<p>it was a sourced paper, and there were no sources at all listed on the paper, and should have been, although he used sources to write the paper. I have told him he needs to go talk to his instructor immediately and see if she can help him.</p>
<p>Format can mean so many things, and that’s OP’s word. I usually say something like “paper did not meet the parameters set by the assignment”. And an F? Well, let’s just say there’s a huge range of F, from zero all the way up to 60. If use of citations were worth so much and student had none, he’s at an F pretty quickly. Five hundred word when the assignment was 1000? Well student did half the assignement, so if it’s really well done, a full half credit is possible. Wrote a narrative when he was supposed to illustrate? Hard to give much credit for the structural elements one expects to find in exemplification, Honestly, there are just too many ways for a paper not to meet the “format” for us to start lambasting the prof. </p>
<p>I’ve had new college grads working for me and was often astonished that they don’t read or hear directions. When given a big study or research document-- and told, “please write an executive summary of 4-5 pages which gives an overview of the main findings” I often got back a 12 page analysis of one minor point which the employee found “really interesting”. Oy vey. Or I got a 1 page “This was the purpose of the study” without ever referencing or summarizing the main conclusions. I frequently wondered what the heck they learned in college.</p>
<p>A professor is well within rights to give an F to a paper which didn’t fulfill the assignment. There is a material difference between “write an analysis using primary and secondary sources, with citations and footnotes” and “write whatever you want using this topic as a jumping off point”.</p>
<p>In the long run, the F is a much more powerful teaching tool than giving the kid a B- if he didn’t fulfill the assignment.</p>
<p>Actually in a way I’m not surprised that he got an F. If my 10th grader had an English paper that was supposed to be sourced and he didn’t list any sources his teacher would have given him an F. Talking to the Prof may help but I wouldn’t count on it. </p>
<p>I totally agree that he should have received an F if he didn’t follow the directions for the paper. Time to learn life lessons now if they haven’t already been learned. I do not see the professor being at fault, here. </p>
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<p>I work at a company where we, like many, have templates for documents. You can’t just format it however you want. Also, if you are a professor and have to grade 100’s of papers, if someone gives you one not double spaced, then how do you put in comments? I am sure that the professor has found over time that if they are not firm on the requirements they get all kinds of things.</p>
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<p>The amount of work an individual college student puts into an individual assignment is irrelevant. The result, the product, is what counts. Some people study hard for a test and get a poor grade; some study a little because the material is intuitive to them, and they get a better grade. Some students really struggle with writing, making draft after draft just to get a C result. Some are gifted writers who churn out stuff by the truckload and get As. Some students read slowly and painfully, and others read quickly and easily. One of the biggest lessons new college students need to learn is that unlike high school or middle school, they are not being evaluated on “effort.” </p>
<p>I do think it’s interesting that people are more likely to make arguments for leniency in evaluation of writing than they would be, say, for a chemistry exam. However, not all college writing tasks are evaluated subjectively. Many have parameters that need to be observed. </p>
<p>These ideas of making a point and teaching a lesson are completely correct for the neurotypical student. And I would not fault the professor for not doing her job; I think that she is doing her job. I also think that if the young man has been taught this point many time before, then perhaps he is not being careless, defiant, or inattentive. Perhaps there is a fundamental processing deficit. Being registered with OSD would allow the professor to consider other options, and go beyond doing her job to “do the right thing”.</p>
<p>If you have never worked with someone with this kind of deficit, you likely will not understand why you would not treat the student like anyone else and give him a lesson, which he will feed back and internalize. But letting someone who does not feel heat touch a hot stove will not really teach the lesson we think it will. If the feedback mechanism that the majority of us take for granted is just not there, the lesson will not be internalized the way we hope it will be.</p>
<p>We do not know the cause of these behaviors, but if it is not laziness or some other self-control issue, it may be worth figuring that out to help the student both in performance and in self-image. This is why it is important to see if it is a learning difference, or a phase he is going through.</p>
<p>“It would be like putting a wheelchair at the top of a flight of steps and saying that if the paraplegic cannot get in the wheelchair, it is his problem; the wheelchair has been provided, and he is an adult!”</p>
<p>No, it’s like an an adult paraplegic sitting at the top of the stairs saying everything is fine because he doesn’t need a wheelchair. That’s IF this student has a disability, which we don’t know. Maybe his mom can get him tested and, if necessary, help him advocate for himself, but it sounds to me like the professor is doing her part.</p>
<p>“it was a sourced paper, and there were no sources at all listed on the paper, and should have been, although he used sources to write the paper.”</p>
<p>Mystery solved. In this case, I think the instructor did right. Academic work using sources that doesn’t cite the sources is plagiarism according to the rules of most universities. Frankly, the student is lucky he only failed the paper and didn’t get reported to the disciplinary process.</p>
<p>“I’ve had new college grads working for me and was often astonished that they don’t read or hear directions.”</p>
