Can the Proff do this ?

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OMGitsME

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I took a summer class and the proff out lined in the syllabus how he is going to grade us, how many points needed for an A, B, C ,D grade.

Now when he graded he changed his method, the division of points, and how much it takes to get an A, B, C, D.

Here is the problem, I am aware that that a proff has the ability to to change his/her grading method however it must be updated on the syllabus, and obviously it must be done prior to the final exam.

My proff, has never updated the syllabus telling us of this about his new grading method, now I noticed that mistake and I am pointing it out to him, yet he claims he announced to the class orally that he changed the grading, no one i know seems to be aware of the new grading he has used, and also the fact remains he has no prof that he informed us of the new grading system.

I am going to the dept head, about this issue, and then the dean.
Has this happened to anyone ever ? And are the proff allowed to grade however the hell they want, regardless of how they tell us they are going to ?It just seems so unfair.

Edit: I didnt blow up on the prof, i did get loud with him, if i did something wrong it was to walk out saying "you need to learn how to run a class", i said it as i left, whether he heard me i dont know. Honestly i treated him with the utmost respect till the last day i talked to him, i lost it all for him. I have been nothing but nice and respectful to him, and i get treated with crap, and even then i was still respectful.
 
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OMGitsME said:
I took a summer class and the proff out lined in the syllabus how he is going to grade us, how many points needed for an A, B, C ,D grade.

Now when he graded he changed his method, the division of points, and how much it takes to get an A, B, C, D.

Here is the problem, I am aware that that a proff has the ability to to change his/her grading method however it must be updated on the syllabus, and obviously it must be done prior to the final exam.

My proff, has never updated the syllabus telling us of this about his new grading method, now I noticed that mistake and I am pointing it out to him, yet he claims he announced to the class orally that he changed the grading, no one i know seems to be aware of the new grading he has used, and also the fact remains he has no prof that he informed us of the new grading system.

I am going to the dept head, about this issue, and then the dean.
Has this happened to anyone ever ? And are the proff allowed to grade however the hell they want, regardless of how they tell us they are going to ?It just seems so unfair.
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I think if it's stated in the syllabus that the grading scale is subject to change, or blah blah @ the professor's discretion, then you have no case.

But, a syllabus is like a binding contract. And if he's made the mistake not to have the "this syllabus may change" lingo in there, then you've got a hell of a case.
 
Bring a friend or 2 when you talk to the dept. head so that you don't seem like you're lying.
 
Another point,

Did your grade improve or decline? If you're doing better because of it, and you're just pissed that 5 more people are going to get an A, I wouldn't reccommend it.

If the teacher decided he made the class too easy, and you went from an A to a B, then yes, be pissed.
 
Pons Asinorum said:
The attitude contained in that sentence is going to get you into trouble of your own making. Best of luck if you plan on taking classes in that professors department again.
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lol lucky for me this proff doesn't normally teach at my school, only in the summer he was asked to teach bc of the sheer amount of students taking g.chem, so they had to get a second proff.

@jm192,
When i spoke to the proff, i told him just that, the syllabus is a binding agreement, i am fully awake he can change it yet he has to inform the students via updating the syllabus.
He response was " i have said it class near 3 times, how i am going to grade.."
However my point about his "claim" in class has no validity to it, its just a claim with no proff.

@rxlea
on the exams, i scored above class avg for all of them, yet the avgs were low and the proff says their wasnt a curve bc of the final. so no curve.

@serenade
when i went to speak to the chem proff, i went with a group of 8 students.
it got to the point where he didnt email us back, and when he does email us, its 4 days late with a time that is impossible to meet at (during o.chem lec)
we got fed up, and saw him teaching a class, walked in the back, waited for it to be over, and then told him to give us a legit appointment.

the most recent time i spoke to him, my other friends had class, and only 1 other person came with me, least to say the convo didnt go to well, he was being stubborn and was contradicting him self.

@jm192
sadly its the second of the two, i went in the final based of my exam scores and the way the grading works and point distribution, that i would get get a WAY higher grade than i received. I got a grade lower than i should have, too low to be acceptable.

you guys think i have a valid case ? to get graded the way i was told i would on the syllabus
 
You may want to simmer a down a little before rushing off to the dept head and dean. Like someone else said, if in the syllabus it says that the grading scale is subject to change then you have absolutely no case to present. I don't know about the rules at your school but if profs are supposed to notify the class of grading changes before the final and you have the majority of the class agreeing that he did not announce this then you may have a case. We can't really help you more than that since we don't know the whole story of why he changed it or how he changed it.

