"Not Your Best Work" Question

[easypeasy]

I'm curious.

Let's say a Student has done tip-top work all semester - surpassing the professor's requirements on each writing assignment and achieving very high scores on each.

Finals Week arrives and the final project includes an in-depth paper for this class.

Easy for this student. However, finals week also brings major exams in other subjects where student isn't so rock-solid. Student needs to study for those exams in order to achieve a good/passing grade.

So, student "does the math." Realizes that he only needs to achieve a "C" on the final paper and would still maintain an "A" in the class. So, student (for whom writing comes easy) sits down and writes out a paper and decides to turn in what is, essentially, a step-above a rough draft. However, student has seen/read other students' papers in that class and feels that this paper is STILL better-written than others' in that class. Student feels good about it and turns it in and turns his mind toward prepping and studying for the tough exams headed his way.

One of two things happens:

1) The professor marks the paper and insists that the student edit it before the end of finals week to turn in a paper that is, essentially, "perfect." The edits are super nit-picky and time-consuming, but the professor will give the paper a "0" if not fully edited before the deadline.

2) The professor reads the paper, decides this is not student's best work and gives the student an overall grade of "I" for the class. When student inquires (after grades are back after the semester has ended), professor states that she knows this paper wasn't up to Student's Best Work and that they will work on revisions together the following semester so that student can turn in a paper he is "proud of."

Either professor would have given the paper a grade of "B," most likely - thus, high enough for the student to get his overall "A" in that class.

I'm asking because these scenarios have happened and one was discussed during a parents' meeting at a university my dd is considering. I'm unsure how I feel about either situation. The dominant part of me thinks the lower grade should've been given and the student walk away with his overall "A," because he obviously made an educated decision and weighed the pros/cons before turning in a less-than-ideal paper (which likely allowed him to focus on other classes and hopefully maintain a good grade there too) and making those types of decisions is a HUGE part of "adulting," while the other part of me respects the professors for possibly seeing this student's potential and wanting to ensure that he worked to his very best abilities (but not sure this is the best way to illustrate that!).

Also - this class is part of the student's major. So... a social sciences paper written in APA format or a history paper in Chicago, etc. Not just a Gen Ed class.

So - curious what others would think of either of these scenarios and if they feel the same about both? Especially Scenario B when the student now has to fit in this project/paper/tutoring alongside his new schedule of classes!!

Edited February 25, 2020 by easypeasy

[Paige]

I think the professor should grade the paper as is and move on with life. If the prof is feeling concerned, he or she could check in with the student, express disappointment, and ask if something was going on, but I don't feel a 0 or I is appropriate. Unless the students sign some sort of contract where they consent to grading like this, I feel it is entirely inappropriate. There should be a standard for the assignment upon which papers are graded- not a standard for the student.

[klmama]

Both situations are ridiculous. The paper should be graded on its merits, and the student should be done with it.  

[regentrude]

1. If the standard procedure in this class is that the prof receives a draft, suggests edits, and expects the student to edit the paper before turning in a final version, then scenario 1 makes sense. This should then be the case for ALL students. 

2. The school will have rules under which circumstances a grade of Incomplete can be awarded. At our uni, this is reserved for students who are unable to complete the semester work after the deadline for dropping because of a serious medical situation or similar. A professor does not have the option to give an I simply because they think the student could have done better on the final assignment. I assume that in this situation, the professor genuinely acted in what they thought the student's best interest and wanted to do a nice thing for a student they had come to know as a straight A student. 

This said: I would take third hand information with a  grain of salt. If this was discussed during a parents' meeting and the situation told by another parent, I would expect some deal of exaggeration and can imagine that what actually transpired might have been somewhat different. In scenario 2, I would find it completely believable for the prof to have offered the Incomplete; forcing the student to take an Incomplete instead of a lower grade would not be possible at many schools.

Edited February 25, 2020 by regentrude

[RootAnn]

I feel the same about both. I would certainly not ever feel like doing my best after either experience.

[plansrme]

Both options are ridiculous.  "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well" is a myth (and a harmful one, at that), and part of growing up is, as you have noted, prioritizing one's responsibilities.  This student did, and the professor needs to grade the paper on the same standard that he applies to everyone else.  The professor is arrogantly insisting that his class should always take priority over everything else in a student's life.  (I know--arrogance from a professional educator--shocking!)

[egao_gakari]

16 minutes ago, plansrme said:

Both options are ridiculous.  "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well" is a myth (and a harmful one, at that), and part of growing up is, as you have noted, prioritizing one's responsibilities.  This student did, and the professor needs to grade the paper on the same standard that he applies to everyone else.  The professor is arrogantly insisting that his class should always take priority over everything else in a student's life.  (I know--arrogance from a professional educator--shocking!)

I like Chesterton's (I think?) revision of the bolded: "Anything that's worth doing is worth doing badly." 😂 That maxim has gotten me over the Perfectionist Paralysis many times!

Regarding the OP, I totally agree with everyone else who's posted so far. Grading essays was a big part of my job as a TA, and I did sometimes run into situations where a person who'd previously done great work did mediocre work on one assignment. I graded it according to the rubric and handed it back. Maybe in certain circumstances I'd have added a comment like, "Not adequately proofread/well-thought-out/supported--please improve X, Y, Z on future assignments." I can't imagine a professor at a research university ever having time or energy to behave this way. Sounds very overbearing and manipulative unless for whatever reason the student had agreed beforehand to being graded against a higher standard.

[G5052]

I am a 3/4 time professor for a large school in a large state system. I also live in a sue-happy area of the country where people sue professors.

