Do you think security should be present when exams are handed back?

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Gauss44

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As mentioned before, I'm at Harvard Extension taking pre med courses.. And I was shocked to see how some of my classmates reacted to getting their midterms back and to the professor when debating correct/incorrect answers. Some of my classmates were really getting upset, really raising their voices, shaking, going pale, and making minor threats. For the safety of our instructors, I'm wondering if anyone else feels like security or at least some strong TFs should be nearby during post-exam/grade negotiation times?
 
What?? I have taken a bunch of classes at Harvard Extension and I've never seen anything close to this!
 
Last edited:
This is my first semester there, so maybe what I saw was unusual....
 
Doesn't really answer the question, but similar things have happened at my school.

I'm from Texas, and a while a go, legislators passed a law allowing people to carry hand guns on campus. A few days later, a PowerPoint from a faculty meeting was "leaked" warning professors to exercise caution when talking with students about grades and such since we can now carry guns on campus.

Now to answer your question: No, but I'll qualify that. If a particular professor typically has issues with grades (perhaps that professor who has horrible reviews on RMP), then they might want to at least have a witness/TA there during grading periods
 
🤣🤣🤣

Wtf? For my genetics class, the midterm average was 67 (I scored 90 b/c im a ****ing genius obv.) and the professor blatantly laughed at us for being stupid. The students didn't say **** because they knew that he held the power to fail them. If the professor can't handle his students over reactions, he shouldn't teach. Especially pre med courses
 
Dagrimsta1 said:
If the professor can't handle his students over reactions, he shouldn't teach. Especially pre med courses
Click to expand...

Uh, that's not the point is it? "Handling" emotions is for naught if some lunatic student pulls a gun or knife on you. But obviously that is an exceedingly rare event, one that I don't think warrants security to be present at exam give-backs.
 
JustAPhD said:
Uh, that's not the point is it? "Handling" emotions is for naught if some lunatic student pulls a gun or knife on you. But obviously that is an exceedingly rare event, one that I don't think warrants security to be present at exam give-backs.
Click to expand...
You really can't stop something like a gun or a knife, with or without security in the room... As for raising voices, threats, etc, a good professor can easily defuse a situation like that...
 
CognitiveSci said:
Doesn't really answer the question, but similar things have happened at my school.

I'm from Texas, and a while a go, legislators passed a law allowing people to carry hand guns on campus. A few days later, a PowerPoint from a faculty meeting was "leaked" warning professors to exercise caution when talking with students about grades and such since we can now carry guns on campus.

Now to answer your question: No, but I'll qualify that. If a particular professor typically has issues with grades (perhaps that professor who has horrible reviews on RMP), then they might want to at least have a witness/TA there during grading periods
Click to expand...

So shouldn't the professors just pack bigger and more powerful weapons so they can protect all of the other students from the violent ones? Or maybe post an armed guard with a semi-automatic or two in each lecture hall?
(Pay for it from the defense budget since state education budgets were slashed...) 😵
 
DokterMom said:
So shouldn't the professors just pack bigger and more powerful weapons so they can protect all of the other students from the violent ones? Or maybe post an armed guard with a semi-automatic or two in each lecture hall?
(Pay for it from the defense budget since state education budgets were slashed...) 😵
Click to expand...
"teacher may I use the rest room?'

"sure Timmy, be sure to take this hall pass and watch out for grizzlies!'
*professor hands Timmy an AR-15 with folding stock and extended magazine*
 
At the Berkeley Extension, our professor told us the highest grade on the midterm was a B. Our 3 hour class turned into a question by question debate for the entire exam. People got emotional, one guy was tearing up. The professor looked so uncomfortable. Not sure that security would have helped tho
 
(I am not at Harvard) But this is crazy, because I was just thinking about this the other day. I have a female Professor whose is absolutely brilliant. That being said, in her mind there are no partially right answers, it's either right or wrong. She was passing back exams, and this male student received his exam back, and he made a 45 on the exam, and he lost his marbles right then and there. He flared up to her right there, like he could intimidate her into a higher grade, or something else... Psycho's get into colleges too.

Gauss44 said:
As mentioned before, I'm at Harvard Extension taking pre med courses.. And I was shocked to see how some of my classmates reacted to getting their midterms back and to the professor when debating correct/incorrect answers. Some of my classmates were really getting upset, really raising their voices, shaking, going pale, and making minor threats. For the safety of our instructors, I'm wondering if anyone else feels like security or at least some strong TFs should be nearby during post-exam/grade negotiation times?
Click to expand...
 
hubbsbubbs said:
At the Berkeley Extension, our professor told us the highest grade on the midterm was a B. Our 3 hour class turned into a question by question debate for the entire exam. People got emotional, one guy was tearing up. The professor looked so uncomfortable. Not sure that security would have helped tho
Click to expand...

