Nice Of Her

Dear Professor,
I don't think I deserved the F.  I put a lot of effort into this class.  I participated and did homework.  I was overwhelmed on the day of the final as I had 3 finals that day.  I don't think it is fair for you to base my grade on 15 questions.  But, if you think I earned the F because I did not work hard enough I will accept it and retake the course during the summer.  Please let me know how you arrived at this grade.

Dear Student:
You missed the first exam and the second two and a half weeks of classes.  I offered you a makeup that you chose not to take.  Your other grades are 41, 71, 91 and 43 on final.  The final consisted of former test problems and problems on the review sheet.  You handed in many assignments late and did not bother to do the take home assignment which would have given you a passing average.

These kids don't understand what it means to succeed in college.  Many plan on transferring to four year schools and pursuing careers in medicine, law and engineering.  These kids all are products of Bloomberg education.  I feel sorry for them.  Their sense of entitlement can do nothing but hurt them.

I'm happy this girl is willing to "accept" her F and summer school now that her grade has been explained.

Failing Student

Jimmy's four tests total less than 100 points.  When he got his last one back, he got upset.  He asked what he could do to pass.  He was upset when I said there was no extra credit, but if he did well on the final (highly unlikely) he could still pass.  Poor Jimmy told me he is a terrible test taker.  He didn't do homework because after he missed a few there was no point since I told the class I would only drop lowest test grade if they did all homework.  He just didn't get, even after four tests, that exams came straight from the homework.

Wednesday we finished new lesson early and I asked class to start working on practice problems there were given for the final.  I told them to work together and that I would be happy to answer questions.  Most of the students took advantage of the review time and worked.  Not Jimmy.  He was "tired".  After the last class I invited students to stay behind for extra help.  Jimmy was the first one out the door.

I give up.  Jimmy deserves to fail.


(Picture from Newsday's car show--no relation to post.  I just liked it.)