And it doesn't even concern me that students care only about their GPAs. I came to terms with the fact that many students care more about their grades than what they're learning a long time ago. What concerns me at this point is that 42 out of 76 students in a Dartmouth class are too stupid to realise that their grading scheme has changed and that by going to a couple of office hours they would be guaranteed an A in the class. These people are concerned enough about their GPAs to lodge complaints, but they're not concerned enough that they'll go to the two office hours necessary to get the professor to "like you" and get the grade that way? I don't understand how people can complain that they thought they were signing up for an easy class (even leaving aside the fact that reviews existed for the professor which said otherwise), but that the professor turned out to be arbitrary, and then lodge complaints about their grades. What is easier than going to two office hours?Exactly.
If all that matters for a course is that the professor likes you, then just get him to like you and shut the fuck up. How much easier could an A possibly be? Just normal class hours, two office hours to convince him that you're trying, and a passable composition? What classes are these people taking that are easier than this? How did these people get GPAs high enough that this class could bring them down in the first place, if they can't figure out when a teacher is being arbitrary and how to work that to their advantage? I always thought that people who were concerned with GPA would be experts at this, but I guess they're not.
Even if Appleton were playing favorites, it doesn't seem like he was doing it subjectively, if that makes sense. He liked you, as Connor pointed out, if you busted your balls. As long as there weren't students who truly did go all out and still got bad grades, he's still grading on a relatively objective, albeit arbitrary, rubric. But it's scary to me that factoring in effort would be considered by anyone to be arbitrary.
I wonder how many out of the 42 were Econ majors?
ReplyDeleteSoulless bastards. Give me one reason not to liquidate their department.
Not that this is related, but I also feel strongly that investment banking firms should be dissolved, so that frat douchebags have no easy way to get rich.
Who is going to pay for your education at Dartmouth if not for the econ alumni and investment bankers?
ReplyDeleteThose aren't teachers, artists, and musicians writing the $10K checks to the alumni fund every year.