#1 -- It wouldn't happen because it singles out a student, putting additional requirements on the individual. In my world, that would result in a potential disciplinary hearing for the professor if there was a complaint about it. My dean is always, always telling us not to make special arrangements for students outside of the syllabus and only if such arrangements are made for the entire class. As an example, some years back the flu was really going through the college. I had no way of knowing who was sick and who was not because I teach online. Some emailed me doctor excuses, and there were some local elementary schools who took Spring Break early. So I just gave everyone an extra week on a midterm project. That's OK.

#2 -- It wouldn't happen because the form for incompletes is very specific. I can only give an incomplete if they miss the final and/or final project for a documented reason. Each of my syllabi says that because that's college policy. If I turn in an incomplete form (an online form), I have to attach the excuse. In over twenty years of teaching, I've only had a handful of these. The last one was two years ago, for a student who had a car accident during exam week and had to have surgery for a complex fracture. She finished her project and took the exam the following semester and got an "A" in the class. 

I realize that private schools have a lot more flexibility and such, but it just wouldn't happen in the school I work for. 

[regentrude]

5 hours ago, G5052 said:

I realize that private schools have a lot more flexibility and such, but it just wouldn't happen in the school I work for. 

Neither could it at mine. That's why I questioned whether the incidents really occurred as they were relayed to the poster. (Not doubting YOUR word, OP, but that of the folks who passed on a second or third hand tale - unless you actually spoke to the professor.)

[easypeasy]

Thanks for the responses!

Scenario #1 has happened twice (generally same situations). I mentor DDs friend and saw the back-and-forth email discussion myself because DDs friend was asking for guidance in how to reply. The family member - same scenario - I was able to read their email discussions. Both scenarios happened with the entire class, however not just that student singled-out. It's just that most everyone else had some major editing to do, and these students had minor, nit-picky things that the professor had docked a lot of points for - and both students would have been perfectly ok accepting their "B," but NOT ok accepting a Zero. But, in their cases, it was an "A" or nothing (other students wound up with Cs and Bs on the exam after revisions).

There was no rubric for either essay assignment (two different colleges, two different professors, two different states) - just an "overall points value" assigned to the assignment and a general outline of expectations given. The due dates were in the first half of finals week and the professors each gave the students until the end of finals weekend to edit their papers or receive a zero.

First time, I thought - "wow! What a weird, crappy situation." Second time, I thought, "Huh. Maybe I'm the one missing the mark here?" Good to know my instincts were in line. lol

Scenario #2 was discussed right there during a prestigious scholarship interview session with the parents - with the student and the professor themselves as a positive/caring illustration of professor/student relationships. Maybe it's different, however, because the student/professor wound up collaborating and expanding the student's project and it was eventually published in some prestigious journal somewhere.  So maybe that's why they were all rainbows and sunshine while discussing it? (it only just occurred to me that this might be the case... d'oh!)

Edited February 26, 2020 by easypeasy

[elegantlion]

The professor should have graded as is unless it was stated in the syllabus that it was not a final draft and revisions would need to be made. Even then, if the student didn't do the revisions, they get the grade they get. 

For the history papers I've done, nitpicky things can get graded harshly  - think leaving off periods at the end of footnotes, but many professors set a rubric so that technical details won't fail an otherwise good content-wise paper. Citations might get 10%, thesis statements 10%, etc. 

I've also done papers for independent study that I was asked to revise several times, but that was part of the agreement for the class. 

 

[ieta_cassiopeia]

Both of those seem strange to me.

1) Professors can definitely give a long list of corrections and short timeframes to fix them. If there's a problem that is so severe that the work would fail, and the student chooses to ignore that problem, then the work should be failed. However, students have to be free to ignore them, and can only be granted 0 if what they submit is either non-existent or doesn't answer the question. Assuming there is some connection between question and response, the work has to be marked with whatever grade accurately matches its desert. This is the deal professors make in exchange for immunity from academic-related challenges to gradings (which applied at my alma mater, though I recognise this isn't a thing at some American colleges). If the department knows ahead of time that a professor is compromised this way towards a particular student (e.g. through a student complaint - which might not even need to be formal), they can and probably will give it to a different professor/lecturer to mark/moderate, to ensure prejudice doesn't complicate the matter.

2) A professor who believes they've been given sub-par work for non-academic reasons that are more serious than "student was double-majoring in Drunken Studies/doesn't understand the class/engaged in excessive not-studying", depending on the institution's rules, they might be able to trigger some sort of grade-sparing process*. It's possible that in this college's case, that was an Incomplete with a retry at the coursework next semester - I've not seen its rules. It's hard to see why an "I" would appear when the "B" the work merited would result in a better GPA, though again that would be institution-specific. But even without such specifics, I struggle to imagine that any such process would include guidance during the enxt semester as default. I can only assume this was a special favour on account of the professor sensing there might be something publishable from the original attempt, and putting something in place to make that happen.

* - (My alma mater's version, to give an example, allowed professors whose students appeared to have extenuating circumstances to either issue an extension of up to 3 weeks, or start an Agreotat procedure (if 3 weeks would be too short). For an Agreotat, the student would then be asked to provide solid evidence of an acceptable reason - most often that would be substantial contact with the medical system. The student could also initiate either process themselves. Results of extensions got whatever the work merited, Agreotats averaged out whatever was submitted, whether that was the other assessments in that module or, for semester-derailing stuff, what happened in the other semester that year).

Edited February 27, 2020 by ieta_cassiopeia
Putting in the * that refers to the footnote.