Edit: Is it mandatory for all students to attend lecture? If not, then if he announced it in class and didn't send, for example, an e-mail to everyone in the class, I would think it isn't right for him to grade differently than is stated in the syllabus.
 
jm192 said:
But, a syllabus is like a binding contract. And if he's made the mistake not to have the "this syllabus may change" lingo in there, then you've got a hell of a case.
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Pretty much.

My undergrad pretty much has it is that what's in the syllabus is as is. No changes are "supposed" to be made unless there is a class-wide agreement (nearly impossible) about the changes (i.e. exam changes, grading changes, etc.)

In fact one year, I had an instructor who fell ill a quarter into the semester. The replacement instructor for the rest of the quarter didn't like the way the course was outline as far as assignments. We agreed to drop the assignments from the course, but he couldn't add any additional assignments since they weren't outlined in the syllabus from the get-go. Essentially we ended up only doing two papers (me just 1) for the entire course.

But yeah, I think you could have a legit case if it's not outline in the syllabus that he reserves the right to change the grading policy.
 
AutumnChild said:
You may want to simmer a down a little before rushing off to the dept head and dean. Like someone else said, if in the syllabus it says that the grading scale is subject to change then you have absolutely no case to present. I don't know about the rules at your school but if profs are supposed to notify the class of grading changes before the final and you have the majority of the class agreeing that he did not announce this then you may have a case. We can't really help you more than that since we don't know the whole story of why he changed it or how he changed it.

Edit: Is it mandatory for all students to attend lecture? If not, then if he announced it in class and didn't send, for example, an e-mail to everyone in the class, I would think it isn't right for him to grade differently than is stated in the syllabus.
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i tried keeping a cool head as i talked to the proff, the last time i did. I didnt loose my cool till the end, and event then i dont think i did anything wrong, all i said to him was that he needs to learn how to grade and run a class before going to his next class, and i walked out on him.

And when i do speak to the dept head/dean lol yea i am going to speak very calmly and make a case, no yelling, no sarcasm, js pure facts. Of course i am going to not sound like a pissed of student who has bene trying to get an appt with a proff since Aug, and is having to deal with a summer class grade at the end of sept.

I am not sure you know what iclickers are ? its a device that has a,b,c,d,e on it and allows for the proff to put a question on screen and if you answer you get an X amount of points toward your grade, that is how he took attendance.

Here is a flaw in the proffs statement, we did have a few things shifted on our syllabus, but the proff ADjusted it and told us, he aslo changed the due date for certain hws and mass emailed the the class. He failed to do so for his new grading system.
 
you are a student. you have no rights. you are just pissed off that you got a bad grade. study more next time!
 
You do realize there's only one "f" in professor right?
 
km11, you beat me to it.

You sound like a whiney butt. Assume that every professor can and will do whatever they want to. Be one of the top students in each class you take and it won't happen to you again.

If this problem happened in an English class, you deserve the lower grade, trust me.
 
Musclemass said:
km11, you beat me to it.

You sound like a whiney butt. Assume that every professor can and will do whatever they want to. Be one of the top students in each class you take and it won't happen to you again.

If this problem happened in an English class, you deserve the lower grade, trust me.
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That's really not fair in a broad spectrum though. If you end up with a 90 something, and the professor decides to give A's retrospectively to only 92+:

A. Maybe he slacked just a hair because, hey, you only need a 90, not a 92.
B. Those 30 A's from the same class in another school all got a 90, which is an A, like they were told. You may have worked just as hard as those people, scored just as well as those people, but by God, your professor only wanted the top 10% to get an A, tough S-H-I....something.

I don't normally support whining. But, seriously, Syllabus=a contract. Both sides are bound to it. If you don't like your end of it as a student, you can NOT take the class. You can't change it. By staying in the course, you've agreed to it. The professor just up and gets to change it at his whim? HELL NO!
 
How about you give us more details on how he changed the policy, and what he claims his rationale is?
 
where do you guys go to school where a syllabus is a binding contract. where i go students get no rights.

and even if what you are saying is true, talking to the dean is telling him he made a mistake by hiring a liar. it is your word and against his and he is a professor. you are wasting your time and crying about something stupid. just get over it.
 
A lot of you are quick to jump on his/her case about not getting a higher grade. It actually doesn't matter. What matters is that the rules of the game were changed mid-way without notice until you realize that when the final score came around. You can't expect the game to be fair anymore.

