Student's or Professor's Fault?

brillar
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:56:07 +0000

Hopefully, this professor knows how her own course works and she knows the patterns of how grades rise and fall. Maybe students typically begin this low and then rise later? Some tests are more difficult, and sometimes students do badly before they get used to the professor’s way of questioning/testing.

If you were one of the lower grades, then work harder and if you still do badly, then maybe it IS the professor’s fault.

If you were one of the higher grades, maybe the grades will get better next test, but you should just keep yours high.

However… Even if it is the professor’s fault, the students unfortunately still have bad grades. If the professor has tenure, there’s even less you can do about it. It stinks to be one of the students with a low grade because of bad teaching, but if you are, then do some independent studying if the professor isn’t teaching all that you can learn.

Edit: And maybe many professors wouldn’t consider those grades ‘bad.’ They might be bad for high school, but college grading is different and some teachers like the whole ‘bell curve’ thing.