I need some opinions from people who have distance from this situation. It is always easier to think straight when you are not involved.
My chemistry professor is causing some serious issues among my classmates. At the start of the quarter, he said he grades differently for different people. We all genuinely thought he was joking. Then he again mentioned that if he felt like you made stupid mistakes that showed you had not practiced that he would grade you harder and mark down more than people who had put in the time to study.
I thought well no problem because I have great study habits. So far I have kept an A in the class. The problem is that my lab partner gets marked down to a 68, and I am getting 95 to 100 for assignments that we work on together. We have the same answers on the paper because it is a joint assignment that we are allowed to finish together. This problem also carries over to our exams. Some people get much lower scores and they had the same answers.
Because I was getting really great scores some of my classmates asked to see my work from the exams, so they could see what they had done differently. When we were comparing, we noticed that the professor had taken off only 1 point per mistake on mine and 5 points per mistake on theirs for the same exact mistakes. I went to my professors office and told him that I thought perhaps he had graded my paper incorrectly. He just smiled and said you did a great job. I pointed out the difference in grades and he said I am not going to pass people who don't study enough. We don't do any homework that is turned in so he had no way of really knowing how much time people are putting into this course. The points are based on exam and lab only.
The other students are asking me to take our papers to the head of the dept. and try to get something done about this discrepancy. I don't want to be selfish and not help them out, but at the same time I don't want to make the professor mad at me. I know that some of the people getting the lower grades really don't study, but some of them do and just have a tougher time with the subject matter. I am really torn on what is the right thing to do here. There isn't much time left as we only have one big test left to complete.
Sorry this is so long. I am really stressing out over this.
Any thoughts or guidance would be much appreciated.
Specializes in no specialty! (have to graduate first!).
I agree with the majority. As selfish as it sounds, you need to worry about you. Not them. I agree that the way he grades is completely unfair. There is no way that he can tell who actually studies and who doesn't. Especially if everyone is missing the same approximate number of questions.
I would encourage your classmates to complain but I would also tell them to leave your name out of it. If the dean asks to compare the tests of everyone in the class, there won't be much you can do about it. As long as you don't personally complain, you should have no problems with your teacher. But you classmates need to complain. It is discrimination and I am sure it would be against school policy. Your teacher needs to be disciplined for this.
oh, no- I don't mean to say to go to the department head because THEY want her to-- just if SHE is bothered by it.
Plus, one way or the other- for all she knows, this could be a case of sexual discrimination. If that is the case, that would bother me greatly.
I dont mean to step out of line.
I would say advise your classmates to go if you dont want to. However, it has also happened at my institution that a group of students go. If you feel it neccessary to say something, it could be beneficial to take your tests with you so the head of the department can compare them and note any favoritism.
JettaDP
268 Posts
I agree with the majority. As selfish as it sounds, you need to worry about you. Not them. I agree that the way he grades is completely unfair. There is no way that he can tell who actually studies and who doesn't. Especially if everyone is missing the same approximate number of questions.
I would encourage your classmates to complain but I would also tell them to leave your name out of it. If the dean asks to compare the tests of everyone in the class, there won't be much you can do about it. As long as you don't personally complain, you should have no problems with your teacher. But you classmates need to complain. It is discrimination and I am sure it would be against school policy. Your teacher needs to be disciplined for this.