TA taking points away

[Turkishking]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi Guys,

I am currently taking Evol. Bio. The course is worth 500 points. Lecture is worth 255 points, and lab is worth 245 points. I have currently lost 3.5 points in the total course. I enjoy the material, and the course greatly. It's extremely fun learning about evolution. The only problem I have is my TA. He recently deducted 2 points from our lab grade because one group during a lab forgot to put away Isopods, and left them in vials. He complained that he had to stay after, and put away 14 isopods. And he is deducting points away from everyone. This is unfair. I email him for extra Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium problems, he refuses to email me. Should I talk to the professor about this?

 

[BigBoss]

Yes. The professor has ultimate authority in the end.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[unicornshadow888]

I would, but know that what they did was totally within reason. Part of lab protocol is to clean up behind yourself and store everything (including your products) properly. If you or anyone else in your group fails to do that, then taking off a couple of points can be justified. Part of our lab grades involved following proper protocol and not horsing around or breaking things. It only constituted about 5 or 10 points total for following correct procedures, but in my opinion, that component should be on there. Part of group work (or working between groups) involves working together as a team to make sure that you're doing everything correctly. If one person does something wrong, then it's the responsibility of the other group members to make sure that they get it right. If you're going to be a future doctor, you can't say "that's not fair" when one of the members of your team fails to do their part of a medical procedure correctly. You, as the doctor, are the leader of the team. If you see someone mess up, you step up and take charge if need be.
That being said, I still think you should talk to them about it and see if you can negotiate something. Sometimes TAs can be unnecessarily harsh on their students.

 

[Turkishking]

I would, but know that what they did was totally within reason. Part of lab protocol is to clean up behind yourself and store everything (including your products) properly. If you or anyone else in your group fails to do that, then taking off a couple of points can be justified. Part of our lab grades involved following proper protocol and not horsing around or breaking things. It only constituted about 5 or 10 points total for following correct procedures, but in my opinion, that component should be on there. Part of group work involves working together as a team to make sure that you're doing everything correctly. If one person does something wrong, then it's the responsibility of the other group members to make sure that they get it right. If you're going to be a future doctor, you can't say "that's not fair" when one of the members of your team fails to do their part of a medical procedure correctly. You, as the doctor, are the leader of the team. If you see someone mess up, you step up and take charge if need be.

It wasn't a member of my group. It was another group. Which I had no control over.

 

[BigBoss]

I would, but know that what they did was totally within reason. Part of lab protocol is to clean up behind yourself and store everything (including your products) properly. If you or anyone else in your group fails to do that, then taking off a couple of points can be justified. Part of our lab grades involved following proper protocol and not horsing around or breaking things. It only constituted about 5 or 10 points total for following correct procedures, but in my opinion, that component should be on there. Part of group work involves working together as a team to make sure that you're doing everything correctly. If one person does something wrong, then it's the responsibility of the other group members to make sure that they get it right. If you're going to be a future doctor, you can't say "that's not fair" when one of the members of your team fails to do their part of a medical procedure correctly. You, as the doctor, are the leader of the team. If you see someone mess up, you step up and take charge if need be.

It wasn't his group that was at fault. Points should be deducted from the group that is responsible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[unicornshadow888]

It wasn't a member of my group. It was another group. Which I had no control over.

Sorry about that. I misunderstood. IMO, definitely go talk to them about it. Or better yet, go to the professor or another higher up about it (maybe the person in charge of managing the lab?).
Here's a semi-funny story: We have course evaluations every semester, and just about everyone brought the hammer down on one of the science professors who wasnt the greatest at teaching. The head of the department banned them from ever coming back.

 

[Turkishking]

Sorry about that. I misunderstood. IMO, definitely go talk to them about it. Or better yet, go to the professor or another higher up about it (maybe the person in charge of managing the lab?).
Here's a semi-funny story: We have course evaluations every semester, and just about everyone brought the hammer down on one of the science professors who wasnt the greatest at teaching. The head of the department banned them from ever coming back.

Gonna hammer him on evaluations. He sucks as a TA. Can't explain anything

 

[Turkishking]

Besides do you know how exhausting to properly test 100 Isopods on how fast they move? Not to mention, they curl up and that's annoying. I missed office hours because of that. Not fair.

