gotta vent

Okay, so I had this bad-attitude student this semester - rarely showed to class EXCEPT on test days, whined when he didn't get the announcements that I made in class.

The research paper he wrote was rather poor. I graded it, I filled out the grading rubric I used and explained on the rubric where I took off points and why (a big aspect of it being he hadn't done that much background research). He didn't show on the day I handed the papers back - I just happened to see him yesterday afternoon and I figured "I want this out of my office so I'll give it to him" even though he did not ask for it back.

Well, I get this phone call this morning. Or, rather, phone message, as it was sent in the late afternoon.

"Why did I get such a bad grade? I put a lot of TIME and EFFORT into this paper."

(Honey, I can tell when someone's lying to me. There wasn't a lot of time and effort in that paper - or certainly not the kind of time and effort I expected.)

"Can you call me and explain to me why I did so poorly"

(Um, yeah - you didn't show up to class to hear my explanation of my expectations on the paper. You have the grade sheet in front of you with my comments like "You did not do enough background research" and "you did not find enough sources" and "your discussion is not sufficient - you need to explain the results better and fit them in more with what we already know."

The fact that you skipped class, walked OUT of class when you decided it didn't interest you, and whined when you failed to get some important piece of information that I announced in class, does not favorably dispose me to call you up and explain to you once again how you did not meet the standards I set.)

"I really think I deserve a better grade on this."

(Oh, you do? I've been doing this exercise in class for...let me check...SEVEN years now, and your paper is one of the poorer ones I've run across. And I had a checklist I handed out to you all - and I know you got a copy of it - and you didn't follow all the instructions on it. Sorry, you don't get to decide whether you deserve a better grade. Talk to some of your colleagues; they mostly didn't get very good grades either. Sorry, that's how it goes sometimes.)

I suppose he'll want me to take time after the exam today to go over it with him. If he insists - if he doesn't just take the exam and walk out like he always has before, I guess I will.

But he's violated Ricki's Rule For Students #1 so many times that it's going to be hard for me to put up with his whining any more.

This is what we get when we tell kids coming up through school that they're all "special and wonderful" and that it's OK when they slack off and when we do self-esteem exercises instead of doing projects that actually, you know, teach the kids something other than how to become little monsters of ego.

Part of it I'm sure is that this guy...his area of biology is a different area from this particular class, and so I'm sure he felt "I don't have to put much effort into this" and then he felt slapped when it turns out that yes, in fact, I expect effort.

In fact - and I hate to say this - I graded a bit more generously on these papers than I really ideally wanted to. (Well, the good thing: if he insists on arbitration I can pull in my buddy the ornithologist and not only will he back me up on the grading, but I bet he'll tell the guy, "This was a piss-poor paper and you're lucky you got a C.")

It sucks having standards, but I tend to think it sucks worse to abandon those standards and let the whole world continue its slide into mediocrity.