Dealing with professors who graded you wrongly

[c00face]

I just sent out an email to a professor who graded my essay and looking through her corrections it was totally off. I made some mistakes here and there, but her corrections weren't even according to her own essay questions she gave us. She literally was asking for our opinion and I was deducted points because of my own personal opinion on a book about how I feel what the author was trying to portray. Not sure how to approach this, I sent an email asking her to review the essay with me. And if that doesn't work out to well, where do you go from there, bring it up to her supervisor that she may review it? I wouldn't even bother with this, but that one essay brought my grade from 100 to literally a 90 or high B. Which for me, trying to go into med school, that's going to screw up my GPA.

[MadyTehWolfie]

20 minutes ago, Supermangik said:

I just sent out an email to a professor who graded my essay and looking through her corrections it was totally off. I made some mistakes here and there, but her corrections weren't even according to her own essay questions she gave us. She literally was asking for our opinion and I was deducted points because of my own personal opinion on a book about how I feel what the author was trying to portray. Not sure how to approach this, I sent an email asking her to review the essay with me. And if that doesn't work out to well, where do you go from there, bring it up to her supervisor that she may review it? I wouldn't even bother with this, but that one essay brought my grade from 100 to literally a 90 or high B. Which for me, trying to go into med school, that's going to screw up my GPA.

That's school for you. Teachers grade people lower if they are male and if their opinions don't inline with their own. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

That's school for you. Teachers grade people lower if they are male and if their opinions don't inline with their own. 

[MadyTehWolfie]

24 minutes ago, AUniqueName said:

First hand experience with this. Teacher especially at the more left then usual schools if you write something that they don't agree with politically even if it's true they'll just give you a failing grade.

[Monte_Carlo]

2 minutes ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

First hand experience with this. Teacher especially at the more left then usual schools if you write something that they don't agree with politically even if it's true they'll just give you a failing grade.

 

Gonna express my doubts regardless.  There's expressing political opinions and expressing them badly.  This kind of claim tends to be a fairly huge leap without much context... especially when talking about "even if it's true."

 

OP... I'd refrain from going over the professor's head on this grade.  In my university this kind of escalation would put your paper and likely your entire class grade on the line.  The dean and department chair do not appreciate this kind of silliness, and they will look at your paper with the full weight of the department or school.  (That's ignoring any good will you will piss away with the professor.)

 

Talk it out in a calm and respectful manner.  Ask what you could have done better.  If it's something weird, then adjust your writing to fit the taste, and avoid that professor in the future.  Personally never had this problem, but escalation is a last resort effort where everything goes on the line.  Beware of that choice.  

[MadyTehWolfie]

2 minutes ago, Monte_Carlo said:

 

Gonna express my doubts regardless.  There's expressing political opinions and expressing them badly.  This kind of claim tends to be a fairly huge leap without much context... especially when talking about "even if it's true."

 

OP... I'd refrain from going over the professor's head on this grade.  In my university this kind of escalation would put your paper and likely your entire class grade on the line.  The dean and department chair do not appreciate this kind of silliness, and they will look at your paper with the full weight of the department or school.  (That's ignoring any good will you will piss away with the professor.)

 

Talk it out in a calm and respectful manner.  Ask what you could have done better.  If it's something weird, then adjust your writing to fit the taste, and avoid that professor in the future.  Personally never had this problem, but escalation is a last resort effort where everything goes on the line.  Beware of that choice.  

Sjw teachers are crazy like that, that's why I stopped sociology as my minor.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

Sjw teachers are crazy like that, that's why I stopped sociology as my minor.

People tend to be too opinionated when it comes to political writing, rather than being objective towards what the writing is meant to be about. 

 

My guess is that's why you've been 'victimised', which you've interpreted as being because of your gender or the teacher's political stance. 

[MadyTehWolfie]

3 minutes ago, AUniqueName said:

People tend to be too opinionated when it comes to political writing, rather than being objective towards what the writing is meant to be about. 

 

My guess is that's why you've been 'victimised', which you've interpreted as being because of your gender or the teacher's political stance. 

No, it was clear cut they were hard core she like the lock in a sock guy

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, Supermangik said:

I just sent out an email to a professor who graded my essay and looking through her corrections it was totally off. I made some mistakes here and there, but her corrections weren't even according to her own essay questions she gave us. She literally was asking for our opinion and I was deducted points because of my own personal opinion on a book about how I feel what the author was trying to portray. Not sure how to approach this, I sent an email asking her to review the essay with me. And if that doesn't work out to well, where do you go from there, bring it up to her supervisor that she may review it? I wouldn't even bother with this, but that one essay brought my grade from 100 to literally a 90 or high B. Which for me, trying to go into med school, that's going to screw up my GPA.

If you feel the professor acted unethically in this case, you can contact the Dean of the School. Besides that, you are at their mercy. 

[MadyTehWolfie]

My school is Berkely levels of she though far more then the normal amount 90% of schools have.

[c00face]

1 hour ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

That's school for you. Teachers grade people lower if they are male and if their opinions don't inline with their own. 

Funny enough... There's only 3 males in the class and the rest are females. All the females have a good grades of A, while the rest of the males grading on the essay were dropped to a C. Coincidence? Hate? Bigotry? I have no idea. I just know her corrections on my paper were off. Hell, she even misspelled words and have awful typo's while trying to correct my paper. 

[c00face]

27 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

If you feel the professor acted unethically in this case, you can contact the Dean of the School. Besides that, you are at their mercy. 

I don't think she acted unethically, I just think she graded my paper wrongfully or was just really tired or just plain lazy. She asked for our opinion on the essay and deducted points because my opinion wasn't her opinion, which literally makes no sense. Just trying to find a way to handle this without exploding because that essay literally brought my grades down from a 100 to an average of C. Which doesn't make me happy, not in the slightest.

