Disputing Grades in the 21st Century

"If 30 is the new 20; is B the new C?"

It amazes me how we can be so accustomed to formal schooling. First there's Pre-K, followed by Kindergarten, 1st through 8th Grade (Elementary School), 9th-12th Grade (High School), and finally College (Undergraduate & Graduate). I can remember either an old mentor or some article I read referring to the school system as a bunch of bull crap. It was described as so, "They teach you how to jump through a set of hula-hoops until it becomes pretty easy and you won't need any assistance. After that is accomplished you move onto another set of hula-hoops, but this time the orientation and degree of difficulty is bit harder (i.e. the hula-hoop may be on fire or have 600 volts of electricity running through it). After learning how to do all this fancy stuff your let out into the real world and it doesn't take long to realize that everything you do has nothing to do with jumping through hula-hoops at all! What sense does that make? None at all. It's funny but that's how it is.

Random thought:
If I had children right now I would have them home schooled. Some may say, "Well they'll never learn how to get along with other people." My reply is, "That is only if you keep them sheltered." I wouldn't do that. They would still have more than enough time to explore the world, and their neighborhood and interact with children in the area. This is a whole other post though.

I digress...The point I'm really getting at is in reference to a recent NY Times article about students disputing grades in college, and with some saying that if they come to class as well as completing all the mandatory things asked of a professor they should receive nothing less than a "B"! That's crazy! That would make a grade of "B" the new "C". I'm a firm believer in getting what you deserve. What you put in is exactly what you get out. Attending every class, and speaking to the professor in-and-outside of class won't cut it either. It's all about understanding the concepts and furthering your knowledge.

The only time in college I ever had to dispute a grade was once. It was the end of my freshman year in college and while I was checking on my Spring Quarter grades before I was to head home I saw that for Calculus I received a grade of "D"! This was a total surprise because on all the exams I received nothing less than an "A" and quizzes nothing less than a "B". The funny thing is when I went to the professor's office and told him of the mistake he probably made, he said he's sure he didn't make a mistake, but he reviewed my marks and noticed that he forgot to put in my grade for the final exam, which was a large portion of your final grade, so if you missed it you would most likely receive a very low grade. When he entered my final exam score my grade shot right up to an "A".

Besides that, there were plenty of times when I received a "C" and knew that's what I deserved. There were certain classes I didn't like, so I may not have put in the same effort as I would have for a class I thoroughly enjoyed, and there were some classes that were extremely hard. This article let's me know that those lazy, entitlement seeking students that think the red carpet should be laid out for them all the time still walk amongst us.

Some people are perfectionists and can never receive anything lower than an "A" while others go with the flow and never let a grade define their knowledge in a given subject. Many of the greatest minds today were told you're not cut out for this field by someone once or twice within their lifetime, but they didn't listen to them or a grade. They kept it moving and worked harder and harder. This is just sad though.

Final Thought:

I agree with the closing remarks of a professor, who hopes that students of the future will go beyond just worrying about what grade they receive in a class and more of interest in their field of study. Can you blame though? We live in a society where being accepted to graduate schools and high paying jobs come with a requirement of a certain Grade Point Average (GPA). "Common sense" always beats out "book sense" (or book smarts). The two are like natural instinct versus conditioned instinct.

If you have time take a look at the article:
"Students Expectations"