How bad was favortism in your high school?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>This isn't so much of a problem in college because the classes are just so darn big, but I remember that in high school favortism among the teachers was really bad.</p>

<p>Our school is pretty stupid in that every teacher can check anyone's class rank, so by the end of my sophomore year the teachers know who the "smart kids" are. This isn't that bad in my objective grading courses (although a lot of times the teachers use the top10 GPA kids to set the curve), but in LA classes it was really bad. I remember someone who ranked in the top10 looking over my essay to "figure out what the prompt was asking for" and copied many parts of my paper shamelessly. I got an F and he got an A. This same teacher gave the class salutatorian consistent A's on his papers, when I don't even think his papers were that great.</p>

<p>I thought my HS was pretty awesome back then, but once I'm in college I'm starting to see how crappy it really was.</p>

<p>Discuss.</p>

2

<p>Something makes me think you're exaggerating...</p>

<p>Don't get me wrong, I think favoritism can definitely exist. However, I don't know any teacher who gives a damn whether or not a student is in the top 10. Teachers like the kids who make their job easier - the ones that do the best work in their class. </p>

<p>And even if teachers do tend to give their favorites high grades at a lower standard, this doesn't mean that they give every other student an F. No teacher would get away with that, nor would they want to. Do you think it looks good to the principal when a teacher gives out many F's? That's why grade INFLATION is such a problem.</p>

<p>By the way, saying you don't think another person's essays were that great doesn't mean much unless you've mastered your teacher's rubric.</p>

3

<p>Come on now, do you honestly thing you know more about my high school than I do?</p>

<p>My Spanish teacher absolutely loved the salutatorian, she always came up and talked to him and helped him during our group activities. We did a group project and he was in my group, and somehow he had the highest grade when we did an equal amount of work. It was ridiculous.</p>

<p>Okay, that is an isolated example, this teacher should have been fired anyways (everybody complained about her). But this kind of teacher preference occurs on a much more subtle level.</p>

<p>You are right- I might be exaggerating just a little bit. The differences in grading is on a more subtle level, 10 points being the maximum discrepancy. The example I gave did happen, but it was probably an outlier. But in a meritocratic academic institution, I don't think favoritism should occur at all. This goes beyond grades, from teachers always primping their students and bragging about their good students to other teachers. </p>

<p>A very brilliant kid in my sophomore LA class was doing poorly in the course. The teacher LOVED him. She called him after class in tears and said "he should have the highest grade in the course."</p>

<p>I was the favorite of both my sophomore year chem teacher and senior year economics teacher, one went so far as to call me her "star student" in front of everyone and I hated it. To me, favoritism in any academic environment is unprofessional.</p>

4

<p>I'm not saying favoritism is good, either. However, teachers are human and they're bound to be subjective at times. Calling students at home and crying because they didn't receive the highest grade is not normal, and might indicate something more than favoritism.</p>

<p>I'm just saying a little bit of favoritism shouldn't stop you form doing well in a course if you try your best.</p>

5

<p>I don't mind it. Well maybe thats because I am usually the one being favored..</p>

<p>j/k</p>

<p>well not really</p>

6

<p>On a serious note though, make your own way. My sophmore year I was not a top top kid, but second semester I worked hard and made myself one. Now after ending Junior year, I am one of the top kids and that is because I made it there first. Everyone who is there, started somewhere and you can too. Favoritism exists a little, but usually it is subtle and unconscious on the teachers part. If you are accustomed to good grades, teachers will usually give them to you. But in the same way you can always break out of the mold. So quit complaining and do it. BTW the difference between an F and A is not favoritism, you are exaggerating. The difference between a B/B+ and an A may be... I think you may need to take some responsibility for yourself and step up</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
Our school is pretty stupid in that every teacher can check anyone's class rank, so by the end of my sophomore year the teachers know who the "smart kids" are. This isn't that bad in my objective grading courses (although a lot of times the teachers use the top10 GPA kids to set the curve), but in LA classes it was really bad.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>This is different than favoritism. If a teacher knows a student's class rank, I'm sure we can all agree he/she is predisposed to thinking those students of high class rank are the "smart" students. It's just something one would assume, which is normal. I think this predisposition is wrong since it may lead to the teacher assuming one student's work is "better' than another's. Of course, this can be a double-edge sword if a teacher expects more from you and grades you with a higher standard since you are a "top student." </p>

