<p>I took a class this summer at my college. The professor explicitly said there was no attendance policy, but there was a 10% participation grade. The syllabus says "not attending class will not affect your participation grade". He says going to office hours and such will count as participation (in class, on the first day, he also mentioned that emailing him with questions and stuff would count).</p>
<p>I calculated my own grade, and the only way I got a B- is if he basically gave me a 0 on participation. Honestly, I rarely went to class, but given what he wrote in his syllabus, this should NOT have took a toll on my grade.</p>
<p>I emailed him, and he tells me this:</p>
<p>"The reason why you got a B- instead of a B+ was participation. I graded the finals very leniently, so I was harsher on participation.</p>
<p>In all honesty, I find this to be unfair, but I am unsure what to do. I am not one to complain about my grade, but I really do feel this is unfair. What are my options at this point?</p>
<p>Honestly… sounds like you deserved it. It’s hard to participate if you’re not in class… if you never went, you didn’t participate much, so there’s no reason you would’ve earned many points for it. Unless you did a LOT outside of class time (always going to office hours, lots of emails, whatever) I don’t think you’ve got a case.</p>
<p>I see what you are saying, but I think you are missing the main point. His syllabus says (word for word) “not attending class will not affect your participation grade”…</p>
<p>Are you sure you didnt misread the syllabus? Or maybe that was a typo. And I cant see why a professor would basically encourage students to skip his class, then come bother him at office hours. Office hours are not supposed to be an alternative to attending class!</p>
<p>I think that’s a loaded statement. He says not being in class will not affect your participation grade, but honestly it has to because you need to be in class to participate, lol.
If you really want, you could escalate it to academic court and they could give you a second opinion/verdict.</p>
<p>I agree with what the others have said, participation shows interest in the course, and if you decide you don’t need to go to the class you aren’t showing any interest. Even though the professor says attendance doesn’t affect participation, there is always a glaring exception to that rule. If you don’t attend, you don’t participate, and therefore get a zero. I’m sure it was expected to be in attendance at least a majority of the time, and to participate in each class you attend.</p>
<p>I did not misread the syllabus. In fact, I quoted what the syllabus said word for word. He was not really encouraging skipping class. A lot of my classes have attendance policies that do not require attendance. This isn’t high school…</p>
<p>I participated by sending him regular emails with questions I had, which he had said WOULD count on participation (on the very first day of class)</p>
<p>And @ romanigypsyeyes, if you read my most completely, you would see I am not in grad school. I am an undergrad student, the professor is a grad student.</p>
<p>I’m not here to be told whether I should go to class or not…lol. I was able to score low A’s, high B’s on all the exams without attending class. I have my own reasons for not attending his class, but shortly put, his class consisted of him reading off of slides that he would upload online for his students anyways.</p>
<p>It might not be high school anymore, but I would assume that while attendance isn’t required, it is required for participation. I’d feel I was wasting my money taking a class and not actually attending (whether I needed to or not). If I wanted a certain grade, I would make sure I got it by going to class.</p>
<p>I’d call him out on the email issue, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.</p>
<p>Some teachers say something along the line of - if you skip class I will take 10 points from your participation grade. Your instructor said skipping class would not lower your participation grade. I don’t see in what you posted that he said you would get participation points if you skip class. Your post does not indicate that he said that going to office hours and emailing him could completely replace class participation points just that doing those things would count toward participation. Maybe those emails and visits only counted for a tiny amount of the participation grade.</p>
<p>Did he say that emailing or stopping by office hours would give you “as many” participation points as attending class, or just “some” participation points? There’s a potential big difference there. </p>
<p>Suppose that there are 5 possible participation points per day. If you miss class, that would be 0 participation points. Further suppose that sending an email with questions or whatever is worth some participation points, but possibly only worth 1 or 2 points, of the possible 5. If you “almost never went to class” as you stated, it’s entirely possible that your points for participation were next to nothing, compared to what they could have been.</p>
<p>Also, the title of your thread is misleading. You said “Grad student, think I was graded unfairly” Then you said this- “if you read my most completely, you would see I am not in grad school. I am an undergrad student, the professor is a grad student.”</p>
<p>There was absolutely nothing in your post to indicate that.</p>
<p>edit-It’s also important to realize that a syllabus does not constitute a legally binding contract. Professors typically do have the right to change any of the information on the syllabus that they want to. There is usually a disclaimer on the syllabus that actually states that.</p>
<p>My apologies for the misleading thread title.</p>
<p>He did not say that, but in all fairness, he also never said that coming to class would be the only way to gain full credit. He DID say that since attendance was not mandatory, he would count emails and office hour visits as participation. He never said anything along the lines of coming to class being weighted as more participation.</p>
<p>I do realize a syllabus is not a legally binding contract, but it is my understanding that if a professor makes any changes, they need to provide a revised syllabus. This has been my experience in other college classes. I am aware it is not legally binding, but I feel like there is some line that cannot be crossed there…or else professors could just change that syllabus constantly at their own discretion. Isn’t the point of a syllabus to make everything clear to students at the beginning of the semester?</p>
<p>Regardless, I will try to speak to him, and if that doesn’t get me anywhere, I will go to the head of the department. I don’t think I have anything to lose here. I don’t mean to sound like a bickering child. I am not one to complain about my grade generally. In fact, I don’t think I ever have till now. I just find what he did here a little tricky and deceitful. If he said attendance would not effect participation points, then he should honor that.</p>
<p>You won’t lose anything from talking to him and/or the head of the department (definitely him first though), but I have a feeling you might get a similar answer that you got here. Even if attendance wasn’t required, I’m sure they will still make the link between attendance and participation whether or not your were told emails were just as good.</p>
<p>Not true. They can orally announce a change to the syllabus. If you “hardly ever” went to class then it’s entirely possible that that type of change might’ve happened.</p>
<p>They don’t have to “provide” you with a new syllabus. Every time I’ve had a professor change something on the syllabus, they’ve just announced it in class, and recommended that we jot it down on the syllabus that we already have. </p>
<p>Pertaining to emails counting as “participation,” I find it basically impossible to believe that shooting a professor an email with a question is going to count for as many “participation” points as actually ATTENDING class, and PARTICIPATING in it.</p>
<p>Perhaps there was a type on the syllabus, and it was announced in class when you weren’t there. Perhaps the professor announced that the syllabus was getting modified, on a day that you weren’t there.</p>
<p>I really don’t understand why anyone would take a class and “almost never” show up.</p>
<p>Why do you need to understand? I did great in the class without attending. I am confused as to why a few of you are so hung up on that. Why does it matter? I’m not asking for your opinion on whether I should have gone to class or not. I learn better on my own; I’ve always been like that.</p>
<p>There was no “typo” in the syllabus. How could he make a typo of a whole paragraph. He very clearly said not coming to class would not negatively effect your participation grade. I have several friends in the class who I have spoken to (who attended every day); there were no changes made to the syllabus.</p>
<p>I do not care whether or not you went to class.
I do not care whether or not you got a B- or a B+ (or an F… whatever). </p>
<p>You asked questions. We are giving you possibilities. </p>
<p>I do not personally think you were graded unfairly, but it’s irrelevant what I think. It’s a subjective part of your grade and your prof seems to believe that you did not participate enough.</p>
<p>Also, I do not see where it is at ALL indicated in your OP that you are an undergrad and not a grad student. A grad student is not a “professor”. You made no indication that the grad student was the TA and you were an undergrad.
I also find it incredibly unbelievable that a TA or a professor would explicitly state that not coming to class would not affect a participation grade. I could see them saying that missing x number of days would not affect it.</p>