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In this first post in a series on University life-hacks for professors and students, I address the question of the grade-grubbing email.
I teach at a large, research intensive university. Students in my undergraduate classes number in the hundreds. Each year as the fall and winter semesters draw to a close, I receive a flood of emails of the ‘grade-negotiating’ variety.
"Hello Professor,
I noticed that I am sitting at an 84 for my final grade, and wondered if you could look at my final exam again to see if I could earn an extra point to bring me up to an A, etc..."
The volume of such emails, like those demanding special accommodations during the semester, has grown so large over the years as to become unmanageable. More than a time management problem, however, I am always faced with a tough ethical dilemma in knowing what to tell students, or in knowing how to say 'no'.
Over the years (this is my eleventh year teaching university), I have come to adjust my teaching philosophy. Where I initially sought to cater to all possible learning needs, I now think it is equally important to invite students to discover different learning experiences. Here is how I respond to the grade-grubbing email now, in a message addressed to the whole class:
Dear students,
In a large class like this one, I cannot do justice to each accommodation-seeking email. I would also like to explain to all of you why I do not want to do justice to each student’s request for accommodation, but rather work hard to ensure that learning is taking place for all of you.
It’s always inspiring to see that students care about their success. It gives me no pleasure to point out that it is not reasonable to write to your professor to ask for extra points or an alternative evaluation method after grades have been submitted. In these cases, I try to put myself in the perspective of the many students (the vast majority in fact) who do not write to ask for extra points, even when they wish they had earned a higher grade. I wonder how these students think of their needs in relation to the needs of others, and I find myself feeling strong admiration and respect for these silent members of the class,
We talk a lot about perspective-taking, empathy, and compassion in my classes. Now I invite all of you to consider the perspectives and needs of all the students who do not ask for personal accommodations. I also encourage you to consider the perspective of those (like the TAs and myself) who have to design and manage a large learning environment and do their best to ensure fairness for all.
What I invite you all to consider most of all is that there is a difference between fairness for all and fairness for each.
It isn’t that long since I was a student myself, and I can remember the pressure and occasional frustration, but also the excitement and the many valuable lessons learned in and outside the classroom. One of the important lessons it took me a very long time to learn is precisely that I had come to university to learn – that is to say, to be challenged, to be evaluated against the best standards, and not to simply to have my worldview and all my personal needs accommodated, or to be given a pass whenever I wanted one. A lot is said these days on the need to reform the ‘impersonal’ nature of university classrooms. On this, too, I have learned lessons that did not seem immediately obvious to me.
Soon, some of you will find yourselves in upper-level seminars or graduate school mentoring environments where evaluation will be personalized and flexible, where you will get to know your professors better, and will get to choose what to learn based on your intrinsic motivation. These are fantastic environments to be in, but I would like to suggest that one has to earn one’s way into these opportunities. This is why upper-level, smaller, more personalized university learning feels so amazing: because we feel we have worked hard to get there. There are many small liberal arts universities where personalized environments of this kind are available to students right away. These are great schools to go to, but large, research-intensive universities have something different to offer.
In choosing to come study here, and in earning the privilege to do so, students who take 200 and 300 level classes will not get personalized care. What they will get instead is a vibrant community of international peers who came out of the world’s best schools, and professors who are leading experts in their field of research.
What I invite you to consider is that cultivating the virtues of empathy, compassion, and civility (but also resilience, flexibility, anti-fragility, openness, perseverance, and transcendence) requires, at some stage in one’s life, learning to function in large groups without putting our needs above those of others. Note that it is the learning of these virtues that must happen at some stage. These virtues are not limited to the classroom, and will require ongoing cultivation from moment to moment and context to context. There are many cultures in which the virtues of resilience, openness, and knowing one's place are encouraged from an early age. I question the extent to which *our current school and university culture invites the cultivation of other-regarding and character-strengthening virtues (by *our, I mean a recent kind of individualist western culture that many of our students do not come from – these 'non-western' students, to venture a generalization, rarely if ever ask for accommodations).
The same holds in politics. In democratic societies, we all have the privilege and responsibility to be involved in public matters. This does not – indeed cannot – mean that we have the right to full accommodation for whatever we deem important, whenever we want it. If everyone calls their representative or MP everyday and expects an instant response and full personalized accommodation for their every need, the democratic system as it stands cannot work. Having a broader-reaching input in public decisions can be achieved by taking the time to serve on public committees and working one's way up the ladder. It must also begin by convincing others that one is worthy of these higher responsibilities to begin with – what it takes, once more, is earning one’s way into spaces where broader-reaching decisions can be entrusted to those with specialized expertise and exceptional strengths of character. If everyone speaks at the same time, no one is heard, and nothing is accomplished.
Now further consider what it takes to ensure high, but fair standards for validating and recognizing growth and learning in spaces that must invite students to learn how not be the center of attention.
The typical grade distribution in a 200-level class looks like this The stakes to break into the 80 to 85% A- range are high, and they are even higher to break through that ceiling. If all students who earn an 84 write to get their grade bumped up to an 85 (as many do), and if their request is granted each time, then the ceiling to earn an A will be lowered to 84. At that point, students with an 83 will write to ask for a bump-up, and the ceiling will lower to 83, then 82, etc. Once we get there, the evaluation system will not only be unmanageable, but also entirely meaningless.
I do not welcome, and do not personally answer grade negotiation emails.
I do welcome, and do my best to answer emails and comments that speak to the questions on ethics, civility, and virtue I raise here.
Sincerely,
Your professor.
Montreal, May 1st, 2017.
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"Would You Mind Boosting my Grades?" -- You can listen to an interview with Dr. Veissière on the Leslie Roberts Show (CJAD Radio Montreal) on the subject of grade-grubbing culture, student entitlement, and empathy.
