Grading and politics

[dfrecore]

I was a straight A student in high school. My freshman year of college, I got a D on my first English paper. I was shocked. I discussed the paper with the professor but still didn't think the grade was justified. However, I took his feedback as guidelines for what to change in the future.

I recently ran across that paper while sorting through old things. I read it. It was terrible. If I had graded it, I would have given myself an F, not just a D.
In retrospect, this happened because I wasn't really taught how to write well in high school. I was taught to write to a specific formula similar to the five paragraph essay. in high school, all I really had to do was stick to the format to get a good grade. In college, I had to make sure I had solid argumentation and used reliable sources to back up my argument. My paper had to be logical and coherent.

When I hear kids complaining that they got a bad grade because the professor has it out for them or didn't agree with the premise of their paper, my general impetus is to want to know what the paper actually said and what the actual feedback was that their professor gave them. Kids these days are raised to think that any disagreement with them or criticism of their abilities is an attack on their personal beliefs. Conservative or liberal or neither, maybe they just need to listen to their professors and try learning instead of digging their feet in.

First, the professor made it VERY clear that the problem was his view of things rather than his writing style.  Second, he's a straight-A college student who had all A's prior to that course, and after.  He's graduating with a 4.0, even as one semester he had cancer treatments.  He's now trying to figure out which PT school to go to as every one he applied to gave him a yes.

He was not some cocky young blowhard - he was an earnest, hard-working student with big goals and aspirations.  This teacher just hated his point of view, and no matter what he said, he wasn't going to be able to pass the course because she had it out for him.

I do love everyone's assumptions though.