'I obviously submitted subpar work': College student proves professor wrong by following their own grading policy

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    Font - "If you don't want me to take advantage of your grading policy, then you shouldn't have had the policy"
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    Font - If you don't want me to take advantage of your grading policy, then you shouldn't have had the policy that you did. MOC Taking a class, the class is graded on 7 different projects of increasing difficulty then we have a final at the end. And your projects are worth 60% of your grade and final is worth 40%. The policy is they will drop the lowest project grade to calculate your grade.
  • 03
    Font - In the first 6 projects I got 5 perfect scores (100 out of 100) and my lowest grade was 85 out of 100 (this was the first project I had some mistakes which I learned from). The last project seemed particularly long and annoying and I'm quite busy with a lot of other things. I emailed the professor to clarify his grading policy and he tells me I still need to submit something otherwise the policy won't apply. So I submit my project, and my project is literally just the title of the project
  • 04
    Font - He tells me its him thats the project I'm submitting, get a really bad grade on this project I say that's fine. I looked at the grading rubric I should get 5 points. (we get 5 points for name/title). incomplete, I tell he tells me I'm going He tells me I'm abusing his grading policy, I tell him its his grading policy. He tells me he's not going drop my lowest grade and instead of having a 97.5% project grade I'll have a 84.2% project grade.
  • 05
    Font - I go to his department chair, I CC him, I highlight the part in the syllabus where it clearly states lowest project grade will be dropped, I also attach the email of him confirming this policy and clearly stating something needs to be submitted to be graded for the policy to qualify. The chair responds and says that the policy outlined in the syllabus needs to be the policy that's followed and therefore when it comes time to calculating my final grade he needs to drop my lowest project gr
  • 06
    Font - O I already thought about the final and how that might impact his grading of my final, but his final is going be multiple choice/auto graded final. The malicious part is I obviously submitted subpar work knowing that the work would get a bad grade but it wouldn't matter because that grade would be dropped. Professor tried to back out, but department chair told him he needs to honor his grading policy.
  • 07
    Font - A few reasons why I did this Had I done the final project I would probably spent 8-10 hours working on it. My project grade would have gone from 97.5% to 100% best case (assuming I got a 100% on it) and I would have had less time to prepare for my final. If those 8 hours I spent preparing for my final nets me an extra 10% on my final thats worth more then the max benefit of 2.5% I'd have gotten from doing my final project. Also that's assuming I'd have gotten 100% obviously anything bette
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    Font - real_crankopotamus. 8 hr. ago There's teachers who have this policy who are truly trying to help their students. I wonder what this guy was trying to do.
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    Font - redditadmindumb87 OP 8 hr. ago I sorta assumed they have it to help students and I see it two ways A student who struggled at the start, gets his lowest grade dropped And a student who did really well that decides not to do the last project to focus on finals.
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    Font - Machiavvelli3060 - 7 hr. ago My university tried to back out of an agreement they made with me. I beat them over the head with their own email, over and over. They didn't want me to transfer to a less expensive school and they were trying to keep me there.
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    Font - Interesting_Row_3238. 8 hr. ago "I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it" -Bill Gates
  • 12
    Font - O 61 film447 hr. ago I've been on both sides of this. As a student had a prof who broke the semester into 3 grades. Equal parts in each 1/3 of the semester. Roughly 5 week segments. He said he would drop the lowest. Also, attendance was tied to the grade. So I busted my rear and earned an A the first 2/3 of the semester. Then I ghosted the last third and didn't show up again. Emailed him and he said I was the first person to use the policy that way, but applauded my work.
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    Font - On the other side of the coin I'm currently a prof. I've had similar policies and actually encourage people to use them. I view them as a type of insurance policy students should be able to cash even of the don't need them. I've been told it encourages people to find shortcuts, but I don't view it that way.
  • 14
    Font - Also, bravo for emailing the chair. Trying to back out of a grading policy on the syllabus is a huge no no, and a first class ticket to being raked over the coals on an appeal. At my uni a prof who did this would instantly lose the appeal and might even face some uncomfortable discussions with administration.
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    Font - redditadmindumb87 OP . 7 hr. ago Doesnt what I did make your life slightly easier? If I dont submit my last project you obviously dont have to grade it
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    Font - Od 410 film445 hr. ago Oh absolutely it does. But often behind these policies is a degree of displaying power. For example, it is through the display of the profs grace that they help their struggling students. Big ol pat on the back for themselves and it makes them feel good. The agency in that dynamic is entirely with the instructor. However what you did was to take back that power and use it in a way that likely interrupts that dynamic. Probably not a surprise to anyone, but a lot of p

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