http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html?em
1. Is professor Grossman off the mark when he says “I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.” why?
Yes, I believe he is off the mark with this statement. Students who do everything that is required of them should receive an A. If that standard grade is a C, how are students supposed to know what to do to receive an A. For many students, such as myself, they are planning to apply to programs that don't accept a C GPA. If all of my teachers functioned on Grossman's philosophy I wouldn't be able to achieve my goals.
2. What do you think is causing students to feel entitled to receive a good grade? Is it because a grade of A is now the expected default for "average" work where in reality a grade of A denotes "above average"? Are the students prior experiences in high school or earlier the cause? Are parents to cause "my child is perfect so it must be the instructors fault"?
I think there is some entitlement that comes into play. Some students don't try very hard and are used to getting by in K-12. I believe some of it is play to expecting an A as an average grade. For most students, we understand that we must go above and beyond to receive an A. Students prior experiences definitely think high school or early has an impact on this expectation. There are students who worked really hard in grade school to receive A's and there are students who expected to be able to copy those that worked really hard's work and test and receive the same grade. Some parents can potentially be a factor in this. Many parents enable their children by blaming it on the teacher or not impressing the importance of schooling.
3. Give your honest opinion of the article. Do you feel you deserve grades based on your effort or is it that you earned the grade you receive because of your effort? Anything else you would like to add?
This article was very interesting. Grossman really frustrated me with his stance. I strongly agree with Greenwood's opinion that effort should be the measure because if you put in all you effort and receive a C, what else can you do?
1. Is professor Grossman off the mark when he says “I tell my classes that if they just do what they are supposed to do and meet the standard requirements, that they will earn a C,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.” why?
Yes, I believe he is off the mark with this statement. Students who do everything that is required of them should receive an A. If that standard grade is a C, how are students supposed to know what to do to receive an A. For many students, such as myself, they are planning to apply to programs that don't accept a C GPA. If all of my teachers functioned on Grossman's philosophy I wouldn't be able to achieve my goals.
2. What do you think is causing students to feel entitled to receive a good grade? Is it because a grade of A is now the expected default for "average" work where in reality a grade of A denotes "above average"? Are the students prior experiences in high school or earlier the cause? Are parents to cause "my child is perfect so it must be the instructors fault"?
I think there is some entitlement that comes into play. Some students don't try very hard and are used to getting by in K-12. I believe some of it is play to expecting an A as an average grade. For most students, we understand that we must go above and beyond to receive an A. Students prior experiences definitely think high school or early has an impact on this expectation. There are students who worked really hard in grade school to receive A's and there are students who expected to be able to copy those that worked really hard's work and test and receive the same grade. Some parents can potentially be a factor in this. Many parents enable their children by blaming it on the teacher or not impressing the importance of schooling.
3. Give your honest opinion of the article. Do you feel you deserve grades based on your effort or is it that you earned the grade you receive because of your effort? Anything else you would like to add?
This article was very interesting. Grossman really frustrated me with his stance. I strongly agree with Greenwood's opinion that effort should be the measure because if you put in all you effort and receive a C, what else can you do?