I've had 2 experiences with this: In one experience, I asked the professor. He wouldn't say anything, so I went to the dept head. Within a day or two I was accused of plagiarism by the professor. What was his excuse? He said that instead of using the exact address like address.com/folder/this.html, I only used the address.com/folder/ where it was an index. The school was backing him up hardcore even when the syllabus said nothing about being precise and he had told me in class that it was okay to source the way I did. Luckily I graduated before anything happened and all record of the incident was destroyed.

The second experience I got a lower grade I messaged the professor and he changed my grade immediately. Yes, I was mad at first, but I had to act extra humble about it. I said "professor. How are you? I hope your summer is going good. I'm sorry to bother you, but I feel surprised my grade was lower. Calculating for the grade, I only needed a C in the final to get an A. I would be very surprised if I got a lower grade. Could you please help me in confirming my grade? Maybe it was just a technical error."

Bottom line is, if you want to fight this, the school will back up their own. Try the humble cake and hope for the best. If he doesn't respond, just let it go.
 
I usually don't support whining, but this seems like a legitimate case. If the prof changed what was listed in the syllabus, you have a case. Don't do what the previous poster suggested and bring friends in when you appeal your grade. Go in alone, state your case and be done with it. Bringing in a mob of 8 guys will make it much less likely that the dept. chair will listen to your case.
 
FrkyBgStok said:
where do you guys go to school where a syllabus is a binding contract. where i go students get no rights.

and even if what you are saying is true, talking to the dean is telling him he made a mistake by hiring a liar. it is your word and against his and he is a professor. you are wasting your time and crying about something stupid. just get over it.
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I think this actually holds at the majority of Universities. There has to be some degree of student rights. Professors can't just change policies left and right. I'm under the impression we're talking about the A-B border. But, a change in grading can affect the pass/fail border, or the C-D border, which may be the difference in moving to the next class. Now, you don't want your English Lit professors changing the grading so that a kid that can't read passes. But you can't really take a kid that's barely passing and decide, oh he's not far enough above passing, I'm gonna go ahead and just fail him. The guy with the A deserves the same right.

And, no, you're not telling the head of the department they hired a liar. You're telling them you're getting the shaft. It's his/her job to make sure the students get a fair/quality education.
 
jm192 said:
Another point,

Did your grade improve or decline? If you're doing better because of it, and you're just pissed that 5 more people are going to get an A, I wouldn't reccommend it.

If the teacher decided he made the class too easy, and you went from an A to a B, then yes, be pissed.
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What? I doubt the OP is going to complain if his grade went up!!??
 
You might actually have a case here, but a calm, cool presentation is half the battle. It seems that you have already crossed over into Hulk Smash mode in front of a faculty member. Under no circumstance will that work in your favor. If this is a legit issue, good luck with it, but you need to calm a bit.

Also, beware in the future of profs that have a syllabus that states "grades are given at the professors discretion." I had one of those. 1 A per class, no exceptions. Profs are a kingdom all their own. 😉
 
I swear there was a thread earlier this summer that sounded just like this started by a lawnontrad girl complaining about syllabi issues also. Personally, unless it was an egregious error that really affected you I wouldn't recommend making a big deal like you're doing now. You will get the reputation as the whiny brat that all the professors will hear about and look out for. It's not exactly a reputation you want especially when a single B will have a minuscule effect on your overall GPA after 3-4 years. Not knowing the full story, I"m hesitant to say one way or another but I would drop the issue.
 
slowbutsteady said:
What? I doubt the OP is going to complain if his grade went up!!??
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Not complaining that HIS grade went up, but everyone else's. I got the only A in the class, now you want to give 3 more people an A because you realize your tests were too hard?!?! How DARE you!!!
 
i guess i should js tell my grade so that way it makes you guys understand a little better.

I got a C+ in the class,
I should have at least received a B (at the very least), with my current points and the CORRECT syllabus, i believe i should be able to get a B+.

I might have gotten mad at the prof, but please understand that after about 9 differ meetings the prof refuses to listen and to meet, and when he does, he is so stubborn.

I dont want everyone here to think i am pissed all the time, lol i am keeping a cool head, and i will also when i talk to the dept head.

(lol i typed alot of the replies from my iPhone, and idk why the iPhone keeps adding an extra f at the end of prof, maybe its cause i spelled proff like that once...hm)

edit: you guys have to remember the prof doesnt attend my college normally, ONLY for the summer, so when I make an appt with the prof, and he doesnt show up, or he keeps me waiting an extra hour i believe i have a right to go a little "hulk smash" on him. (i wont go hulk on the dept head or dean, lol i am not trying eff over my future)
 
OMGitsME said:
i guess i should js tell my grade so that way it makes you guys understand a little better.

