<p>I’m not saying he was overly critical or he or any other professor had a bad opinion about students at Carleton. It is just one of many interactions.</p>
<p>I think the concern was that in some of the non-major courses he taught and I graded, some of the students were wasting their time with activities that served no other purpose than to get a higher grade in the class. i.e. turning in a 5 page homework assignment that should be 2 pages for no other purpose than to make sure not a single point could be deducted from the homework assignment. These assignments were a pain to grade, and if a point were unnecessarily deducted, students would complain wasting even more time.</p>
<p>The specific way this prof. graded, a few points a homework assignment just wouldn’t make any difference. The difficulty was that not all profs at Carleton were like this. Like I said, I actually got a grade changed in a course, after it was awarded, by finding 0.2% of the class grade and arguing. It was in a pre-med course…not physics. This wasn’t my best experience at Carleton, but I don’t regret making an issue on the grade.</p>
<p>So I don’t blame Prof. B for being annoyed, I don’t blame the students (you can find 0.2% of a grade in homework). The issue is how do you handle pre-med courses when the students are working like crazy, smart, and competitive. Not all Carleton students who want to go medical school get to go…I mean most do…medical school admission is very difficult though. If Carleton didn’t grade harshly in pre-med courses, Carleton students wouldn’t perform in med school. It is difficult problem to deal with. It will likely be no different elsewhere. </p>