Bananas.

People silently seethed with their sub 20/100 scores on midterms in my biology lab.

Granted, this was at CC.

Can I ask what class this was? (Bio, Phys, Chem?)
 
McRibs said:
Bananas.

Can I ask what class this was? (Bio, Phys, Chem?)
Click to expand...

It was an upperdiv hematology class. The students guilted him into giving us points in other areas. To be fair, his class wasn't very organized, so I could see why so many people were angry.
 
If a pre-med can't handle their emotions over a test they shouldn't be a doctor.
What would they do when their attending or a hospital staff or someone tells them they are wrong and to hop off?

If I have done bad on a test before..
What did I do?
I went to office hours and got helped like a normal student would..
Yelling at my professor and making him or her dislike me is *****ic.

I have been yelled at by superiors before?
What did I do?
Shut up and take it..
Not much I can argue about..

As for your question OP:
Nope..
They should instead permanently ban students for threatening professor safety.
I am dead serious about that too..
 
I agree, they should be banned. But regardless, students that blame their results on a Professor can not compete anyway.


Dr.Sticks said:
If a pre-med can't handle their emotions over a test they shouldn't be a doctor.
What would they do when their attending or a hospital staff or someone tells them they are wrong and to hop off?

If I have done bad on a test before..
What did I do?
I went to office hours and got helped like a normal student would..
Yelling at my professor and making him or her dislike me is *****ic.

I have been yelled at by superiors before?
What did I do?
Shut up and take it..
Not much I can argue about..

As for your question OP:
Nope..
They should instead permanently ban students for threatening professor safety.
I am dead serious about that too..
Click to expand...
 
I've had this happen from the professor's side. My bio professor last semester got REALLY upset to the point of cursing and slamming the whiteboard because the class average was a 50. It was pretty frightening and delightfully hilarious at the same time 🤣He has been fired for unrelated reasons. I wanted an LOR from him too since I did pretty well in his class. Oh well.
 
.... the classroom is already a safe space. I hate the idea of people feeling like they need security to get their exam back.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Advice for SDNers on how to deal with future confrontations: take off your pants aggressively and walk towards them with swagger. The mix of confusion, disgust and anger works every time. It helps if you wear boxers with a slit for a phallic entrance/exit.
 
Gurkhali said:
Advice for SDNers on how to deal with future confrontations: take off your pants aggressively and walk towards them with swagger. The mix of confusion, disgust and anger works every time. It helps if you wear boxers with a slit for a phallic entrance/exit.
Click to expand...
that works only on youtube, not irl
 
Gurkhali said:
Advice for SDNers on how to deal with future confrontations: take off your pants aggressively and walk towards them with swagger. The mix of confusion, disgust and anger works every time. It helps if you wear boxers with a slit for a phallic entrance/exit.
Click to expand...
169575-60-of-the-time-it-works-every-k5en.jpeg
 
Dr.Sticks said:
If a pre-med can't handle their emotions over a test they shouldn't be a doctor.
What would they do when their attending or a hospital staff or someone tells them they are wrong and to hop off?

If I have done bad on a test before..
What did I do?
I went to office hours and got helped like a normal student would..
Yelling at my professor and making him or her dislike me is *****ic.

I have been yelled at by superiors before?
What did I do?
Shut up and take it..
Not much I can argue about..

As for your question OP:
Nope..
They should instead permanently ban students for threatening professor safety.
I am dead serious about that too..
Click to expand...
LIke an exam/prof can be incredibly unfair. I had a class like that, but I withdrew out of it. The prof had a 43 avrg on an exam and blames it on students....
 
Honestly, reading that made me uncomfortable.
 
At my school, instead of getting our exams back during class, we receive our results via email as soon as grading is completed. I never thought much about it before seeing this thread, but now I'm really glad for this system.
 
Terry Toma said:
At my school, instead of getting our exams back during class, we receive our results via email as soon as grading is completed. I never thought much about it before seeing this thread, but now I'm really glad for this system.
Click to expand...
love your name lol
 
OP, are you serious or are you trolling? Because this is really childish, unprofessional behavior that you're describing. Pre-meds seem to have some sense of entitlement - like "I'm entitled to that good grade just because I showed up." Even if the exam was written poorly, there are professional ways to handle that.
 