I got a C+ in the class,
I should have at least received a B (at the very least), with my current points and the CORRECT syllabus, i believe i should be able to get a B+.

I might have gotten mad at the prof, but please understand that after about 9 differ meetings the prof refuses to listen and to meet, and when he does, he is so stubborn.

I dont want everyone here to think i am pissed all the time, lol i am keeping a cool head, and i will also when i talk to the dept head.

(lol i typed alot of the replies from my iPhone, and idk why the iPhone keeps adding an extra f at the end of prof, maybe its cause i spelled proff like that once...hm)

edit: you guys have to remember the prof doesnt attend my college normally, ONLY for the summer, so when I make an appt with the prof, and he doesnt show up, or he keeps me waiting an extra hour i believe i have a right to go a little "hulk smash" on him. (i wont go hulk on the dept head or dean, lol i am not trying eff over my future)
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By listen do you mean acquiesce?
 
Study harder next time. Don't complain. You got the grade you did because you missed a certain percentage of the answers not because he changed the grading scale. No matter how the class is graded, the way to do better never ever changes. Don't miss as many questions next time. You have no case. Go study instead of trolling forums.
 
🤣 🤣 When you get into professional school, lots of things won't be fair... just sayin'. Might as well get used to it 👍 It isn't the end of the world, d00d.
 
OMGitsME said:
i guess i should js tell my grade so that way it makes you guys understand a little better.

I got a C+ in the class,
I should have at least received a B (at the very least), with my current points and the CORRECT syllabus, i believe i should be able to get a B+.

I might have gotten mad at the prof, but please understand that after about 9 differ meetings the prof refuses to listen and to meet, and when he does, he is so stubborn.

I dont want everyone here to think i am pissed all the time, lol i am keeping a cool head, and i will also when i talk to the dept head.

(lol i typed alot of the replies from my iPhone, and idk why the iPhone keeps adding an extra f at the end of prof, maybe its cause i spelled proff like that once...hm)

edit: you guys have to remember the prof doesnt attend my college normally, ONLY for the summer, so when I make an appt with the prof, and he doesnt show up, or he keeps me waiting an extra hour i believe i have a right to go a little "hulk smash" on him. (i wont go hulk on the dept head or dean, lol i am not trying eff over my future)
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So you're telling us you did average to below average and don't appreciate it that the prof expects more than that for a B. Then you went "hulk" on the person in charge of your grade? I would have reported you to our freshmen remediation staff right after that discussion for a meeting with them about academic performance as well as conflict resolution. I would have also let the course director for that course know about your behavior.

My guess would be that if you've been rude to your prof like that as many as 9 times, the chair is already well-aware of the situation. Most likely the prof sent an email his way on the 3rd or 4th meeting and you've been sort of on silent probation with the dept ever since. Blowing up at a faculty member (regardless of position) is a big deal. Even as a lecturer, if I pass onto the chair that a certain student is giving me a hard time, it will be dealt with accordingly by the dept., and it's quite unlikely the chair (or dean) would "overrule" my decision. If anything, they might refer it onto student life for disciplinary action and/or remediation for the student (if there were anything appropriate for their consideration).
 
Next time you should just score well above average (1 std or more) so that even if your prof does change the grading scheme, your grade is still solid. I think this is what most pre-meds tend to do.
 
OMGitsME said:
I took a summer class and the proff out lined in the syllabus how he is going to grade us, how many points needed for an A, B, C ,D grade.

Now when he graded he changed his method, the division of points, and how much it takes to get an A, B, C, D.

Here is the problem, I am aware that that a proff has the ability to to change his/her grading method however it must be updated on the syllabus, and obviously it must be done prior to the final exam.

My proff, has never updated the syllabus telling us of this about his new grading method, now I noticed that mistake and I am pointing it out to him, yet he claims he announced to the class orally that he changed the grading, no one i know seems to be aware of the new grading he has used, and also the fact remains he has no prof that he informed us of the new grading system.

I am going to the dept head, about this issue, and then the dean.
Has this happened to anyone ever ? And are the proff allowed to grade however the hell they want, regardless of how they tell us they are going to ?It just seems so unfair.
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If I were you I would go to the President, I think Obama would be very interested in your situation.

So is life, get used to it.
 
apumic said:
So you're telling us you did average to below average and don't appreciate it that the prof expects more than that for a B. Then you went "hulk" on the person in charge of your grade? I would have reported you to our freshmen remediation staff right after that discussion for a meeting with them about academic performance as well as conflict resolution. I would have also let the course director for that course know about your behavior.

