Hi y’all,
I struggle with math a lot, and during my Precalculus course I had an extremely difficult time. Not only was my teacher unhelpful, I’m just naturally bad at math. For 1st semester I got an A by working hard and studying hard for the final.
For 2nd semester, the material was extremely hard, and I did not do well on the final at all. Despite studying, and asking him numerous questions, I got a 73, and it brought my grade to an 87. Everyone I know got a C on the final, and we created a student petition to ask him if he could possibly curve the final at all. We emailed him at around 10 o’ clock after he was putting the final touches on the grades, in hopes of convincing him. He hasn’t responded to the numerous emails of various students. We hoped he would curve it around 8-10 points, considering multiple students who had an A or a B+ in his class got a C on the final, it didn’t really sit well with a lot of my classmates and me. Many of us asked to come in to see our final, and he never responded to our emails.
I’m really bummed out just because I worked really hard in his class and getting the B+ really has been getting down my spirits lately. I don’t know, I worked so incredibly hard in his class, and I thought the petition could somehow convince him in any way possible.
Be honest with me, is it a lost cause? Should I just accept the fact, or keep fighting?
My friends and I just thought, considering AP teachers have an easy time making grade changes, the same could apply for him, and we thought that we could possibly convince him at the start of next year.
If any of you guys would consider helping it would really mean a lot:
https://www.change.org/p/our-math-teacher-to-our-math-teacher-please-curve-our-math-final
If it’s an important issue, you don’t introduce an issue to someone by emailing them a petition. You start off with a polite F2F discussion. And you certainly don’t email them at 10pm on the eve of releasing scores.
If I was your teacher, I would blow off your emails, too.
It’s also summer. If your school was like mine, our teachers would go on vacation the minute the post their last grades and didn’t come back until a week before school starts. If it were me, I wouldn’t be checking my email when I had no students to worry about - after all, you did earn the grade you did and your grade is finalized, you are no longer his student.
@GMTplus7 I meant 10 in the morning, my mistake!
A.m./p.m… makes no difference. You should have asked in person for something like that and asked nicely-- not served a petition. That really showed a sense of entitlement.
Classroom is not a democracy.
And the signatures of people not in your class really, REALLY don’t matter.
Unfortunately you’re not entitled to A’s no matter how hard you worked.
@GMTplus7 you’re completely right, and that was my mistake. Should I ask him to see my final at the beginning of next year, and possibly try to talk to him to gauge the averages of the final? I know it’s a little late, but many of my teachers in my school make grade changes easily, and you’re right, having a face to face would be a lot better. Even if I didn’t get a grade change, I’d like to see my final anyways. My friends emailed about the petition, but I emailed him just asking if I could see my final, and he didn’t respond. I did talk with him after my final about possibly curving it, because the difficulty level made me nervous, and he said he would think about it. Im not sure he remembered many students’ request for the curve, because 30+ students I know got a C or lower, and considering in my class there are about ~70 people, the people in my classes who got a C on the final had a grade range of a B+ - A; however, the overall majority grade of my classes was C (he showed us on the projector). I’m assuming many didn’t do well.
I strongly recommend you just let it go. This is a good life lesson to learn now as not everything will go your way.
I think it is hard to justify asking for an A primarily because most of the class got C’s! No one will ever consider you in a negative light due to this grade. Even if they did you could always say that
you got a much higher grade than
the vast majority of the class. You also don’t need to see your final. Relax and enjoy your summer.
Next year, if you have an overly hard class and/or a bad teacher, just work
a bit harder so you don’t get caught out again.
Honestly, just let it go. A B+ is not a bad grade, in anyone’s book- sure, everyone wants an A, but colleges aren’t going to destroy you over this one B+. Don’t stress out over it- focus on your upcoming school year, and prepare for those classes instead of dwelling in the past.