<p>Anyway, is favoritism experienced in college as much?</p>

8

<p>"Anyway, is favoritism experienced in college as much?"</p>

<p>I believe favoritism definitely exists in college especially if the classes are small. I received first hand experience in some of my classes, mostly in my English classes. In my first semester, the teacher thought I did so well at the works cited page that she copied it and gave a copy to everyone in the class to use as a model. I hated the praise. She was like "because Lindsay did so well on the page" or something like that. Ehhh...I felt bad for everyone else. I didn't think mine was anything special. There was another time during the last semester where this kid in my other English class had his GPA drop to a 3.95(had a 4.0 before) because he got a B. He wrote an exact same paper for someone else and received an A. All in all, favoritism is going to be everywhere and you just have to deal with it unfortunately. That's life!</p>

9

<p>"There was another time during the last semester where this kid in my other English class had his GPA drop to a 3.95(had a 4.0 before) because he got a B. He wrote an exact same paper for someone else and received an A."</p>

<p>This sounds like a difference in professors' opinions, which is bound to happen in an English Department. If it had really been the exact same paper given to the same professor, I think it would have received an F for plagiarism. </p>

<p>And, even though your professor singled you out, I don't think your personal anecdote would qualify as favoritism. English professors like to share other student's works (that's actually how freshman seminars in composition are structured at my school). Chances are she actually like your works cited page the best (who knows, maybe you really were the only one in your small class to format it correctly).</p>

<p>As you can see, I don't believe favoritism happens very often in college. The most you have class is three times a week, so professors don't get to know you unless you really try. And even if they do like you, they don't let this affect their grading, which is often a lot more objective than in high school.</p>

10

<p>I think people are taking my post in the wrong way. I'm not THAT bitter over my high school teachers, all in all I think it was a decent experience and helped me mature for college.</p>

<p>But each time a teacher says something like "X kid is such a good student I wish everyone was like him" a little part of my heart drops, and I kind of lose respect for the teacher. My 10th grade social studies teacher was an excellent teacher that managed favortism the right way. He liked me and recommended me for an award because I always made jokes and participated in class. Yet, he never let it show in a way that would trade off with the experiences of other students in the class. I didn't get the highest grade in the course, I've even failed quite a few of his papers. My 10th grade spanish teacher was pretty cool, but when it was obvious that he had her favorites, I lost a lot of respect for her. My 11th grade spanish teacher was the same way, she was so notorious for loving certain people and giving them great recommendations/grades and picking on others.</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
There was another time during the last semester where this kid in my other English class had his GPA drop to a 3.95(had a 4.0 before) because he got a B. He wrote an exact same paper for someone else and received an A. All in all, favoritism is going to be everywhere and you just have to deal with it unfortunately.

[/quote]

I think that kid should've been grateful he wasn't caught for plagiarism/academic dishonesty. And, like chris07 pointed out, since it wasn't the same professor doing the grading, I wouldn't call it favoritism. (If it was the same professor, and he didn't realize it was the same paper, I think there would be bigger problems than favoritism.)</p>

<p>So far in college, I haven't experienced rampant favoritism from any of my professors. Favoritism obviously exists, but it's probably more subtle. For one thing, it's harder for professors to have preconceived notions of your abilities. If you're a history major taking an econ class for fun, even if you're the top student in your own department, that econ professor probably isn't going to know who you are, unless it's a really small school, and you've really got a reputation. In high school, teachers are much more likely to know who you are, so it's easier for them to know that X is ranked number one and loved by all the teachers who've had the privilege of teaching X.</p>

<p>And "favoritism" can be in the eye of the beholder. It's tempting to think that the kid who goes to office hours a lot and seems to be buddies with the professor is the favorite. And maybe this seems even more obvious when the kid gets good grades. But it's probably more likely that the kid earns his good grades (possibly because he uses office hours wisely, not because he's trying to worm his way into the professor's good graces), and the professor thinks the student asks good questions.</p>

