[tips] Re: student sues over grade

[Marie Helweg-Larsen]

I bet we don't have all the facts in this case. Presumably the student has exhausted all internal mechanisms for grade complaints and those mechanisms did not find the complaint legitimate. Perhaps one fact that we don't have is that it said on the syllabus that "grades are assigned by relative standing in the class." So perhaps the top 10% got As, the next 20% Bs, etc. I don't see anything inherently capricious about giving a 84% score a C, IF the grading system is explained on the syllabus.The fact that grades in the 80%-90% range are often given Bs seems just arbitrary to me. On a really hard exam perhaps grades of 20-30% should be getting Bs. Marie Joan Warmbold wrote: This one could be interesting. Would a law school want to admit a student who sued over a grade? http://tinyurl.com/295g9v Joe If the facts as presented are accurate, then I feel the student has a very good case and hope it's given proper due. The assignment of the grade seems extremely capricious as quoted that 'a student with a 84% point average can be given a grade from an A- to a C depending on the opinion of the professor.' That's very odd and seemingly unfair. Also, this student was initially told he has a point average in the 90's but then the teaching assistant downsized the point average to 'more accurately portray the student learning.' That's just a mite vague. This is a "student" who is 50 years old and who has worked as a legal assistant so he know his rights. I would think any reasonably law school would grab him. Joan Joan Warmbold Boggs Professor of Psychology [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english -- ********************************************* Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 Office: (717) 245-1562, Fax: (717) 245-1971 Webpage: www.dickinson.edu/~helwegm ********************************************* --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english