher education (particularly grad school) is not fair. Lots of things go on that seem questionable. An A- is not bad. If you have ethical complaints about the teacher, then complain about that to the department, but don't complain about an A-.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

It sounds really dumb that you don't think she should fight it. To me, it's immaterial whether it's "fair" anywhere else, it's immaterial whether it matters in "the real world" (as if she's not alive somewhere). She got a grade less than what she earned and it can be directly traced to incompetance on the part of the professor. It mystifies me that you can think it's a waste of time. To me, if it's an injustice (and it is, frankly) and you have the meanst to fight it, you should. Telling someone to leave it alone seems apathetic and shallow.

[The Lost One]

It not shallow E. Shrain needs to consider whether fighting it will help her or not. If she complains about getting an A-, it could set some people in her department against her. She might want to ask the teacher to review her grade but she shouldn't risk her relationship with the rest of the department by acting as if she will fight anyone who dares to give her less than an A. My experience has been that very few teachers are sympothetic to a student complaining about an A- and complaining can hurt.

If it is any consulation, Shrain, I understand that you deserve an A and I'm sorry this happened to you. You've touched on a flaw in higher education that make me upset too.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Then why didn't you present your arguments? Your grounds previously were, despite not being familiar with the situation, were that she was making a poor choice and that she should just accept it because "life's not fair." You automatically assumed it was a gas of excessively high expectations due to grade inflation. *That* is shallow.