Of all people, you'd think professors would be able to think critically about what it means to "grade" someone.
The most-emailed article on nytimes.com right now is an article called "Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes." In it, professors complain about their students' overwhelming "sense of self-entitlement" that makes them unable to accept a C for a grade.
Professor Marshall Grossman of U. Maryland, whose class I am glad not to be taking, says this: "Many students come in with the conviction that they've worked hard and deserve a higher mark... 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... That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A."
Okay, buddy. First of all, I don't know if this is news to you, but you could do what most of my professors do and make the standard requirements be what students need to do to get an A. If your syllabus and assignments are so lack-luster that they don't get students to learn what you want them to learn and produce the high quality work you want to see, then change your requirements. Students are not mind-readers and they have other classes and lives and jobs and cannot devote extra time to going above and beyond the (probably) massive workload you've assigned them.
Second of all, where is the sensitivity to the oppressive number- and grade- obsessed system that students are unwillingly thrown into? All of our lives, we have been (and still are) in a world where NUMBERS count. Schools are obsessed with standardized test scores. Colleges were obsessed with our grades, ranks, and SATs. Grad schools will be obsessed with our grades, Latin honors, semesters on the Dean's list, and GREs. It never fucking ends. So yeah, students worry about their grades-- because having one asshole professor who gives you a C for meeting "the standard requirements" can have long-term fuck-up effects. And that's why I have a problem with calling students "self-entitled." I would say it's more like "surviving" in a world where you're nothing more than the numbers other people label you with.
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