My guess would be that if you've been rude to your prof like that as many as 9 times, the chair is already well-aware of the situation. Most likely the prof sent an email his way on the 3rd or 4th meeting and you've been sort of on silent probation with the dept ever since. Blowing up at a faculty member (regardless of position) is a big deal. Even as a lecturer, if I pass onto the chair that a certain student is giving me a hard time, it will be dealt with accordingly by the dept., and it's quite unlikely the chair (or dean) would "overrule" my decision. If anything, they might refer it onto student life for disciplinary action and/or remediation for the student (if there were anything appropriate for their consideration).
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maybe i wrote it in an un-clear fashion, i really didnt get "hulk" like, what i should have said i lost the cool in my voice, and i got louder. THIS HAPPENED ONLY ONCE, not 9 times, i have made 9 appts with him and i am not sure how many other ppl react to being treated unprofessonly but i am not wrong in getting mad him.

As far as i know he has not contacted the dept head, however another girl i know that took the class has, i am not sure if she brought up the same points as i have, but she did.

I believe i am right in my case bc, i go into the final with an appox of how many points i need to get for a certain grade and if he changes the rules, after the final its just unfair. Other classes i have taken, have a syllabus that leaves the prof with enough room to change the grading. However the way the prof has set up the syllabus he locked him self into a system of grading that i followed to the last dot.

(LOL here is the kicker, i rechecked the syllabus and he doesnt even mention "i have the discretion to change the syllabus anytime i want" )

Edit- @Playa
if your talking about life, then what you write on paper is legitimate, its a contract of a sort. and you have to follow it.

@hiyaman
thanks, ill trying that next time...
 
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Don't listen to all the naysayers in this thread. Get the grade you are supposed to get. Don't ever allow anyone to trample over your GPA on a whim, especially if he didn't take the proper steps. Look through your school's website, there should be some official process for correcting grades.
 
Often you can skip going to department heads and such by going to the Dean of Student Affairs. It's their job to deal with this kind of stuff. It just takes persistence and you'll get what you want. That syllabus is a binding contract and the prof darn well knows it.

I had a problem where an advisor told me that I could take Calc II and Chem II first semester and get retroactive credit for Calc I and Chem I. I got to the end and the math dept. was no problem, but the Chem dept. said that they changed that rule. At that point, I didn't know that what an advisor said was also in the "binding contract" category. My RA told me who to go to and after showing up at the chem dept. every friday with another student, we got what we wanted.

Now, you can call me or the OP what you want, but it's ok to be right and to hold people to their end of the bargain. It's not like his prof is gonna suffer to bad by sticking to his written syllabus. It's not hurting anyone...so like the last poster said...don't let anyone jack with your GPA. You got the amount of questions right to accomplish your "A" according to the syllabus...now's he's gonna give you that "A".
 
bassvp said:
I had a problem where an advisor told me that I could take Calc II and Chem II first semester and get retroactive credit for Calc I and Chem I. I got to the end and the math dept. was no problem, but the Chem dept. said that they changed that rule. At that point, I didn't know that what an advisor said was also in the "binding contract" category. My RA told me who to go to and after showing up at the chem dept. every friday with another student, we got what we wanted.

Now, you can call me or the OP what you want, but it's ok to be right and to hold people to their end of the bargain. It's not like his prof is gonna suffer to bad by sticking to his written syllabus. It's not hurting anyone...so like the last poster said...don't let anyone jack with your GPA. You got the amount of questions right to accomplish your "A" according to the syllabus...now's he's gonna give you that "A".
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while you might get "credit" for calc 1 and chem 1 from your school this won't fly with many med schools. even using AP credit to get out of required pre-med classes is not ok at some med schools.

if you read the thread you would see that the OP is fighting for a B not an A

to OP ...i wouldn't be surprised if your visit to the dept head goes something like this:
You: blah blah unfair blah blah changed syllabus without telling anyone
Department Head speaks to professor and professor tells him that he mentioned it in class 3 times and that you were disrespectful in dealing with him. Department Head automatically believes professor and you get a bad rep.

it really sucks that you got a C+ but it isn't the end of the word. work harder next time. also work on your english, it's atrocious
 
skinMD said:
to OP ...i wouldn't be surprised if your visit to the dept head goes something like this:
You: blah blah unfair blah blah changed syllabus without telling anyone
Department Head speaks to professor and professor tells him that he mentioned it in class 3 times and that you were disrespectful in dealing with him. Department Head automatically believes professor and you get a bad rep.
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This depends on the school, the department, and the department's relationship with the student and the professor. The situation the OP describes (he has something in writing, the professor is an adjuct teaching one class who has no leverage in the department) seems to be about as good a chance for a grade change as I've ever heard of.

