With respect to The Dreaded Grade, this feedback is a heart-breaker for me. A number of students over the years have shared with me that they believed that they deserved a better grade for a deeper reason than mere vanity or a sense of entitlement. This post, then, carefully strikes at the heart of a popular adage: if you work hard, you will succeed!
To be sure, the odds of doing well are in your favor if you are striving wholeheartedly to achieve your goals. Countless research sources promote the potential of human agency and industry. We see examples all around us of folks who have worked tirelessly to achieve their goals. What those stories sometimes leave out is all of the ways that people have failed along their way to eventual success. That is part and parcel of the process. Especially when we are still learning a skill, we will naturally fall short of the mark, through no lack of effort on our part. Do you recall when you were learning how to play sports, or how to play a musical instrument, or how to… fill in the blank however you like, you yourself can attest to the validity of the assertion that hard labor accompanies the process of trial and error, when we are learning.
While there may potentially be categories of human experience where the amount of time and effort one spends doing something may actually determine its worth, academia is not necessarily one of them. In some fields, it may be possible to grade upon demonstrated development of craft. In other disciplines, there may be wiggle room for interpretation, creativity, or even allowances for divergent approaches. Yet in some areas, the answer or the technique is either correct or incorrect. Even when interpretation varies, you may simply not have adequately demonstrated that you are currently able to apply your learning in a way that meets the profession’s standards. In other words, while you may have worked very diligently on a given assignment, that does not, in and of itself, guarantee that you have produced the highest quality possible result.
As an educator, I trust that all of my students are working diligently. At the very least, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt that they have put forth their best effort, in any given circumstance. Including a pandemic. Please understand, then, that much of the time, professors do not, and cannot, grade based upon effort. We can only grade based upon performance. As such, our task is to assess the quality of your product as it is presented in a given moment in time. Despite your best efforts, your results may not quite be up to snuff… Yet.
That’s the key. Yet. Engaging in higher education is meant to develop your abilities. Over the course of time, by being resilient and continuing to exert effort, through repeated practice and incorporation of feedback from your professors, you will hone your skills and draw closer to hitting the mark. By all means, then, celebrate your hard work… and keep at it. Even if your grade does not yet reflect all that you have done and are learning along the way.
Things the Professor Cannot Actually Say 