"B"
I got a B in that class....
But I should have gotten an A.
Last night I sat in a class full of students. They are wonderful students. They have lives. Many of them have children or jobs or personal things happening in their lives that I will never know about.
A student told the teacher that she needed a week off of school for a family matter.
The teacher thought about it for a moment. Invariably, she wondered if telling the student that her absence was excusable would set a precedent for the rest of the class to take beach days off.
But the teacher explained that she understood that things happen- but to be fully prepared when she returned- and that she would have to make up the work that was missed.
The rest of the students seemed to understand. They nodded in agreement when the instructor said that tardiness, absence and lack of participation sets the whole class behind, and as a courtesy to others to be on-time and respect their peers.
Once upon a time I missed a class.
And my professor had spelled it out very clearly that an absence would automatically lower the students' grade by one whole letter grade.
This teacher had obviously just retired from the Gestapo.
I can tell you, positively, I deserved an "A" in that class, but received a "B" because of his senseless syllabus.
The instructor had something to prove. He looked about 14 and he wore full suits to class in an attempt to look 40. He swam in those suits.
He tried to pull off the 5 o'clock shadow once- poor thing- it looked more like a 3 o'clock castoff in December.
But I sympathized with his youth in hindsight. When I first started teaching college courses the campus security kept asking me where I'd gotten my staff parking permit, as though I would waste my criminal intelligence on saving 30 dollars a semester to get a college education. *Sigh.
And when I was subbing at the local high schools on WAY too many occasions I had those hall monitors/ rent-a-cops asking for my hall pass. *sigh, sigh.
And that's okay. I'd much rather look like a student than Grandma Moses, so it's all good.
But when people try to over-compensate at the expense of others- that is where I draw the line.
In college the students are adults.
Naturally, they should be forewarned of the consequences of missing classes and accordingly receive a lower percentage. But a whole grade?
That's just silly.
I missed a class.
Life happened.
And I deserved an "A". My work was brilliant- I'm talking right up there with Russell Crowe's in A Beautiful Mind. Yes, there have been other times in my college career when I was stunned to receive an A when I was teetering on the brink of the B.
But I should have gotten an A.
Last night I sat in a class full of students. They are wonderful students. They have lives. Many of them have children or jobs or personal things happening in their lives that I will never know about.
A student told the teacher that she needed a week off of school for a family matter.
The teacher thought about it for a moment. Invariably, she wondered if telling the student that her absence was excusable would set a precedent for the rest of the class to take beach days off.
But the teacher explained that she understood that things happen- but to be fully prepared when she returned- and that she would have to make up the work that was missed.
The rest of the students seemed to understand. They nodded in agreement when the instructor said that tardiness, absence and lack of participation sets the whole class behind, and as a courtesy to others to be on-time and respect their peers.
Once upon a time I missed a class.
And my professor had spelled it out very clearly that an absence would automatically lower the students' grade by one whole letter grade.
This teacher had obviously just retired from the Gestapo.
I can tell you, positively, I deserved an "A" in that class, but received a "B" because of his senseless syllabus.
The instructor had something to prove. He looked about 14 and he wore full suits to class in an attempt to look 40. He swam in those suits.
He tried to pull off the 5 o'clock shadow once- poor thing- it looked more like a 3 o'clock castoff in December.
But I sympathized with his youth in hindsight. When I first started teaching college courses the campus security kept asking me where I'd gotten my staff parking permit, as though I would waste my criminal intelligence on saving 30 dollars a semester to get a college education. *Sigh.
And when I was subbing at the local high schools on WAY too many occasions I had those hall monitors/ rent-a-cops asking for my hall pass. *sigh, sigh.
And that's okay. I'd much rather look like a student than Grandma Moses, so it's all good.
But when people try to over-compensate at the expense of others- that is where I draw the line.
In college the students are adults.
Naturally, they should be forewarned of the consequences of missing classes and accordingly receive a lower percentage. But a whole grade?
That's just silly.
I missed a class.
Life happened.
And I deserved an "A". My work was brilliant- I'm talking right up there with Russell Crowe's in A Beautiful Mind. Yes, there have been other times in my college career when I was stunned to receive an A when I was teetering on the brink of the B.
I haven't lost much sleep over that senseless professor. I graduated making him my colleague more so than my superior. But when he does cross my mind... I hold up my hand....
And flip him the "B".
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