<p>Obviously, favoritism should not be abused, and it goes both ways. Students shouldn't expect to get better grades because they're favored. Professors are allowed to have favorites, but flaunting favoritism isn't a good idea. Linsper23's professor may not actually favor her, but her comment in class might be construed as favoritism by other students and create bad classroom dynamics.</p>

<p>Lollybo, I get what you're saying. I think we all agree that favoritism should never be flaunted. I do think it's quite unprofessional for teachers to openly compare students to each other (especially within student earshot).</p>

12

<p>This is really off-topic, but your last post made me think about it: how do colleges rank their students?</p>

<p>I think they do, because I've read somewhere before that grad schools look for students in the such-and-such percentile of their class. But it just seems like a weird thing. When you put 5,000 students together, there are bound to be a lot of people getting the same grades, maybe even two or three semesters in a row. Then you have the kids who might be studying part-time as opposed to full-time. How do colleges deal with that?</p>

<p>And I agree with you, too, lollybo. Actually, I used to get kind of embarrassed when my professor called me by name in my class (one thing that is definitely different from high school - don't expect your professors to even try to learn your names, as long as you write it on your work most of them are happy). I think constantly singling out students, for whatever reason, is a bad practice in teaching.</p>

13

<p>Yup it exists in university.</p>

<p>One of my chem profs LOVED me and my group of friends. We would go to her office and get alot of help during her non-office hour time. She knew us by name and during her lectures she would ask us questions and call us by name. So second semester comes around and I guess she told the second semester prof about us because when we started the class he knew who we were. He would also go out of his way to help us.
That might not be what you consider favortism but I guess it close to your example.</p>

14

<p>Favoritism actually works against me...
In Economics, I have one of the highest test score averages, if not the highest, of my highschool's history (99.7% or so versus a class average of 60-70%). I'm in an IB program and as such my grades go from 1-7. Now, since my essays in Econ. are also good, the teacher is consistently on the lookout for small errors. If he finds any, he'll give me a 6.9 or 6.8, which makes little sense. I'm the only one who gets decimal-graded.</p>

15

<p>^ Wow, this board really is a center for braggarts.</p>

<p>Are you seriously going to complain about being .1 points away from the highest score?</p>

<p>Maybe your econ teacher is trying to teach you that nobody is perfect. I say he's doing you a favor by challenging you to do your very best, it'll help when you get to college. He's also doing us a favor by not giving you a 7 so he's not inflating your ego anymore than it already is.</p>

16

<p>Mine had a lot of favoritism, particularly with one teacher who pretty much controlled the school. It affected class ranks and whatnot. I hated it, especially since I was not part of the selected bunch.</p>

<p>Oh well, I'm doing the most successful in college.</p>

17

<p>i guess there's a lot of favoritism, but i don't think the teachers do it on purpose. the only instance this year that really bugged me was in my english class. when we wrote big papers, the teacher gave each student some time with her to discuss our thesis or whatever, but she always started on one side of the room. her "favorite" student sat over there, and always managed to take up at least 45 minutes with the teacher, leaving 15 minutes to cover about 20 students. </p>

<p>i know it wasn't the students fault, she really hated it, but i think it made everyone else's grade suffer. she always had high A's, something i think is hard to get in english, so she really didn't need so much extra help. i never got past an 89 and could have used the input on my papers. keeping in mind a 90 is an A-, i was kind of mad. so i killed the exam and got a 93. hah to her. i still like the teacher a lot though, and respect her. shes writing me a rec, so i guess she didn't hate me either.</p>

18

<p>how about anti-favoritism?</p>

<p>My bio teacher repeatedly grades harshly on my essays/FRQs since he thinks that every time i get below a 95, i'm not putting in my best effort :(</p>

19

<p>High School is the last thing on my mind after I graduated.</p>

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<p>It was horrible at my school..the kids who the teachers loved got to go on the school trip and the rest of us weren't even 'selected'.</p>