I saw my philosophy professor today

[Smurf]

I was arguing with him for about 30 minutes in his office and finally convinced him to raise my mid term grade by a (total) of 14%.

I now have a B

(in any other grading system it'd be an A, but you need 90% to get an A in this class - stupid)

 

[Moonbear]

(in any other grading system it'd be an A, but you need 90% to get an A in this class - stupid)

Would that mean any other grading system than the usual one? Do you get A's for less than 90% usually? That's not how it works here. 90 and above is an A.

 

[Smurf]

is that so? the grading system changes from class to class. But A's usually start at 85ish

 

[mattmns]

Now let's think about this. I am sure that if I were to say that Canadians are morons and that is why Canadian schools use a lower grading system, you would say something like: "it is still difficult to get an A even if you need only 80%." Now let's apply that here. It is probably just as easy to get an A with a 90% scale, as it is for an 85% scale, right? Or are you saying that Americans are generally smarter than Canadians because we use a 90% scale for A's? I know you will certainly not say the latter, so stop being a lazy mofo and earn your A

 

[JamesU]

That's a B for me:

A~ 90-100%
B+~89.5%
B~80-89%
C+~79.5%
C~ 70-79
D~60-69
F~0-50

 

[Smurf]

Now let's think about this. I am sure that if I were to say that Canadians are morons and that is why Canadian schools use a lower grading system, you would say something like: "it is still difficult to get an A even if you need only 80%." Now let's apply that here. It is probably just as easy to get an A with a 90% scale, as it is for an 85% scale, right? Or are you saying that Americans are generally smarter than Canadians because we use a 90% scale for A's? I know you will certainly not say the latter, so stop being a lazy mofo and earn your A

I'm saying that in any of my other classes I'd be getting an "A" but because this class is slightly higher it's just a B+/A-

 

[JamesU]

and he is saying that you are stupid

 

[mattmns]

I'm saying that in any of my other classes I'd be getting an "A" but because this class is slightly higher it's just a B+/A-

Do you think that if you only needed a 30 to get an A that you would have received the same grades?

I am saying that the teacher most likely compensates for the grade scale, and that an A no matter what the scale, would probably have the same difficulty.

edit.. Maybe I was wrong though, maybe Canadians do need that lowered grade scale

 

[Moonbear]

I'm saying that in any of my other classes I'd be getting an "A" but because this class is slightly higher it's just a B+/A-

Or maybe you'd still be getting a C because they wouldn't have agreed to raising the grade by 14% since the cut-off was already more lenient.

 

[moose]

I now have a B
(in any other grading system it'd be an A, but you need 90% to get an A in this class - stupid)

You realize that almost everywhere in the US it's like this... (or so i think)

 

[Smurf]

doubtfull, if I'd gotten 2 more questions right (stupid mistake, really) I'd have had 98-99%

 

[pattylou]

There's at least a small chance that your professor has enough experience with students arguing their grades, that he goes through most of the semester indicating you're at a C while fully expecting to assign you a B.

This way, if a disagreement over grades comes up, he can let you argue your case and win - (you need to present a thought-out case) you feel good about "winning" the extra grade, and it's no skin off his back.

Wouldn't you consider doing that sort of thing, in his place, if students were arguing with you over points every few weeks?

Not that you shouldn't consider whether your grade is fair or not, from your perspective; you should. It's just that sometimes this whole "point" game gets to be so much of a game... and you don't strike me as the sort of person who would want to play these sorts of games.

 

[Moonbear]

There's at least a small chance that your professor has enough experience with students arguing their grades, that he goes through most of the semester indicating you're at a C while fully expecting to assign you a B.
This way, if a disagreement over grades comes up, he can let you argue your case and win - (you need to present a thought-out case) you feel good about "winning" the extra grade, and it's no skin off his back.
Wouldn't you consider doing that sort of thing, in his place, if students were arguing with you over points every few weeks?
Not that you shouldn't consider whether your grade is fair or not, from your perspective; you should. It's just that sometimes this whole "point" game gets to be so much of a game... and you don't strike me as the sort of person who would want to play these sorts of games.

You've violated the code of secrecy! How could you?! But, yeah, I know I tend to do a bit of that, grade harder during the term, try to get the students to work a little harder and do a little better, and then bump all the grades up a bit at the end...nobody ever complains if they get a B when they were expecting a C.

 

[Smurf]

... go hump a cactus

 

[pattylou]

You've violated the code of secrecy! How could you?!

I know. I really hesitated, I swear to God I did.

But I rationalised that if it reduces the amount of pointless arguing that goes on between a student and a teacher, somewhere, sometime... maybe just once...

That will be one less headache for an educator somewhere, and a good deed will have been done.

 

[Mk]

... go hump a cactus

Ow that hurt.

Ding-dong!
http://minibytes.mondominishows.com/poo/affiliates/play.asp?Affil=iwon&W

 

[Diane_]

At least she didn't tell them that we more often give the benefit of the doubt to the student who's obviously been trying hard in class than to the one who was more than happy to settle for D's.

Oops.