We are working on national campus carry legislation as I type this message. If professors are armed, students won't grade grub. An armed campus is a polite campus 🙂
 
^We need these professors to be armed for studen... I mean bears. We need them to be armed for the bears.
 
TedCruz said:
We are working on national campus carry legislation as I type this message. If professors are armed, students won't grade grub. An armed campus is a polite campus 🙂
Click to expand...
On an unrelated note, my school had a public forum on arming the campus police. Some kid stood up and said (and I quote)

" Hey man (addressing the dean), the cops on this campus shouldn't have guns because uh, like, what if I get drunk and try to take it from him as a joke? He'd like shoot me dude!"

I got up and left because my momma told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
 
mwsapphire said:
LIke an exam/prof can be incredibly unfair. I had a class like that, but I withdrew out of it. The prof had a 43 avrg on an exam and blames it on students....
Click to expand...
43 average???
Any curve?
 
RogueBanana said:
On an unrelated note, my school had a public forum on arming the campus police. Some kid stood up and said (and I quote)

" Hey man (addressing the dean), the cops on this campus shouldn't have guns because uh, like, what if I get drunk and try to take it from him as a joke? He'd like shoot me dude!"

I got up and left because my momma told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
Click to expand...
"My lack of self control should be the baseline consideration for all policy that affects us". What an asshat.
 
Dr.Sticks said:
43 average???
Any curve?
Click to expand...
She gave us like a 9 percent curve so 43 went up to 52. Yeah. And it was an " easy" sophomore level class, principles of cell. Nobody was even comfortably done by the 10:50 mark. ( Except for like 2 people but generally those are the people that don't know anything)
Compare that to my genetics class. Genetics is a brutal subject. Our first test average was a 68, and I got an 85 by studying everything our prof told us to study ( all tests are combined 60 percent , to boot HW fills up most of the rest). Also, his test was also long, nobody was done at the 10:50 mark, and he was like " ooo my bad I underestimated how long this would take you guys" And let almost the whole class take up to....11:20? 11:30? To finish. Two different worlds lol.
 
mwsapphire said:
She gave us like a 9 percent curve so 43 went up to 52. Yeah. And it was an " easy" sophomore level class, principles of cell. Nobody was even comfortably done by the 10:50 mark. ( Except for like 2 people but generally those are the people that don't know anything)
Compare that to my genetics class. Genetics is a brutal subject. Our first test average was a 68, and I got an 85 by studying everything our prof told us to study ( all tests are combined 60 percent , to boot HW fills up most of the rest). Also, his test was also long, nobody was done at the 10:50 mark, and he was like " ooo my bad I underestimated how long this would take you guys" And let almost the whole class take up to....11:20? 11:30? To finish. Two different worlds lol.
Click to expand...
So that means that someone got a 91?

Anyways that is a crappy instructor...

I always go to that teacher page and look up reviews before I sign up.
 
Dr.Sticks said:
So that means that someone got a 91?

Anyways that is a crappy instructor...

I always go to that teacher page and look up reviews before I sign up.
Click to expand...
Uhh no the nine percent curve was just random, two grad students in that class got 100's. Also , she's the only principles of cell prof, but I hear she isn't so bad for Biochem ( which can only be taken with her, unless you want this other prof who doesnt know anything about biochem. She thinks sophomores only study for orgo and nothing else.
 
piii said:
You guys are missing the point, OP is going to Harvard Extension School. He's mentioned it before for God's sake!
Click to expand...
Isn't that school not very competitive to get into? I wonder if people attend just for the name associated with the program.
 
My whole thought this entire thread has been between LOL What and stupid entitled kids, get off my lawn.

So, no I do not think security should be present when exams are handed back. Or better yet, do not hand back exams. Show the scores electronically, by some login and if you want to review your test set up a time with the TA to go over the results.

As my fellow Texans have suggested, yes we carry regularly. Here in Augusta, I can't carry in the buildings, but my license lets me carry to the parking lot. Later this year, we will finally be able to carry in the classroom legally and I expect that no one will ever know who carries and who doesn't it is not like we CC peeps just whip out a Rhino in the middle of biochem and pass it around.

For those against the idea of us carrying, please remember that 1) we will defend you despite your objections and 2 the violent crime rate for Concealed Carry holders is lower than any other class of individuals except for my other class... FFLs.

You are far more likely to be shot by an off duty police officer than a CC holder statistically


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile
 
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