However I would agree that, unless you go to a very small school, this argument should probably stop at the department head and not the dean.
 
Some of you guys are ridiculous.

The notion of if you worked harder, you wouldn't have this problem, is bull. You have to work a certain level for a certain grade.

You're not always going to get a 100 in every class. There's other classes, there's a thing called a social life, and stuff called beer.

You have to do a certain level of work to obtain a certain grade. If the OP had worked harder, he may have deserved an A. But, he's now getting the B+, that he's upset that he's not getting. That's OK?!!? If you'd just worked hard enough for an A, you'd have easily gotten that B+.

There is no, life isn't fair. This isn't life. This is education. He/she did the work for the grade, and then didn't get the grade. And don't give the whole, well you should just be one of the top students in the class. You're not always going to be one of the top 10%. Maybe this was an ultracompetitive group. Maybe he had one bad test that kept him from an A.

I'm glad you're all so amazingly perfect students, but some of us really aren't. So, please, go suck an egg.

OP, you probably did screw yourself in losing your voice. In the future, one meeting. You express your concerns, keep it cool, calm, and collected. Then when they say no, don't speak to them about it again. Straight to the department head. Deans probably don't go over department heads though, might want to stop it there.
 
@Negrodamus
thank you, i hold the same attitude you express in that post.


@bassvp
Their is a dean of student affairs at my school, should i go their or the dept. head ? I havent contacted either yet, i was trying to go to the dept head but he wasnt their, so as of now i havent spoken to anyone yet.

your suggestion would be going to the dean of student affairs ?

@skinMD
oh thanks for the pointer on my english, i know i dont type that well, i am trying to improve, its a work in progress.
as for my grade, i didnt want to state this before bc its was only an appox, but ill say it anyway, walking into the final i had a B almost, and i i thought if i scored a low grade on the final, id still get a B or i could even luck out and get the B+.
also i went with another person everytime i spoke to the prof, and they can vouch for me that i didnt do anything disrespectful. I can also show the dept head/dean the emails i sent to the prof/the responses i got from him, i am sure its professional to reply 4 days late to an email.

and trust me i worked my ass of for this class, i gave up everything, i think the least i deserve is the courtesy of being graded right, i also payed out of my own pocket and i didnt own a car, so when i went to school in the summer i took a bus 1 hour 15 mins, to get their, i had to wake up at 6am for an 8:30 lab, and i would come home at 6pm and study till 3am, and i did that for 1 month straight. It might not mean much to you, but for me its alot, and i am justified in saying i worked hard. i am not looking for pity i am trying to make you see my point of view.

@jm192
thank you for the support. and yea i know, i try and be very level headed as a general thing in life, very rarely i loose control, so when i did raise my voice at the prof, least to say my friend who came with me was very shocked.

so the big question now,

should i go to the dept head or the dean of student affairs ?
 
OMGitsME said:
@Negrodamus
thank you, i hold the same attitude you express in that post.


@bassvp
Their is a dean of student affairs at my school, should i go their or the dept. head ? I havent contacted either yet, i was trying to go to the dept head but he wasnt their, so as of now i havent spoken to anyone yet.

your suggestion would be going to the dean of student affairs ?

@skinMD
oh thanks for the pointer on my english, i know i dont type that well, i am trying to improve, its a work in progress.
as for my grade, i didnt want to state this before bc its was only an appox, but ill say it anyway, walking into the final i had a B almost, and i i thought if i scored a low grade on the final, id still get a B or i could even luck out and get the B+.
also i went with another person everytime i spoke to the prof, and they can vouch for me that i didnt do anything disrespectful. I can also show the dept head/dean the emails i sent to the prof/the responses i got from him, i am sure its professional to reply 4 days late to an email.

and trust me i worked my ass of for this class, i gave up everything, i think the least i deserve is the courtesy of being graded right, i also payed out of my own pocket and i didnt own a car, so when i went to school in the summer i took a bus 1 hour 15 mins, to get their, i had to wake up at 6am for an 8:30 lab, and i would come home at 6pm and study till 3am, and i did that for 1 month straight. It might not mean much to you, but for me its alot, and i am justified in saying i worked hard. i am not looking for pity i am trying to make you see my point of view.

@jm192
thank you for the support. and yea i know, i try and be very level headed as a general thing in life, very rarely i loose control, so when i did raise my voice at the prof, least to say my friend who came with me was very shocked.

so the big question now,

should i go to the dept head or the dean of student affairs ?
Click to expand...

