Do these e-mails sound demanding?

College Life
1

<p>This is a spin-off thread about my professor not raising my grade of a 69 to a 70 (eventhough she stated in an e-mail a few days ago that she will). The reason she first didn't raise the grade was because the e-mails sounded too demanding. I would like to know if you think these are or aren't demanding e-mails.</p>

<p>SENT:
Professor X,</p>

<p>I remeber you mentioned at the beginning of the semester that you would give extra
points at the end of the semester if we attended every class. I have attended every
class. If I get a 77 or 67, would you raise it to the next letter grade?</p>

<p>Thank You,
X</p>

<p>RESPONSE:
You would have to have closer to a 68.5 or 78.5</p>

<p>SENT:
I just calculated my final grade. I replaced by lowest grade with my final exam grade
and obtained a 69.08. Will I be receiving a C?</p>

<p>Thank You,
X</p>

<p>RESPONSE:
I am confused. Why would you replace your lowest grade with your final?</p>

<p>SENT:
"Exams:<br>
Four exams are scheduled during the semester. NO MAKE-UP EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN.<br>
NO EXCEPTIONS! You may substitute your final exam score for one missed exam, or for
your lowest exam score."</p>

<p>This is what is stated on the syllabus. My lowest exam score is 44/125. My final exam
score is 72%. Therefore, my lowest exam score should be 90/125.</p>

<p>When I added up all of my points, I obtained a grade of 69.08/100. You said that you
would raise the grade to the next letter grade if the grade was above 68.5.</p>

<p>Thank You,
X</p>

<p>RESPONSE:
Thank you for enlightening me regarding the syllabus. I use the department syllabus
and was unaware about the lowest score replacement. This will help several students.<br>
Regarding a 68.5. A curve is strictly up to me! Since I will now be replacing the lowest
test scores I will NOT curve any additional points, that would be ridiculous.</p>

<p>SENT:
Thank you for your response. My final grade is a 69/100. You stated to me that if my
grade is above 68.5, I would receive a 70 because I attended every class. This is what
you mentioned the first day of class. You said you would help out students at the end of
the semester only if we attended class every day.</p>

<p>I will stop by your office tomorrow morning.</p>

<p>Thank You,
X</p>

<p>RESPONSE:
No Response</p>

2

<p>The first two messages don’t sound that demanding, but the last two would sound condescending if I was a professor. It’s not to say that you’re wrong, it’s just that as a professor I would not find it pleasing for a student to be regurgitating my own syllabus.</p>

3

<p>I pretty much agree with the previous poster. Everything started out just fine, but the last two messages do feel inappropriately demanding. Remember that whether or not this professor said/wrote that she would enact these policies, she would be doing them as a favor to her students. She’s not robbing students of a right…quite the opposite.</p>

<p>It also seems that you’re making very strong assumptions based on the professor’s words. For example, she says that to have your grade bumped, “You would have to have closer to a 68.5 or 78.5.” This is not necessarily the same as your interpretation, which was “You said that you would raise the grade to the next letter grade if the grade was above 68.5.” Your reading is much more concrete than what she gave you.</p>

<p>Finally, it appears that your professor is going to stand by the low-grade replacement, which should help students out far more than the attendance boost would have. She’s right in saying that it would be ridiculous to boost grades in two such obvious ways. The miscommunication is unfortunate, but I do think that it’s fair. In this exact situation, I can imagine her understanding your perspective and giving you the C, but I don’t see that as a necessary action.</p>

