My grade

     "For such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves: For they see their own wit at hand, and other men's at a distance."

—Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan)

Know your rights

     What are today’s college students like?
     Well, some of them are quite nice actually. Some are smart, eager to learn, willing to be corrected, etc.
     But more and more students are like Joe Claim, the inexplicably self-entitled college student.
     I teach, and I really don’t know what to do with his kind beyond failing 'em.

     I got an email from Joe today. It concerned his last “writing assignment” grade. Essentially, a student’s grade in my Intro course is based on three tests and four writing assignments. The writing assignments usually ask students to explain something central to a lecture. Students typically have a week or two for the assignment. Scoring is simple: if a student makes any effort at all, he or she gets 1 point. Only excellent work gets 2 points.
     There are 8 points possible (i.e., 4 x 2). Students must achieve 3 out of the 8 points to pass the course. Easy.
     But some students—more than you might imagine—inevitably bring themselves to the brink of disaster; and then disaster occurs.
     Take Joe Claim.
     The subject of his email was “my grade.” He wrote:

Hi im [Joe Claim] in your friday class and i got a 0 on assignment 4 and really thought i deserved a better grade. i really need at least the point to get the three points needed to pass the class. [That’s exactly how he wrote it.]

     I wrote him back:

You think you deserve a better grade on #4? But you got each of the ten questions wrong, right? On what basis, then, do you deserve a better grade?

     He hasn’t responded yet.
     You’ve gotta love that Joe. He got 1 point on his first assignment and 1 point on his third. He simply ignored the second assignment.
     And so, being Joe, he went into the home stretch with 2 of the 3 points he needed to pass the course.
     You’d think he’d make damned sure that he nailed that last one, boy. But no.
     For assignment #4, I gave students a break. Instead of asking them to write (which is always like pulling teeth), I gave them a simple 10-question multiple-choice quiz designed to review the course material for the final. I was careful to ask clear and straight-forward questions. I told ‘em that, if they get 4 out of 10 right, they get 1 point. And if they get 7 out of 10 right, they get 2 points. They had over a week to work on this.
     A total piece of cake.
     Naturally, lots of students got scores of 7, 8, 9, and even 10. Two points!
     The questions weren’t hard at all. For instance, one question concerned the meaning of the adjective “a priori.” Our Joe chose the answer according to which an “a priori” belief “is the very first belief that one has.”
     Well no.
     Another question concerned Thomas Hobbes’ political writings. We had gone over two chapters of Leviathan in class, line by line. The question asked how Hobbes characterized people in the “state of nature” (i.e., in the anarchic condition before government is instituted). Hobbes wrote that people are confident in their abilities and are thus willing to compete with others for scarce resources. (This is one of three sources of conflict in the state of nature, said Hobbes.)
     But Joe got that all wrong. According to Joe, for Hobbes, people are “intimidated” by “virtually everyone.”
     That was the pattern in Joe’s answers. If there was a way to pick the opposite of the right answer, Joe always found it. So if ever a student deserved to fail a course, it’s Joe. He has no one to blame but himself.
     But Joe doesn’t see it that way. He got each of the ten questions wrong—on a simple quiz that he had over a week to take. He’s not arguing that there was a scoring snafu. He’s not arguing that my questions were unfair or confusing or erroneous. (Well, maybe he’ll surprise me.)
     Nevertheless, he informs me that he “deserve[s] a better grade.”
     There are many Joe Claims in America’s colleges and universities.
     Heck, maybe you're one of 'em.

     "For every man looketh that his companion should value him, at the same rate he sets upon himself: and upon all signs of contempt, or undervaluing, naturally endeavours, as far as he dares …, to extort a greater value from his contemners, by damage; and from others, by the example."

—Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan)