<p>I am so confused and frustrated with the invisible line between students and teachers. I did not understand why one exam question was marked wrong because I thought that my reasoning was valid, so I tried to explain my reasons to the teacher, hoping that he could point out the flaws. But the teacher shunned me completely without even listening to my words by speaking a few comments that were a little sarcastic.
I did not expect him to change my score; all I wanted was to know why I did wrong so that I would not made the same mistake next time! I don't comprehend why we can argue with ETS for ambiguous questions but I couldn't express my opinions to the teacher. Did I do anything inappropriate? What do you guys do?</p>
<p>Teachers should definitely be responsible for explaining the solution to a problem after the exam has been graded, especially if the student believes he or she is in the right. What your teacher did is lazy and unprofessional.</p>
<p>As long as you were respectful when you asked him to explain the problem, the teacher is the one at fault here.</p>
<p>You sound like you’re mixing up “express your opinions” (which I think means, argue with the teacher) and “ask the teacher to point out [your] flaws” (ask the teacher to critique to your answer).</p>
<p>I can recreate the whole scenario truthfully.
I: Mr. <em>__, I don’t get Question #1. I felt that the answer is A because this sentence says blablabla (one word only).
Mr. </em>: But the blablabla (point to the sentence containing the word) is phrased as an exclamation.
I: But…
He cut me off right after and said something along the line of “you know what, you could argue with me but you would never get the mark.”</p>
<p>I don’t feel that I was acting disrespectfully since I did not raise my volume nor frown nor say something like “I think you are totally wrong” or “I am absolutely right”. And I only spoke for like 10 seconds. But he characterized it as “arguing” somehow. Then, what is the supposed “respectful” way? Should I start with “dear Mr. ___, sorry to interrupt you, I hope that you could point out the flaws of my reasoning?”</p>
<p>I really hope someone can help me. I really need to learn the art/strategy of communication to the teachers.</p>
<p>Teachers like to maintain the illusion that they are inherently more intelligent than their students. That’s all it is.</p>
<p>I don’t see the issue here…</p>
<p>You don’t expect the point back, you just want to find out why your answer was wrong. That’s exactly what “you know what, you could argue with me but you would never get the mark.” means. He was informing you that you’re not going to get the point, so that if the reason you wanted to discuss the question was solely for the point, to not bother. If it was because you were interested, continue.</p>
<p>If you are still interested, go back and continue to argue your point and find out their reply.</p>
<p>The only time I can recall anything ever like this happening, it was a lot of people in the class, during class (she handed them back and someone asked about it) who were all trying to argue the same point, and the teacher basically said that the answer was right because it was the one in the book and that there’s no discussion to be had (the test was copied straight out of a teachers edition of the book). Honestly, I don’t think she knew the answer (this was probably the single least intelligent teacher I’ve ever had… One of the laziest too… I would guess an affirmative action hire but that aside) but no one cared enough to push the issue too much.</p>
<p>So you think that I should have continued? Wouldn’t I have exasperated the teacher even more? I really don’t think that his remarks sounded “informative”.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know what tone or inflection he used. Maybe it’s he was trying to tell you to drop it, but I don’t think what you quoted indicated that on its own.</p>
<p>If he wasn’t being informative than either like you think, he just doesn’t care, or he doesn’t quite understand what you’re trying to say. You would obviously know better than me which, but if you think it was possible that he didn’t understand what you were saying, then go back and ask again. I feel like if he just didn’t care, then you would have seen that pattern by now and wouldn’t be surprised.</p>
<p>One piece of advice that is not directly related: Do not, ever, go above the teacher with something like this. Addressing the issue with another teacher, the dept chair, or the principal will only make it worse.</p>