Comments on: What is a grade?

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:51:20 +0000

In response to the first comment posted – there is a significant difference between a 79 and an 80. One is a B+, the other an A-. As both a student and a TA, I was told that giving a student a 79 was a strong message. This message was that the paper was good, but was just missing the smallest extra effort required for an A. I think that this distinction is extremely important. And there isn’t a single TA out there who hasn’t been taught to make this distinction, both as students and as markers. That’s how they made it into grad school and became TAs in the first place.

By: ABarlow

ABarlow — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:52:13 +0000

Michel, I think the problem is that, by and large, professors, markers, and TAs already overwhelmingly give students the benefit of the doubt on every single thing they mark. The instances of a marker or TA systematically undervaluing the work of the students is, to my mind, pretty small. TAs receive performance evaluations from their supervisors and students, and have to field complaints from students if their marking is problematic–on a pragmatic level, erring on the side of caution saves the TAs a lot of headache down the road.

The problem too, is that your argument cuts both ways. Maybe a student who received an 80 should have received a 79. Maybe that 51 should have really been a 49. Left alone, these should average out with the 79s that should be 80s, etc. but if professors systematically only increase scores in these situations, then what you end up with is grade inflation.

By: RobAnthony

RobAnthony — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:27:13 +0000

I’ve seen students who’ve wanted to boost their grade a little given the opportunity through an extra assignment, which seems pretty reasonable to me.

By: Michel Marion

Michel Marion — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:27:38 +0000

I did forget to mention that you did balance your argument a bit (“And while a professor may reasonably tweak a final grade if she feels the student’s arithmetical score does not precisely match her success in the course”).

And also you seem to imply that what is wrong, is the outright falsifying of a student’s grade by a professor.

But it’s important that professor do not take this to an extreme and show no mercy.

By: Michel Marion

Michel Marion — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:22:06 +0000

Good comment of the question of grading. I totally agree that many people see grade as a gift in return for their attendance in the class and supposedly active participation. Many of my fellow students at UofT often tell me that they never understand why they always get such low grades when their paper had everything the professor asked. Grades are often not seen as the grading of a paper or work per sei, but as a “gift” (as you mentioned), in return for basic requirements.

Yet I have to disagree on one point. You seem to imply that grades are always fair, and that if a professor gave a 79, well it is because the student deserved a 79 and not a 80. The problem with that is that it assumes that there is a very very specific meaning to each points between 60 and 100. Yet often it isnt so. A TA might give a certain grade to a student, not really seeing any difference between a 73 and a 76. One is simply closer to 70, the other to 80.

Grades are often subjective, particularly when it comes to correcting essays. There are ample cases of professor raising the marks of students who had a very tough TA that did not correct the essays following the professor’s directives.

Then, if a student happens to have gotten a 79 in a class, yet he needs 80 to keep a scholarship, I would definitely give him the one little point (giving that his story is true!). Because one point might have been lost for a very benign mistake during an exam. A wrong word or whatever might happen. “One point” should not determine a student’s access to a sport team, a scholarship, etc. It isn’t about giving a gift in this case, but rather understand that error might happen, and that thousands of dollars should not be lost just because of one little error or a TA’s random judgment.

Of course, things are different when the student is failing in any case, or he is asking for a jump from 60 to 85. Drawing the line is not easy, and your solution is probably the easiest. But some understanding is also necessary. By the way, I would probably not have failed her, but wouldn’t have given her a high grade either.