If that's the case I'd re-evaluate your study habits because you aren't going to survive when the hard stuff actually rolls around.
 
@mmmcdowe

thanks for the advice. I am not trying to be a douche, but i feel like i am being attacked and criticized by what some ppl are saying here. The point of the thread wasnt about my grades, it was about the syllabus issue.

However, if you are talking about my study routine, then i do i have to say, after this summer, i took session 1 and 2 classes, and it has thought me alot, time management, better ways of studying. lol you sort have to adjust when you have so little time, its been a learning lesson for me.

edit- forgive me, i missed the bolded part of the quote. the reason i would get home around 6pm is bc lecture ended at 2pm and i would stay on campus and study. The bus ride around 3pm is slower due to more traffic. So it made more sense to stay and study and leave later than waste that time on commuting.
 
Let me first start out by saying that I completely understand the anger/frustration you are feeling by the way this professor has been treating you--changing your syllabus without any notification and constantly rescheduling on you.

However frustrated you get, it does not give you the authority to barge into his office with 8 people and also lose your cool by saying things like "he needs to learn how to grade and run a class". Not cool, and it definitely shows a lack of professionalism and self-control, especially with an authority figure. Honestly, I doubt your department head/dean can help you at this point--they probably have heard about the way you treated your professor and you've lost any chance. I would contend that faculty stick with and protect their own, so it's highly unlikely you're going to get any special treatment, especially given your attitude.

Ideally, you should have brought up this situation to the professor once, gotten his opinion and then stopped it there. However, I know you're really trying to "rectify" this situation, so you probably can go to someone higher-up and see if they'll hear you out, but I honestly doubt they will. You look like someone who is simply hunting for a higher grade in their eyes.

Honestly, I know I sound really harsh, but that might be because I'm coming from a university where professors can literally do what they wish with grading schemes. Syllabi may be "written contracts", but WHO is really going to stop a professor from changing his grading scheme? The bottom line is that you guys all took the test, gotten a certain amount of points which will equate to a letter grade. That letter grade is dependent upon the grading scheme, but the number of points is not. His grading scheme outlined in the syllabus does not in any way change the amount of points you earned, so it your "grade" in a sense, doesn't change, and you can't really argue otherwise. Knowing whether his grading scheme was one way or another wouldn't change the amount of points, only your final letter grade, but that's always at professors' discretion.

Chalk this up as a life lesson--life is unfair..all aspects of it. Be mature about it and face the facts. You can't always whistleblow to get what you want...One more thing, just keep in mind you still need letters of recommendation--don't expect to get nice ones from anyone in the department...word will spread about your activity.
 
wow, i should clarify this, ill add it to my initial post also.

I didnt blow up on the prof, i did get loud with him, if i did something wrong it was to walk out saying "you need to learn how to run a class", i said it as i left, whether he heard me i dont know. Honestly i treated him with the utmost respect till the last day i talked to him, i lost it all for him. I have been nothing but nice and respectful to him, and i get treated with crap, and even then i was still respectful.

@Asyouwereatrio
I must also reiterate he doesnt teach at my college normally, he teaches at a differ college.

I believe i have a fair shot at getting this fixed, i reply to every post here, in order to see what others think, it makes my argument alot stronger, i get to defend my points, and in some way, its like prep work.

I am a little worried about what a few people have all ready stated, the dept will always think of me as "that kid" , i will have earned a negative rep with the dept, something i dont wish to do. But i am not letting something like this go, it isnt right and in th real world this would never fly, so ill have to live with what ever happens.

I also want to ask again, should i go to the dept head or dean of student affairs ?
 
Last edited:
OMGitsME said:
wow, i should clarify this, ill add it to my initial post also.

I didnt blow up on the prof, i did get loud with him, if i did something wrong it was to walk out saying "you need to learn how to run a class", i said it as i left, whether he heard me i dont know. Honestly i treated him with the utmost respect till the last day i talked to him, i lost it all for him. I have been nothing but nice and respectful to him, and i get treated with crap, and even then i was still respectful.

@Asyouwereatrio
I must also reiterate he doesnt teach at my college normally, he teaches at a differ college.

I believe i have a fair shot at getting this fixed, i reply to every post here, in order to see what others think, it makes my argument alot stronger, i get to defend my points, and in some way, its like prep work.

I am a little worried about what a few people have all ready stated, the dept will always think of me as "that kid" , i will have earned a negative rep with the dept, something i dont wish to do. But i am not letting something like this go, it isnt right and in th real world this would never fly, so ill have to live with what ever happens.

