The WORD Blog

So, I posted on Hunter-L last night. And am waiting on responses.

Date: Wed 18 Mar 22:04:39 EDT 2009
From: Gregg Morris <gmorris@hunter.cuny.edu>
Subject: So, what do students say about this New York Times story?
To: HUNTER-L <HUNTER-L@HUNTER.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>

I’m working on this project, code name for now, “The 4 Barnacles of the Apocalypse” (which may be amended to “The 4 Barnacles for the Apocalypse) – AKA T4BA – and I wonder what students think about the following from the NYT:  “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes”

Lead of Article: Prof. Marshall Grossman has come to expect complaints whenever he returns graded papers in his English classes at the University of Maryland.

Selected Quote: “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,” he said. “That is the default grade. They see the default grade as an A.”

The Big Question: Should I reconsider my default grade, B?
Do colleagues have default grades?
Does the College have a default department?
Default major?

Students can check out the Times article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html

One Last Excerpt – Fifth Graph: A recent study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that a third of students surveyed said that they expected B’s just for attending lectures, and 40 percent said they deserved a B for completing the required reading.

G Morris

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 2:12 pm and is filed under 30-40P, Journalism Education, News/Commentary/Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.