Take ownership of your grades, part II

Last semester I taught a class for first generation and low income college students on preparing for graduate school. Teaching this class also meant that I was grading students. I had a student (not-so-tactfully) disagree with some feedback I gave on an assignment.

But dealing with my student pales in comparison with an email one of my colleagues received. Check it out:

"Is there anyway you can possibly give me a high grade? I did try very hard in class but it was not able to translate my hard work onto the practicals.. I'm not asking for anything big, but to be raise to a C+ or a solid C please? I hope you have a great winter break as well. They will not accept me into Physical therapy school if I don't have a strong GPA. Please consider doing it out of the kindness of your heart."

EPIC. FAIL. Welcome to college, where you are expected to act like an adult and take ownership of your grades. This kind of behavior is totally out of line.

Professors and instructors do not give out grades, students earn them. As I've said before, you are responsible for your grades and what you did (or didn't do) to earn them. If you are in academic trouble or worried about how you're doing, work to prevent academic difficulty or deal with it appropriately.

As an instructor, I don't expect students to be happy with poor grades, but this email takes the cake... Please don't do this. EVER.

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.