<p>This is also my experience as a counselor to top-14 law students, who are not only college grads but college grads who got good grades. It’s completely normal to send out an email to my advisees saying, “Sign up for X at web site Y” and get 10 email responses asking, “How do we sign up for X?” It’s also normal to ask a student a month later, “Why didn’t you sign up for X?” and hearing, “I didn’t know how.” </p>
<p>Hanna, we can collaborate on a book. </p>
<p>Sign me up! </p>
<p>As it happens, I don’t even like grades. I’d love to see an educational world with Hampshire/Reed style narrative evaluations. But I might as well wish to be a fairy princess.</p>
<p>1) We do not know if the student has a disability. My point is that it should be put on the table, especially considering this new “evidence”. The harm to the student in constantly second-guessing himself about whether he followed the instructions, perseverating over re-reading the instructions, etc. can lead to a poor self image that snowballs negative effects. Earlier in the thread, a major point of discussion was whether or not to consider the possibility of a learning disability.</p>
<p>2) >>No, it’s like an an adult paraplegic sitting at the top of the stairs saying everything is fine because he doesn’t need a wheelchair.<<
No, it is like asking someone to scale a flight of stairs to reach the wheelchair. My point is that lack of awareness of a problem is itself a common disability, followed by denial of need for new strategies. IF, and I say IF, the student will believe he may have a disability, he may feel just “working harder” will solve it, for the same reason that the majority of respondents here believe it- that it must stem from a character trait that can be overcome with effort. Having read the literature, some professionals disagree with this assessment. That is precisely the point I was making with the analogy. Awareness and self-advocacy represent the staircase. The paraplegic cannot hear us tell him his wheelchair is right there.</p>
<p>3) No disrespect intended to the Prof. She is doing her job. She is also on the front-lines and is able to help prevent the student from falling through the cracks. Just for the record, I am not saying she did not do her job or that the student does not “deserve” an “F”. Rather, that this incident warrants further investigation by the parents and the student.</p>
<p>I keep responding here because we all form our responses based on our model of how everyone we know would react- a typical reaction. That is all we know. I am providing a different POV partly based on what I have read of the literature on ADHD and ASD. For example, while old, I found this book very accessible:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/The-A-D-D-Book-Understandings-Approaches/dp/0316778737”>http://www.amazon.com/The-A-D-D-Book-Understandings-Approaches/dp/0316778737</a></p>
<p>“the majority of respondents here believe it- that it must stem from a character trait that can be overcome with effort.”</p>
<p>Who here has been saying that a professionally diagnosed disability can be overcome with effort alone? I have ADD, and I sure don’t think that.</p>
<p>@Hannah, the tenor of the contributions have focused on the grade itself and how it can teach the student a lesson. That is only true if the student 1) can overcome the poor grade through application of additional effort, or 2) if alternate approaches can be employed.</p>
<p>Responses have centered on how the professor should react, what is fair, and whether the grade is deserved. Earlier in the thread, there were discussions about whether or not testing and evaluation of the student are appropriate. The OP herself, in post #64, a couple of hours ago, stated that she felt that maybe this lesson will change her son’s behavior:</p>
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<p>All of this is appropriate UNLESS there is a fundamental root-cause LD. Because of the long-standing pattern, of which this is just one symptomatic case, I am advocating testing to see if that is the case, and trying to identify and apply interventions (not just (try harder). I am also pointing out that the student may not be cooperative, and may have developmental delays (i.e. present as immature).</p>
<p>Seems to me that if there’s a lesson in an F, it could be, “What I’m doing isn’t working. Maybe I need to try something different.” Maybe it’s a good moment for the mom to suggest testing if she believes it could be useful.</p>
<p>I see that a Harvard-educated advisor to top-14 law students thinks putting testing on the table may be appropriate. :)</p>
<p>None of us have a stake in the outcome, but I really feel for the student. I do not have to go to bed shaken and upset because I wasn’t able to follow simple instructions. If I did, I would be grateful- not today, but in 5 or 10 years- to have someone advocate for me and take some action. In fact, I may even rebel against any advocacy today.</p>
<p>My vote is to have some testing done. What one is looking for is a spread (vs. a clustering) of scaled sub-scores. More than 1-1/2 standard deviations, including error-bars between ability and performance, is one definition of an issue. This from a layman- professionals can advise much better.</p>
<p>The point is, if there is an underlying learning disability, it will be a handicap all his life, one might as well get him supports now! If not, well, you will have the test results to prove it.</p>
<p>Agree with @Hanna. Techinically, it is plagiarism. Technically, the response is to report it to the university and the student is subject to discipline, possibly including suspension or expulsion.</p>
<p>The professor giving him an F with no recourse is fair.</p>
<p>Agree with @ItsJustSchool too. It is FAR better to know while in college, let alone get the help he needs in college, than end up in the workplace where you don’t have the benefit of the doubt and you are wondering and they are firing.</p>
<p>There is also a chance of a medical issue causing an apparent LD. This happened with my son, luckily the medical issue does not affect his sports at all, but the impact on his academics has been significant and his 504 plan has only been so much help. At least in college, the office of disability services handles both what would have been covered under an IEP or a 504 plan in HS. </p>
