Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

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Maclowery
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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by Maclowery »

I skipped a really asinine amount of classes in college. One of the most criminally unattended classes was this theory of regional planning intro that was just shockingly lame. The final, which I showed up to for some odd reason (most of the classes my stupid late-teen self skipped so much of, I just didnt even bother with the final and accepted an F), was all essays. I left at least half of the paragraph-answer ones totally blank, as even my very-above average bullcrap creator wasn't able to vomit out a BS answer. The main essay was criminally devoid of content, but I tried to use lots of applicable vocabulary.

I swear, the professor had to have made a mistake, because I earned a C+ for the class, when my awful attendance, skipped papers, and ~25% final had to have given me a good 40 or 50 for the whole class. I felt guilty just looking at the report card.

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a_smith
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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by a_smith »

Maclowery wrote:
I swear, the professor had to have made a mistake, because I earned a C+ for the class, when my awful attendance, skipped papers, and ~25% final had to have given me a good 40 or 50 for the whole class. I felt guilty just looking at the report card.
Going with the thread title at least you knew what you didn't know, thus the prof thought you in your Socratic ignorance had learned enough.perhaps the prof didnt want to see your lazy ass in class again ;)

Mistakes are not unheard of. Usually I hear about any perceived slight error that is not in the student's favor (most of these are because students are bad at math).

Also, I have clicked the wrong button while filing grades at 2:00am at the end of the semester because I am out of my mind tired trying to comply with a grade filing deadline.

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sighyoung
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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by sighyoung »

a_smith wrote: Usually I hear about any perceived slight error that is not in the student's favor (most of these are because students are bad at math).
Amen to that. When I explain how I calculate my grades, for which I use simple percentages, the students look at me as if I'm a NASA rocket scientist.

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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by AdmiralKird »

sighyoung wrote:
a_smith wrote: Usually I hear about any perceived slight error that is not in the student's favor (most of these are because students are bad at math).
Amen to that. When I explain how I calculate my grades, for which I use simple percentages, the students look at me as if I'm a NASA rocket scientist.
It's the pocket protector.

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sighyoung
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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by sighyoung »

"Fire and Rites" (with apologies to Robert Frost)

Some say your grade will end in fire
Some say in rites.
Your writing skills are pretty dire:
I want to set your tests on fire.
But if I had to grade you twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say your grades deserve last rites:
That would be great
and would suffice.

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sighyoung
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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by sighyoung »

I actually had a student apologize to me the other day for failing my class. A nice guy, and normally an 'A' student. He didn't ask for a re-evaluation of the grade or anything. There wasn't anything I could do, anyway: he just stopped attending class mid-way through the semester, didn't turn in three major assignments, and failed in a couple of other areas. I don't know what was up, but I always tell students that they should contact me. I tell this to students every single semester. If he had needed an incomplete, I would have granted him one. It was strange to receive the e-mail, and I'm going to wait a day or so to respond.

In the meantime, I had two students who took incompletes from the Spring 2013 semester who disappeared off the face of the earth, didn't complete their work, and failed their classes. I don't understand that. How can you forget that you needed to complete some work? Half a day, and they would have gotten credit for the class. Or if they'd spoken to me and said they couldn't (or wouldn't) finish the work, I would have deducted points to see what grade they would get. These guys haven't made any effort to contact me at all in eight months. I'm going to let them make their own beds on this one.

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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by jim »

I'm always curious about this, but I also understand sigh if you don't want to answer. I taught at a CC for a couple of semesters, and I always was pretty strict with the A/B/C grades. Whatever the number was, you either got it or didn't (they did the -/+). But, for D's and F's I felt those grades were such a black mark that really the only real difference was whether they could at least get the 3 credit hours and move on, hopefully to a different major. If the effort was there, I would either coax them through a few labs to get the points or even just ignore the final grade and give them a D so they at least got the credit hours. I remember one guy who kind of did what you were describing with your student, just didn't complete the work etc... that I gave an F to.

I guess I'm curious if you ever do that. I was teaching a programming class where everything built on what you previously learned, so if you go buried early there was a point where there was no way out. I remember this one guy that I gave a D to, that's what happened. He just didn't get it, and just got behind, but he was trying.

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sighyoung
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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by sighyoung »

jim, I do try to accommodate effort like that. I often let students revise some work, give them lots of feedback, even meet with them or send them to the Writing Center. If they put in effort, they'll usually pass. I really do want them to get some college credit, but I also want them to give the old college try, as it were.

The vast majority of my 'F''s are for students who just walk away from the class. A surprising number just punt. The students who take incompletes and fail are another case, though. They really just needed to finish up some course, and they promise to do so. It's nothing onerous--an exam or paper, usually, maybe a bit more. If they completed the work, they'd usually get 'A's and 'B's. But they disappear into the wilds of North America, don't contact me at all, and the incomplete automatically lapses to an 'F'.' It's really irresponsible of them.

I remember one senior who called up the day of the exam and asked if she absolutely had to take the exam. I wondered if she were hung over, or was feeling an afterglow or something. The syllabus said to complete all the work to pass, but she had enough to squeeze by, so I gave her some kind of 'D.' Of course, she forfeited any kind of letter of recommendation, but I hope the pre-graduation party was fun, at least.

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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by cardsfansince82 »

sighyoung wrote: so I gave her some kind of 'D.'
If she had just asked for another kind of D, she might have ended up with an A. Stupid students indeed.

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Re: Stupid students who dont know they are stupid

Post by Radbird »

I was a stupid student who walked away. Spring semester of my junior year. Combined cases of mono & mumps knocked me out of commission for a while. Profs were very understanding, gave me the summer to finish classes. But then a devasting, complicated breakup with girlfriend and I chose to focus on my summer job and the LF bleachers at Busch II. Then I pretty much dropped out during the fall semester - lack of motivation and money. My dad got me a grunt job and I was on to the rest of my life which turned into jobs in finance and accounting which would never go anywhere without degree/credentials.

I knew incompletes eventually turned into Fs and I had a bunch of them so thoughts of going back and finishing were gone. Then I interviewed with a CPA for tax season. He said he would hire me permanently if I got back into school in an accounting program. I explained my situation expecting the worst. Instead he said "go ahead and apply and I will help with the admissions folks if you need it". When my transcripts arrived it turned out that all of my incompletes were still "I" not "F" (this was 4 years later). I asked what that meant and the registrar said "that means we disregard them and you're accepted."

So I was really, really, really lucky but still incredibly stupid.

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