nontraditional

Yes, while there is the occasional burned out, frustrated professor, most of the time they'll talk to you about why you got a specific grade and how you can improve your performance. If you know who graded your paper and it wasn't the prof (TAs do a lot of grading in big lecture classes), I'd go talk to that person. Just make sure you've read any comments they've written on the paper already, and stress up front that you're *not* asking for a better grade (they will often assume that's why you're there because most of the people who show up to talk about something that has been graded and handed back want a better grade) but rather for help performing better in the future.

I TAd for awhile in introductory philosophy classes that satisfied distribution requirements, and there were a couple of students in each of those classes who had gotten As on papers up until then by basically recounting and explaining facts ("Descartes' methodological skepticism is ...") but got (what were for them) low grades on their first papers or essay tests because they had little experience with critical evaluation and hadn't included any. (Yeah, we did stress that up front, but it was a complete change for some students and I don't think they really absorbed it.) Some of those students got frustrated and stopped taking the class seriously. Others would show up in office hours to talk about what they needed to do to get an A on future assignments in this particular class, and there would be a huge improvement by the second written assignment. Those were some of the most rewarding students to teach -- and everyone on the teaching team agreed about that -- because they cared about learning. (Okay, some of them may have only cared about grades, but they saw learning as the way to get good grades and that was good enough.)

People who show up and say "I don't think this grade reflected the amount of time I spent on this paper. It took me 2 hours!" or "I'm an A student. All my other teachers always gave me As. Obviously you're grading too hard" or "I need at least an A- in this class or I'm going to lose my financial aid/my parents are going to be very upset/I won't have a good enough GPA for grad school" or (this is the one I most loathe) "My tuition pays your salary! I'm not paying for a B+!" are an entirely different matter. And there are more of them than you would think, especially if you're not friends with people like that.

As far as emailing to say you're going to be absent, it's the same thing. In large classes they probably won't notice unless you're already someone they know (because you're an awesome student, because you're disruptive, because they think you plagiarized your first paper, because on the first day you tripped and spilled Mountain Dew all over the stack of syllabi, etc.), but in smaller classes it's polite because they will notice. It will also give you a chance to make it clear that you're not blowing off their class because you'd rather sit outside and discuss "Veronica Mars" or because you're hung over from a party the night before, but rather have a good reason (which you can briefly state -- they don't need an attached video of you throwing up or anything).

But you'll want to make it clear that (a) you are not expecting them to give you notes or repeat the lecture to you in office hours (they'll expect you to get the notes from a classmate -- you're responsible for the material whether you're there or not (yes, I've had a student argue that the final was unfair because she'd missed most of November and December and in high school nobody expected her to know stuff that was discussed on days when she wasn't there), (b) you understand that the attendance and participation policies applies to you even if you tell them you won't be there (if it's something like being in the emergency room because you were hit by a car that morning and you really do think you should be excused you can ask if they need documentation and what documentation they need), and (c) you aren't making a habit of it.

When I am in class as a student, I do my work. I show up prepared. I show up on time. With the exception of one class in my first semester, I show up every day. I don't cheat. I don't try to manipulate or bully the prof into doing something I haven't earned. And most of the people with whom I have anything in common are the same way. So it doesn't seem to me as if there's much of that happening at all. But when I'm part of the teaching team, the people who lie, cheat, disrupt class, and make ridiculous demands are the ones who take up most of my outside-of-class time, and it starts to seem as if all students are like that. Or at least all students who are going to talk to me. I know it's not true, but I also know that I start cringing when a student approaches. That's not fair, but I think it's a fairly understandable response. When I was just starting out, and only had experience as a student, I got a lot of reactions that I thought were just weird. I understand those reactions now, and I try to head them off by making it clear that I'm there for an education, not for a charity grade.

Wow, that got long. I hope it's useful to you, though.

rocketman08

If there is an actual clear mistake in the grading (e.g. they added up the points wrong and gave you the wrong total or it's a multiple choice question and you had the right answer) then there's nothing wrong with seeking a correction. I wouldn't call that "grade-grubbing" per say.

True "grade-grubbing" though (e.g. whining and complaining over ever little point that gets taken off) is very much frowned upon. Remember, if you ask for a re-grade they could be just as likely to take MORE points off than give you some back.

If there's been an actual mistake then say something, but otherwise focus energy on learning from the mistake and not whining over a few lost points.

mcim

I've seen it happen before. Specificly one student in our class(we had a small class) who always did something of the sort. He argued with the professor about how his answer is at least partially correct and he should get more points etc from what I saw. He got points lots of times. But it should also be noted that everyone hated the kid and there was even a facebook club made that was just for people to join together so the world would know he was hated.

I personally never did any grade grubbing, although one semester I think I should have to have made the Dean's list at the end of the semester(one of my classes was highly subjective to opinion for scores, so I coulda grubbed around there, also another class I only screwed up one assignment but aced everything else, and another class I coulda poked around old exams and scrounged up a point or two to try to take myself up to an A).

OKgirl

I have some people in my classes that do that and it gets so annoying. NOTE TO EVERYONE: DO NOT BE THAT KID!

I really hate it when people try to argue about the grading of an essay--uh hello of course you think it is perfect or you wouldn't have turned it in!

mochamaven

Don't grade-grub in college unless circumstances are ridiculous! It's actually pretty annoying. The ONLY time I have ever asked for a second look at an assignment was when a TA took off a whole bunch of points on a problem set because it was in pencil and got smeared when it was in the stack with other problem sets. That was kind of ridiculous, so I went to the prof and got the (significant number of) points back.

I had a friend whose TA forgot to grade an entire problem on her test, and she realized this when she looked through the exam which was marked with a nice big C-. After she pointed out the mistake, she got a B+. Yeah. Lollll

So, if it's only a few points or there's no real absurd reason to ask for a regrade, don't do it. It's ok if it's a lot of points and/or you genuinely think that a professor/TA made a mistake.

BodaciousG

Let's not a make a science of this. If you feel that something was not graded fairly or correctly, speak with the professor (or TA). It's your GPA to lose, so go ahead. The worst they can say is "no."

cowgirlatheart

I had a professor in one large first year math class who told us not to email him if we weren't going to be there. His words: "You're adults. Either you come here and pay attention, or don't."

It is different if you have tests, assignments due, or if it's a small class where there is a participation grade. In all those cases, however, I go talk to the professor in office hours rather than sending an email. I think it's better when they see you put some effort into it!

tyke

It depends on the circumstances. My son got a D on a speech he gave in a Public Speaking course. He was upset and didn't understand why it was graded so harshly. I encouraged him to go talk to the professor and it turned out she wrote the wrong grade on his paper that outlined whether or not he met the criteria although she had recorded it correctly in her grade book.

Initially, she was defensive and asked why he was coming to her about his grade and said she gave him an A. When she saw his paper, she apologized. Poor kid. He was pretty traumatized, but then he was only 12 at the time.

tnguyen08

@nontraditional - thanks! yeah, it was very helpful! It's nice to see/ understand what's it's like in the TA's/Prof's view. Also, if any TA makes weird faces at me as I come forward, I'll know that it's not from me personally.

@tyke - just curious what grade was your 12 year old at the time of the story?

hikids

There is a difference between grade grubbing and checking for an error. Most will not have a problem if you believe there is a mistake of some sort. Simply trying to get a better grade on no basis will not be well regarded.