So, what do students think about this? The question to be posed sometime March 18 on Hunter-L, the College’s main listserv for general info and communication for the Hunter community, this being this New York Times article. The Big Question to be put to the students: Should I reconsider my default grade, B?
Excerpt – Lead: Prof. Marshall Grossman has come to expect complaints whenever he returns graded papers in his English classes at the University of Maryland.
Excerpt – Second Graph: “Many students come in with the conviction that they’ve worked hard and deserve a higher mark,†Professor Grossman said. “Some assert that they have never gotten a grade as low as this before.
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.
Excerpt – 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.â€
I wonder how many colleagues in and out of the Department of Film and Media Studies have default grades? I embraced default grading after I started my publish or perish imperative several years ago with the start up of the WORD.  [I wonder if the College has a default department? Could it be F/M?]
I wonder how many departments have the equivalent of The Four Barnacles of the Apocalypse in my department? The Four subvert the learning process for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with learning.
So, I’m getting a copy of the U of C study.
Tags: academic freedom, college grading, higher education, learning, New York Times