<p>A few tips for the future:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Skipping the emails, going to office hours, and making a case to the effect of “I’m worried about my grade. I worked very hard in this class, I sought individual tutoring, I came to office hours, I turned in all of the homework, and I attended every class…” is far more likely to work in your favor than nit-picking the syllabus or scrounging for points.</p></li>
<li><p>Better yet, don’t ever put yourself in the position of having to worry about this so late in the semester! If you’re having trouble in a class, which it looks like you were in this one, utilize the services available to you. This is clearly a professor who wants to show her students the benefit of the doubt, but have you given her a reason to do so? </p></li>
<li><p>If a professor never explicitly mentions something that’s on the syllabus, and you’re relying on it, bring it up. Clarify after class, ask in office hours, send an email, whatever. Don’t just assume. </p></li>
<li><p>For such a delicate situation, your writing style feels a bit curt. In the future, I’d recommend speaking face-to-face to prevent misunderstandings. Otherwise, consider upping your wordiness (sometimes terrible advice, but in this case, potentially helpful). Rather than “will you,” “would you,” move toward “will you consider” and “would it be possible.” This phraseology sends the subtle message that you know you’re looking for favors, and you’re not simply expecting them.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I can hardly imagine how frustrating this situation must be for you, and I’m sorry that you’re stuck in it. I hope that you and your professor are able to come to an agreement. Meanwhile, I have to agree that at this level of hair-splitting, the details just aren’t up to you. The situation sucks, no one can argue that, but I think you’re seeing it as far less just than it actually is. It was a miscommunication, a misunderstanding, and when all was sorted out, it just didn’t go your way. Sorry :(</p>

4

<p>I can’t believe that your professor just used the department syllabus without reading it first! If she had read it first, then she would have known about the lowest grade substitution in advance and perhaps not have mentioned the part about bonuses for attendance.</p>

<p>However, since she used the syllabus she needs to abide by it. And I believe she also needs to stand by what she said about attendance bonuses because that was her own fault for offering both benefits. Now the problem lies in making her follow her word.</p>

<p>Other than that, I second what Student615 said.</p>

5

<p>Yeah the last couple of ones sound kind of demanding. </p>

<p>But this is nothing like my Humantities teacher did. She started off with a total of 100 grading scale, and at the end of the semester, she raised the scale by 15 points to make an A more ‘valuable’. And we had a total of 11 EC point through out the whole semester. In the process, it screwed a lot of students over and her response was along the lines of “Deal with it. Thats life”.</p>

<p>They are allowed to change the syllabus, it usually says it on the syllabus. And kind of like my Humanties teacher, she did it AFTER the class was over which is wrong I think. So I understand where you’re coming from.</p>

6

<p>I talked with my professor and she raised the 69 to a 70.</p>

<p>The reason I quoted the syllabus was because she said she was confused. I think that the grading scale on the syllabus shouldn’t change. The chapters could change, but everything else should remain the same.</p>

7

<p>Yup, the last two sound a bit demanding, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed unless someone asked me about it. However, I think she was just talking BS when she said that your email sounded demanding. She was just trying to cover her arse.</p>

8

<p>congrats on getting your score bumped. that must relieve a lot of stress.
A friend of mine ended up .05% away from being rounded up. He went in to talk to the professor, because he had seen something on the online assignment page that made him think that there might have been a mistake, and he ended up getting yelled at and having the door slammed in his face. I’d say you’re fortnuate.</p>

<p>again, congrats.</p>

9

<p>As said, the initial e-mails seemed fine but the last one was perhaps a bit too forward… I would have gone and spoken to him/her in person at that point. It sounds like the professor was caught a bit off guard and it’s a bit odd that they wouldn’t even have fully read the materials they’ve given their own students! Granted when there are many instructors for the same course there are often some common materials, but that’s just a bit silly.</p>

<p>As has been pointed out, you realistically can’t expect too many ‘redos’ and ‘bonus points’ as at some point you have to earn the grade you get through actual performance. If they’ve already implemented the ‘replacing a test/quiz’ bonus then also asking for an additional bonus could be pushing it a bit. Not to be harsh, but if you want higher grades you should probably focus on doing better on the exams and assignments and not worry so much about squeezing out every last bonus point.</p>

10

<p>I never asked for the bonus points. She said my grade would be raised to a 70 if I got at least a 68.5. My final grade was a 69.</p>