I also want to ask again, should i go to the dept head or dean of student affairs ?
Click to expand...


Sorry, but "getting loud" with someone is generally rude. It shows a lack of self-control and it can be perceived as an attempt to intimidate. Further, walking out while saying your prof doesn't know how to run a class is highly offensive. Both of these things could easily destroy your rep w/ the dept if known (and if the prof hasn't already mentioned it to the chair and his/her colleagues, you can bet sure as you are sitting at your computer right now that s/he will be mentioning your behavior if you carry on with this charade. Additionally, your attitude that this person is "just an adjunct" does not sit well w/ me. It's likely to hurt you. Even adjuncts were hired by the dept/school. You are a student. Do you need a reminder of the food chain at a university:

phd041206s.gif


This is for research but it applies to classes as well. Your professor is probably right about the post-doc level, worshiping at the "throne" of the dept chair. Notice: you're a worm beneath the dirt somewhere. Your opinion about how that prof grades or how things changed doesn't matter. In fact, many depts actually have policies to prevent grade inflation and your prof's actions would likely fit those policies (if they exist). As a result, you could be bringing praise instead of judgment upon this professor by "reporting" him/her!

Finally, news to OMGitsme, but these things do happen "in real life." People are fired all the time with minimal (if any) substantial reason. People are denied excellent performance reviews at companies where they've done outstanding work for the simple reason that giving such a review requires an add'l pay raise per HR policy that the dept doesn't want to have to pay. Sorry, but this really is what life is like. Honestly, your prof should have been smarter and simply graded harder instead of changing pt values for each letter grade. Had s/he done that you'd have nothing to grab at in your little escapade here, but b/c the prof adjusted something else, you're grabbing on for dear life.

The fact is, according to a previous post of yours, you hardly had a B but assumed you'd get a B as long as you did an okay or even poor job on the final. Here's the thing -- people who know the material well enough to say that will get a B on the final regardless of whether they study or not. You obviously did not. If you had a B in the class and then failed the final or even got a D+/C- on the final, I'd totally support that prof in assigning you your final grade as the course grade because it shows you did not retain the knowledge acquired over the course of the semester.
 
Wait,

So, you didn't have a B going into the final? Is this before or after the grading change?

You're screaming troll, now. 🙁
 
OMGitsME said:
I took a summer class and the proff out lined in the syllabus how he is going to grade us, how many points needed for an A, B, C ,D grade.

Now when he graded he changed his method, the division of points, and how much it takes to get an A, B, C, D.

Here is the problem, I am aware that that a proff has the ability to to change his/her grading method however it must be updated on the syllabus, and obviously it must be done prior to the final exam.

My proff, has never updated the syllabus telling us of this about his new grading method, now I noticed that mistake and I am pointing it out to him, yet he claims he announced to the class orally that he changed the grading, no one i know seems to be aware of the new grading he has used, and also the fact remains he has no prof that he informed us of the new grading system.

I am going to the dept head, about this issue, and then the dean.
Has this happened to anyone ever ? And are the proff allowed to grade however the hell they want, regardless of how they tell us they are going to ?It just seems so unfair.

Edit: I didnt blow up on the prof, i did get loud with him, if i did something wrong it was to walk out saying "you need to learn how to run a class", i said it as i left, whether he heard me i dont know. Honestly i treated him with the utmost respect till the last day i talked to him, i lost it all for him. I have been nothing but nice and respectful to him, and i get treated with crap, and even then i was still respectful.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like you didn't get an A (or whatever grade you wanted) by your own doing. Personally, I wouldn't spend this much energy analyzing a prof's grading system if I was doing well in the class. You're not going to be in the class for the rest of your life. It's just a class. No matter how much the prof changes his system, if you're doing really well it shouldn't affect you (unless the prof made some drastic move, which then, you wouldn't be posting here asking for our opinions due to your uncertainty about the prof...plus, there would be a mass movement of students to the Dean by now).
 
To the OP, a similar thing happened in my gchem class last year. Our prof had a very specific formula by which he calculated grades, but after letter grades were posted a number of students were surprised to find lower than expected grades. Numbers were crunched, and things didn't match up with the prof's formula. A couple of squeaky wheels in my class raised concerns with the prof and eventually the dept head. At the end of the day our prof. admitted his error and many people got their grades raised (no one got their grade lowered). This was especially helpful to people in the B/B+ range. So, yes, grading concerns can be taken seriously by schools. Just be sure to always keep it respectful. Good luck! :luck:
 
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