“I deserve a better grade.“
As a professor, I have heard this exact line before. Perhaps you’ve felt like that before… and maybe a few of you have even ventured to express that feeling. From the other side of the grading divide, I am going to let you in on an important secret to navigating the system… it does not behoove you to come off as “disgruntled,” “confrontational,” or worse, which according to every faculty meeting and water cooler conversation that I have ever been in on regarding this topic, is exactly what students who say things like this sound like to professors. So what do you do, if you have not earned the grade you desired?
Let’s begin by addressing what not to do, if you want to succeed in college and arguably to flourish in life. The first step is to check your expectations about the grading process. I hate to be the one to break it to you, dear reader, but academia is not an open air market… grades are not subject to haggling. Unless a professor has made an error in calculation or missed something critical, grades are not meant to be open to negotiation. Whether through an attempted exercise of charm, a resort to pleading, or through the exertion of will, I am here to let you know that, unfortunately, you will make an unfavorable impression, if you try to move the needle of your grades. In academic literature, professors have written lengthy articles about students who come to college possessing a sense of entitlement… even identifying students who argue that “I am paying for this education, and so I should get my money’s worth!“
Don’t be that student.
Education is not a commercial transaction, like buying a car. Even if private tuition does cost more than a Tesla. You are not purchasing a degree and certainly not a given GPA. What you are actually paying for is the privilege of learning from scholars and experienced professionals. Honor that privilege… by working hard to develop your intellectual abilities, expand your technical skills, and earn your grades. Remember that as you partake of this academic journey, you are not owed anything.
Secondly, check your attitude about your abilities. Cultivating a healthy sense of self esteem is essential…. just avoid over-juicing. The Draco Malfoys of this world, or the District 1 Tributes to employ a different story framework, tend to believe they are somehow superior. For example, I have had students come up to me and declare that their work was “obviously better” than someone else’s in the room, and that therefore they should have gotten a higher grade. Before class. In front of other students. Just. Wow. Dear readers, try to avoid sounding like an arrogant, judgmental… ahem.
Even in this blog about Things the Professor Cannot Actually Say, I can not actually say that word.
Sadly, such a human desire to have the product of our labor be deemed the same or better than our peers is apparently as old as the writing of the Cain and Abel story. If and when jealousy, pettiness, or a sibling-like rivalry rears its ugly head, enabling us to presume ourselves more worthy than a neighbor, we might do well to pause and ponder: How does that help me on the journey?
That caution set forth, I will share that more often, I see earnest students struggle with the opposite temptation… not thinking enough of themselves and their abilities. When it comes to grades, you likewise do yourself a grave disservice if you choose to measure your work against others and then decide that you fall short. What good does it do you to compare your journey with the person at the next desk? Does it motivate you, or does it serve to hinder you in your work? I fear the latter. So place your focus entirely upon you and your own growth.
All of which is to suggest that measuring yourself in comparison with others is fundamentally unhelpful. As is trying to measure yourself against a yardstick, a given letter grade. Grades are not, in fact, a measure of your personal worth. Indeed, in a very fundamental way we are all of us “deserving.” In order to flourish in college, I therefore encourage you to direct your energy toward doing your best work, in this given moment and at this given time. Then endeavor to let go of any inclination to associate your value, positively or negatively, with your grades.
Things the Professor Cannot Actually Say 