<p>The professor is an idiot. From elementary school we know that people learn differently. Some are visual learners who never “read instructions first” (How many out there start to put the Ikea bookcase together without reading the pamphlet?). The prof could have had some stages, like “draft due Friday” – if she didn’t want to grade all the drafts, she could have said, “OK people, this is a formatting review. Show your piece to the person on your right and see if they identify any formatting problems. Repeat with person on your left.” She could set her students up for success in basic “dog training” (i.e. step by step successes) segments. Yes, you do this with college students. You do this with employees. You do this with a cleaning service. You do this with anyone, anywhere to get the detailed result you desire. (Military people with good leadership skills can be great at this – they ANTICIPATE that some will not get the picture of the desired result and work hard to make sure the youngster has a clear understanding of the mission before any steps are taken on the mission. Then they rehearse the mission.)</p>
<p>As for OP’s struggling son. These tests can be insightful:</p>
<p>Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)
Auditory Consonant Trigrams (Brown Peterson Task)
Rey Complex Rigure Test</p>
<p>Administered by a psychologist – especially one experienced in working with young adults. Also see if the son is snoring or gasping at night (sometimes the addition of beer and pizza can cause a weight gain that can trigger sleep apnea). Mononucleosis is another typical college challenge – at least ask the kid if he has a sore throat. </p>
<p>I hate, hate, hate successful people who think that someone else “must be lazy” if there isn’t instant success or that the “school of hard knocks” is the way to teach anyone anything. Among other things, OP needs (IMHO) to tell son that many people take a number of paths before they find the one that works and that he should never feel embarrassed by a stumble. It makes him human. She should also tell him that some students get overwhelmed and suicidal and that she will take a stumble over a suicide any day. </p>
<p>The OP can also inform herself of the college calendar (What’s the last day to drop a course?) and of the college policy on D’s and F’s. In my state, WSU allows students to repeat a failed course and replace the F with a better grade. Western Washington University is not nearly so kind. There a D or an F is a permanent blot and anchor on the student’s GPA. Understanding the college’s handbook can help the student figure out whether or not to pull the plug on the course. </p>
<p>The professor is NOT an idiot (at least based on this one incident LOL). Some people don’t get what she is dealing with. Some people don’t understand that she had no reason to change her grading policy for him, or for anyone.</p>
<p>IF he is a “visual learner” to the extent that this interferes with his education, it is his/his parents’ job to make sure he applies for proper accommodations and gets them.</p>
<p>Can you imagine what college would be like if every class had to give instructions in multiple ways for multiple learning styles? Yet we do have online systems reminding students of homework due dates, most of us email to confirm due dates for important things like exams. We do more than HS teachers to try to reach everyone.</p>
<p>There is no reason for the professor to think he was lazy, or that he was putting over a fast one, or that he had a disability. She graded what she got. I get tons of emails about “what I deserve” from students who think effort = A. You don’t get what you deserve. You get what your graded work gives you. If you tell me the day after grades are released that you needed to get an A to retain your scholarship, that is not my problem if you did C work. It <em>would have been</em> my problem if you reached out to me when you found out you were getting a C, then I could have helped you towards getting an A.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that, as a professor, or a HS teacher for that matter, one should have stages of essays such as draft, list sources, etc. She did not have to do that though, it was her class. Was she wrong if she thought that college students should know how to write a paper? Did she have to give out a grading rubric? We do have criteria that is “pass/fail” for certain things, beyond simply losing points.</p>
<p>I know of very very few professors who do the “step by step” process with all of their students, let alone for all assignments in all classes. I know of very very few employers who do this for employees unless their employees are special needs. <em>You</em> as a student need to do this on your own. <em>You</em> as the employee need to do this on your own. And if you, in either case, need help and for some reason haven’t realized it earlier (the stress of college and being on one’s own can make LD’s worse), you suck it up and you move on to do better next time. </p>
<p>My son got a D in a class and I firmly believe the HS teacher had a major role in that D, and her lack of compliance with his 504 plan was a big part of it. He retook the class and got a B with a different teacher. <em>He was discriminated against even with a documented disability!</em> But we had to decide what to do - file suit with the school (she would NOT comply with his 504 plan, yeah, illegal - every other teacher was complying with it by the way) or have him retake the class. And of course getting a D messed up his outlook and increased his stress level. I paid for him to retake it.</p>
<p>If you are lucky enough to be someone, or to have your kid be someone, who needs extra help learning what they can and can’t do, and how to adjust what they do to meet the requirements, you have to do it or move on. Pick which battles to fight.</p>
<p>My spouse was lucky enough to figure out when he was failing physics, he should drop out. He took it in the summer and got an A. He ended up on the Dean’s List upon graduation. It was the right decision for him to drop the class when he was failing.</p>
<p>(FWIW, my son was suicidal as a child, just words no actions luckily but for a few months. I continually keep MANY paths open for him so that he knows, if he doesn’t get into college, he has options. If he doesn’t get into his top choice, he has options. And so on. To know it is not the end of the world when you get one, two, or more bad grades is important.)</p>