 

[unicornshadow888]

Gonna hammer him on evaluations. He sucks as a TA. Can't explain anything

TA's can be that way, sometimes. I personally went to a small school, so I never had a course with a TA (only tenured PhD's or adjuncts). But, I've heard horror stories from nearby schools. Btw, that prof was a new adjunct that semester.

 

[Lawpy]

i didn't know what an isopod is so i searched online and found this

in any case, what your TA did was wrong since it wasn't your fault so I'd check with your professor about it.

 

[unicornshadow888]

Besides do you know how exhausting to properly test 100 Isopods on how fast they move? Not to mention, they curl up and that's annoying. I missed office hours because of that. Not fair.

Sometimes things happen, and they should be more understanding about that. If you make the effort to go to office hours on a semi-regular basis, but they penalized you for not going this time because of x, y, or z reason, then that is messed up. Definitely go to your prof, and if that doesn't work, hammer them on the evaluation.

 

[blackroses]

Hi Guys,

I am currently taking Evol. Bio. The course is worth 500 points. Lecture is worth 255 points, and lab is worth 245 points. I have currently lost 3.5 points in the total course. I enjoy the material, and the course greatly. It's extremely fun learning about evolution. The only problem I have is my TA. He recently deducted 2 points from our lab grade because one group during a lab forgot to put away Isopods, and left them in vials. He complained that he had to stay after, and put away 14 isopods. And he is deducting points away from everyone. This is unfair. I email him for extra Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium problems, he refuses to email me. Should I talk to the professor about this?

This is common practice. When there's no way to determine which group didn't clean up or if multiple groups didn't, everyone is deducted points.

I suspect you're going to find your professor quite unsympathetic about the loss of 2 points. That's .4% of your grade and essentially guaranteed to have no effect on your final grade.

Finally, as you're ripping on the TA, consider what your school actually requires of their TAs. E.g. at my university, TAs are paid to be present in the lab and to grade lab reports. We were not in any way required to teach students the material, provide them practice problems, or assist them with lab reports. Most of us did anyway out of kindness, but those were hours that we were not paid for. This seems to be a common way for most schools to run their TA program. Consider that this might be the case at your school as well.

 

[nothing101]

At least he had a reason. My TAs took points of my labs because they couldn't give out perfect scores.

 

[Turkishking]

i didn't know what an isopod is so i searched online and found this

in any case, what your TA did was wrong since it wasn't your fault so I'd check with your professor about it.

Some people were afraid of these.. Lol. How? I love these little things.

 

[efle]

I would say that is def unfair, but what is more likely to cause you problems - a 0.4% difference in your grade, or being that kid that makes waves over two points?

 

[mwsapphire]

I would say that is def unfair, but what is more likely to cause you problems - a 0.4% difference in your grade, or being that kid that makes waves over two points?

Why do you hate on all of his ( Turkishking's) threads?

 

[efle]

Why do you hate on all of his ( Turkishking's) threads?

I'm not hating, like I said I totally think the TA is being unfair. But it's not worth it to contest.

 

[precisiongraphic]

Hi Guys,

I am currently taking Evol. Bio. The course is worth 500 points. Lecture is worth 255 points, and lab is worth 245 points. I have currently lost 3.5 points in the total course. I enjoy the material, and the course greatly. It's extremely fun learning about evolution. The only problem I have is my TA. He recently deducted 2 points from our lab grade because one group during a lab forgot to put away Isopods, and left them in vials. He complained that he had to stay after, and put away 14 isopods. And he is deducting points away from everyone. This is unfair. I email him for extra Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium problems, he refuses to email me. Should I talk to the professor about this?

Karma

 

[Turkishking]

Karma

For what? Ive never done anything wrong..

 

[blackroses]

Ive never done anything wrong..

 

[Turkishking]

.. I don't need to explain myself.

 

[Turkishking]

Karma

Ignored

 

[aldol16]

Three points won't make a difference in your final grade and your TA took points away from everybody in the class presumably because nobody owned up to it. I'm guessing if someone owns up to it, the TA would be more amenable to returning the points to everyone else.