Well the grades have been posted for about a week, and (as you might guess) protests are rolling in. It seems worse this year, somehow. Here's a guide to my reactions to grade protests:
I might react favorably:
- Well, I've been a good student and shown up for all the classes. How close is my "A minus" to a full "A"?
- Did you receive this paper that I e-mailed you?
- Why does your gradebook show a different grade from what you wrote on my paper?
I'm less likely:
- Your records are wrong: I really did attend class all those times.
- I'm going to send my mother to talk to your boss.*
- I know I didn't show up much or turn in all my papers. Is there ANYTHING I can do to raise my poor grade?
- Even though I didn't attend class and just sort of guessed when I wrote that last assignment, I think it was pretty good and deserved a better grade.
Face it. Some students suffer from a form of burnout about three-quarters of the way through a term. They stop attending and their papers become shorter and shorter and show less and less real thinking. This is the point where the real students are separated from those who simply take up space: the real students carry through to the end.
*You should know that sending your mother to plead for a grade rarely works, and (assuming you are over 18 years old) it's not even really legal for a teacher to reveal your grade to your parents without a signed release.
