On Grades: Touchiest Subject for a Lot of Us

Recently, grades have been on the minds of a lot of us.  We are writing exams, grading, and fielding annoying emails after grades were posted about why they didn't get the grade they "wanted" or even worse "deserved".  The most interesting exchange I had was in regards to one student who was getting a straight D in the class.  The student wondered why the curve our prof instituted didn't lead to an A- on the final grade.  Truth be told, the student began bombing mid-semester (as shown by the grade book and even with a HEALTHY curve, they only ended up with a D).  But still, they "deserved" the A- at least!

Grades are rough.  When I was teaching on my own and in charge of writing up assessments on papers, it was hard to express myself in a way I felt comfortable with two main types of students - those who are trying and failing (the ones I WANT to improve and help) and those who are obstinate, flippant, and rude (the ones that don't try).  Many of us fight with ourselves about whether to just pass the first type of student knowing full well that they tried.  This was especially hard in a required but otherwise out-of-the-ordinary class like stats.  Students in this class most likely won't use methods training again - especially not those barely passing!  Never will they need this info for their daily lives working a standard desk job.  The latter type of student makes your life so much harder. You know they will protest the grade.  You know they may even harass you outside of office hours.  Last year, this meant a student stalked me in the library, waited for me outside my office door, and also, most likely, left notes on my car.  I was freaked out.  I just wanted to pass him to get him out of my hair.  In the end, the faculty member in charge of the grad-taught labs divvied up the final grades so I, in the end, just handed it over.  Most people will pass these annoying students because they don't want to have them repeat the class next year.

But is that the best solution?

A recent article in the Boston Globe points out concerns about grade inflation at Harvard.  My advisor from Indiana, my undergrad, complained about this problem from when he was doing his doctorate there.  He claimed students were basically precious snowflakes that couldn't put up with the mighty blow of being dealt anything less than an A.  After all, many of these kids had probably never seen an A- in their lives prior to college.  And, I admit, an A- seemed like a big, fat F to me in college - but not because I'd never seen one, my 3.95 college GPA was significantly higher than my high school GPA.  I hated most of high school and only graduated with like a 3.85.  I didn't try.  I was just capable of more.

But it's not just at Harvard.  Most of us can attest to the fact that we face pressures when grading - pressures leading to a test that has a 68 average being not "perfect" enough and an 85 average being "too high".  Shooting for that perfect 75 is often really hard.  And is it fair to shoot for it? You have to decide but, as you do, you also must answer to the department chair, the DUS, and, of course, a future tenure committee.  More importantly, you have to answer to your students.  They will, most frighteningly, determine your worth on teaching school job markets.  You can't piss them off too much or your reviews will look like crap.  Hiring committees matter.  Also, you will have students parading into your office and crying.  And, as I learned earlier this year, parents calling you screaming.

So, it's your choice.  You can either risk it and fight the grade inflation or you can pass the students who will cause an uproar.  What's the solution?  I really don't know.

I do know that certain appeals processes should be made more realistic and that it really should be made clear to students that we are not customer service representatives.  They are here to learn.  Should they choose not to, their grades will suffer.  Our current appeals process almost makes the students WANT to try.  Faculty members who have come here in recent times have been almost blind-sided by how willing students are to waste their time on appeals.  These students are usually here on aid that is somehow merit-based.  Financial aid will not only take away their scholarships, they will also require them to pay back loans on classes that they have stopped attending well before classes were done for the year. These students usually bring up bogus medical excuses and can threaten to sue.  A prof I worked for (in a class I TA'ed) had a student threaten legal action after a 6-month-long appeal went nowhere.  That case also went nowhere but it isn't the only example of such things in the last 4 years since I got here.  Appeals should be granted in legitimate situations.  And the burden of proof about things shouldn't rest on the shoulders of the instructor but the student.

I think the best solution is best summed up by a video that's been floating around my facebook for some time now:

Keep saying "no" and alternative "I'm sorry but...".  It usually works and then you don't completely lose your ability to stand strong.

What say you on such topics?  How do you cope with grade protests?  Grade inflation?

Parental phone calls: The new normal?

So, teaching assistants, instructors, professors, parents of blogger and twitter, what say you on this topic?