[captain_to_fire]

5 minutes ago, Supermangik said:

I don't think she acted unethically, I just think she graded my paper wrongfully or was just really tired or just plain lazy. She asked for our opinion on the essay and deducted points because my opinion wasn't her opinion, which literally makes no sense. Just trying to find a way to handle this without exploding because that essay literally brought my grades down from a 100 to an average of C. Which doesn't make me happy, not in the slightest.

I think it's best you contact the dean or anyone who manages college professors and bring your concerns. 

 

*If you don't mind me asking, on what subject is your essay about? 

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, MadyTehWolfie said:

That's school for you. Teachers grade people lower if they are male and if their opinions don't inline with their own. 

I don't know about you but I never had a college professor who is a misandrist nor a mysoginist. 

[MadyTehWolfie]

5 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

I don't know about you but I never had a college professor who is a misandrist nor a mysoginist. 

Neither have I. I'm just saying it does happen at the ultra liberal colleges such as mine. I present as female so I can speak for the gender thing.

[yathis]

5 hours ago, Supermangik said:

And if that doesn't work out to well, where do you go from there,

You go over it with the principle of the school. Thats his job!

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, Supermangik said:

I don't think she acted unethically, I just think she graded my paper wrongfully or was just really tired or just plain lazy. She asked for our opinion on the essay and deducted points because my opinion wasn't her opinion, which literally makes no sense. Just trying to find a way to handle this without exploding because that essay literally brought my grades down from a 100 to an average of C. Which doesn't make me happy, not in the slightest.

Talk to the Dean aka her boss

[c00face]

*Update on the situation*

 

I took my friends advice and just really suck it up and start praying for grace. Instead of starting a problem, I emailed her how I can improve. For my final essay, I took my time to write how she would want me to write it, although I tried to be respectful while disagreeing to certain opinions. Glad to say, she graded my final writing with 100% passing grade and I passed the class.

[TheUncannyScrub]

I had a feminist teacher for PSHE.. (Pysical.Somthing.Health.Education) She was always annoyed at the "pay gap" and so on and I just kept proving all of here points wrong. "mansplaning" this and Using my privilege against her and so on. Legit best class ever. Anyway, i made sure to do all my work before messing on with said SJW. Always early, always done my homework, She failed me.. well she didn't even let me sit the test. TL;DR : SJW Teacher didnt let me sit the test because I beat all her arguments with logic and facts.

[c00face]

13 minutes ago, TheUncannyScrub said:

I had a feminist teacher for PSHE.. (Pysical.Somthing.Health.Education) She was always annoyed at the "pay gap" and so on and I just kept proving all of here points wrong. "mansplaning" this and Using my privilege against her and so on. Legit best class ever. Anyway, i made sure to do all my work before messing on with said SJW. Always early, always done my homework, She failed me.. well she didn't even let me sit the test. TL;DR : SJW Teacher didnt let me sit the test because I beat all her arguments with logic and facts.

That really sucks. I don't know why promote critical thinking, but won't allow you to critically think for yourself.

[Yoinkerman]

4 hours ago, Supermangik said:

*Update on the situation*

 

I took my friends advice and just really suck it up and start praying for grace. Instead of starting a problem, I emailed her how I can improve. For my final essay, I took my time to write how she would want me to write it, although I tried to be respectful while disagreeing to certain opinions. Glad to say, she graded my final writing with 100% passing grade and I passed the class.

That was going to be my advice, just tell her what she wants to hear

[Tsuki]

talk to the teacher and see what you can do.

but without knowing the requirements and having read your paper myself, odds are it was probably not worth an A. do better next time.

Edited August 4, 2017 by wkdpaul
cleaned up

[rmac52]

The department policy at my school was if you had an exam that you disagreed with the grading of and you couldn't come to an agreement, you could request another professor grade the exam.  There's always the risk of pissing The proffesor off though.

[Chaos_Sorcerer]

10 hours ago, Supermangik said:

*Update on the situation*

 

I took my friends advice and just really suck it up and start praying for grace. Instead of starting a problem, I emailed her how I can improve. For my final essay, I took my time to write how she would want me to write it, although I tried to be respectful while disagreeing to certain opinions. Glad to say, she graded my final writing with 100% passing grade and I passed the class.

I'm still a minor, so I don't really think I'm qualified to give advice on this, but I think you made a good choice. You should stay on your teacher's good side as much as possible. One little quarrel with them and you could see, like @Monte_Carlo said, your entire class grade on the line. 

 

This kind of pisses me off, though...not being able to challenge your teacher's BS grading without worrying about pissing them off and landing on their bad side. I get that teachers are not perfect and that they are certainly more qualified than their students, but they are only human...and this is their greatest flaw. 

On 7/22/2017 at 11:01 AM, hey_yo_ said:

I don't know about you but I never had a college professor who is a misandrist nor a mysoginist. 

I haven't gone to college, and I won't for another few years, but I can tell you that almost every teacher I have had so far seemed to favour females in one way or another. Maybe it's because I'm a male (and as a result possibly more sensitive to misandry), and maybe it's because I've mostly had female teachers...or it's a combination of the two. 

 

[LAwLz]

Just a tips to anyone reading this thread: DO NOT GO TO THE PRINCIPAL OR DEAN JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU DESERVE A HIGHER GRADE!

 

Ask the teacher what you could have done better, and be humble. One sure way to get your grades go sink even lower is to act full of yourself as if you are better than the teacher (like commending on spelling mistakes).

Remember, you are the student. You are below the teacher in the hierarchy. Better get used to it while you're still in school because that will only get more true once you get a job.