11

<p>Oh I’ve seen these emails… I’ve been there. The last full e-mail from the professor is quite sarcastic- she’s NOT pleased that you pointed out her fault, especially that the e-mail before was demanding. While you’re helping out other students, you’ve created more work for her in re-calculating some of the grades… actually, all of them. I can’t imagine doing it for a class of 50…</p>

<p>Student815 and rocketman08 provided excellent tips- follow them. You’ve used your free pass and from now on, start taking responsiblity for yourself. This is not high school. You get what you dseerve (in this case, the original grade).</p>

<p>Professors generally use departmental syllabus as a basic guideline to ensure that their class curve/grading matches the department’s standards so that no professor is more generous than the other- gives them all equal standing even if they don’t like it.</p>

<p>Really, face-to-face is much, much better especially if you’re worried about a grade. They have a harder time saying no! :)</p>

12

<p>It seems a bit like you duped her. You got the syllabus wording in, she said she wasn’t going to scale anymore and then you pulled a “but you said” on her. I can see where she was put off by your discussion. And while every one else is saying that the first two aren’t demanding you end them each with “would you raise it to the next letter grade?” and “Will I be receiving a C?” respectively (but not respectfully). </p>

<p>Next time using a tone and language that gives a bit more deference to the professor would go a long way. You are asking them a favor, and never once say please or use any sort of language that comes close to implying that you are asking them for help. Phrases like “I know I am asking a lot” and “Is there any way possible” and “I’m not hoping for special treatment” and “thank you for your time” will all go a long way in furthering your cause in the future. </p>

<p>How I would have written your first letter:</p>

<p>Professor X,</p>

<p>I’m a little concerned about my grade and I remember you mentioned at the beginning of the semester that you would give extra
points if we attended every class. I have made a really strong effort to make it to all your class sessions and did not miss one all semester. At this point, I am wondering how many points I will get for perfect attendance. Would it be possible to raise my final grade to the next letter grade if I end up with a 77 or 67 for the class? I’m not hoping for any sort of special treatment, just to quantify how many points attendance is worth.</p>

<p>Thank You for your time,
X</p>

13

<p>“I never asked for the bonus points. She said my grade would be raised to a 70 if I got at least a 68.5. My final grade was a 69.”</p>

<p>Ummm… we’ll you’re asking her to make your 69 turn into a 70 without actually earning a 70 via your actual test scores. If that’s not a ‘bonus point’ I don’t know what is! ;-)</p>

<p>Although some profs provide means for bumping grades up (e.g. dropping the lowest quiz score) they’re under no obligation to do so. Whereas high school is often filled with loads of extra credit and bonus points, they’re not so common in college. To get a good grade you have to earn it through performance not extra credit. Also, whilst it might be really really frustrating that a 69 is very close to a 70 it’s still not a 70. The profs need to place the cutoffs somewhere and if they just sometimes randomly ‘bumped up’ everyone’s grades then it would be chaos.</p>

14

<p>“Ummm… we’ll you’re asking her to make your 69 turn into a 70 without actually earning a 70 via your actual test scores. If that’s not a ‘bonus point’ I don’t know what is! ;-)”</p>

<p>I never asked her to give me the points. She offered it to everybody that attended every single class period.</p>

15

<p>Insomniatic:</p>

<p>Consider the fact that you’ve received a lot of good, relevant advice as well as a fair bit of sympathy in this thread. Rather than thanking posters, though, you’ve continued to defend yourself and to split some pretty meaningless hairs. Frankly, this is an internet message board and I can hardly criticize your attitude, so please understand that doing so isn’t my intent. It’s just something that stood out to me, mainly because it’s so reminiscent of the emails you copied in your original post! </p>

<p>Seems like there might be a trend here, although perhaps I’m jumping to unfair conclusions. But I hope you keep your professor’s frustration in mind in the future, because if your tone and attitude persist–however well-intentioned you actually are–you may continue to have trouble.</p>