My colleagues and I have noticed that especially recently, parental phone calls are more numerous than ever.  What's more, parents often call without the knowledge of their students.  Why?  I just can't fathom this.  It doesn't do any good, of course. What is the point?

The first phone call I received from a parent was back in 2011.  It was the Spring semester and I was the only TA for a course on American civil liberties.  I had to grade a TON of papers and tests for 75 students.  It was a harrowing semester to say the least but it was the first time I actually dug into dealing with students one-on-one to improve their writing which was actually really satisfying.

My office phone rings and I look over at it.  Who the hell is calling?  During this time, I worked in a dark, dank office in the attic of what USED to be the psych ward of the university hospital.  I have no windows and asbestos tile on all things.  The phone ringing for the first time in EVER was creepy as all get out.  It seemed like the start of a bad horror movie, but I picked it up.  On the other end was an irate parent who kept calling me "professor" when I kept correcting her.  She was calling in regards to a student who had a good grade in the class but she insisted the grade for the student should have been higher.  I told her that I couldn't discuss any specifics but then she said "SHE KNOWS THINGS! HER FATHER IS A DIPLOMAT!"  Uh, okay?  She clearly didn't understand political science subfields at all but more than that, lady was calling without the knowledge of her kid.  I found this out a day later when I talked to her student in class.  I asked the student if she wanted to discuss things.  She was confused.  I explained the conversation and then the student got red in the face.  I found out that she was mortified.  Her mother had called because of her own personal insecurities about the child's grades.  The student was happy with her grade.

The student told me, "I didn't work hard enough to earn an A.  That's it.  I'm not complaining" or something to that regard.  She took her "lumps" as minor as they were and moved on.  Mom couldn't cut the cord.

This year has been something else.  Parents have been emailing myself, the professor, and then calling everyone in the teaching staff for this large section.  We can't discuss grade specifics, of course, but today, crazy went to a whole 'nother level.

The situation was similar to that of the above one with one difference: I am now in an office in a building with carpet, no lead paint, and a WINDOW!  I'm not in a basement either (that was last year).  Small victories, eh?  However, due to it being an old building and our powerstrips being limited, someone must have unplugged our office phone because, I mean, who calls it?  Well, a parent wanted to.  Said parent was spamming the phone downstairs and the administrative assistant emailed me.  I called on my cell because the cordless phone had a now-dead battery.  Stupid mistake.  I will now fear FOR DAYS her calling my cell interminably.

So, I call her back to stop her from harassing our office staff.  She gets all huffy, won't tell me her name, her student's name, etc.  She kept saying "I know my rights" and talking over me.  She finally gave me her information and the student's and I again told her I couldn't speak about grades and that we would be happy to assist her student.  I then asked her the one question I always ask now: "Does your student know you are calling?"

The answer was, of course, no.  It more often than not is.  Kids are usually MORTIFIED when they find out that their parents are calling.  I would be, too.

The call ended with no progress being made for her.  All she did was yell at me, insult my Chicago accent, tell me I spoke "incoherently" because of it, and then call me lazy.  Even if I COULD help, I wouldn't have.  Rule number one of getting what you want: don't insult the only person who can help you!

But why do parents call, then?  If it doesn't work?  If they know that we can't give them this information?

I know it's not a completely new phenomenon because when I was in school, there were definitely parents that felt the need to intervene - usually by requesting access to grades on OneStart, the grade, registration, and financial system my undergrad used.  They never had access to online course materials, raw grades, etc.  Just final grades.  And my parents felt that THIS was an imposition into my life.  They didn't ask me to sign the waiver to let them have access and I was always getting good grades.  Even if I hadn't, they figured I would tell them.  It's worked out similarly with my sister who is just now finishing up her undergrad at the same school.

However, today, this parent confessed to me that they have the password for Blackboard, Facebook, and university email accounts for this student.  The university actually forbids parents and others from accessing Blackboard and university email for fear of academic dishonesty and privacy.  When I informed her she was violating FERPA and university policy, she basically just wondered how she could monitor the every move of her kid without it!

The parents my prof and I have dealt with this semester have all been similarly minded - go behind a student's back and demand a grade change at all costs.  When that doesn't work, just insult the living daylights out of whatever human being you are speaking to.

Why?  Is this a new trend?  Is it going to stay this way or do we just have a fluke of a section of this class?