Students must believe they are exceptional because they are always asking for exceptions. It has been going on for decades but has become all but universal recently. They've gone from the first day of class notification that they "are an 'A' student" to threatening to gang up for career-killing course reviews. It is not an idle threat. Before launching the nuclear option they will demand "extra credit" oblivious to the fact they've not bothered to do the work required of "usual" credit. Once their god-given right to an 'A' seems threatened they run to the department head on their way to the dean. If the institution has integrity the entitled darlings will then provoke their parents to intervene usually leading to a discussion of FERPA.
But if a Prof really wants to screw with their little self-esteems it is easier than one might imagine. All you have to do is tell them they can have whatever grade they want. Don't want to do the work? Don't do it. Take an 'A'. Don't like the project team you're in? Get out. Take an 'A'. Upset because your loopy candidate lost an election? No problem. Take some down time. Oh, and take an 'A'. Turns out the entitled little snots find this 'Take an A' policy insulting. Almost as if the professor is telling them their work ethic sucks, they haven't learned and aren't likely to start any time soon and yet still expect an 'A'. It only hurts because it is true. But they want the transactional appearance of "earning a grade" when in fact they have no intention of doing half the work needed to earn a 'C' a mere thirty years ago.
And the University is in on it. Like any other business it is grow or die. Expand at all costs even if it means lower standards for entry as well as retention. A society that believes a college degree is a pre-req for success is not going to resist the decline past mediocrity into absolute educational fraud. Yet the school doth protest:
But if a Prof really wants to screw with their little self-esteems it is easier than one might imagine. All you have to do is tell them they can have whatever grade they want. Don't want to do the work? Don't do it. Take an 'A'. Don't like the project team you're in? Get out. Take an 'A'. Upset because your loopy candidate lost an election? No problem. Take some down time. Oh, and take an 'A'. Turns out the entitled little snots find this 'Take an A' policy insulting. Almost as if the professor is telling them their work ethic sucks, they haven't learned and aren't likely to start any time soon and yet still expect an 'A'. It only hurts because it is true. But they want the transactional appearance of "earning a grade" when in fact they have no intention of doing half the work needed to earn a 'C' a mere thirty years ago.
And the University is in on it. Like any other business it is grow or die. Expand at all costs even if it means lower standards for entry as well as retention. A society that believes a college degree is a pre-req for success is not going to resist the decline past mediocrity into absolute educational fraud. Yet the school doth protest:
"The syllabus did not conform with the university's rigorous expectations and policy regarding academic standards for grading. Rest assured, this ill-advised proposal will not be implemented in any Terry classroom."As an academic endeavour Business must be laser focused because this statement clearly ignores the history of the University. Turns out the University has a documented history of passing out grades without necessarily handing out tests. Passing grades for ball passers. And this University is not alone. The practice is nationwide. And now it is being expanded from money-making athletics to money-taking academics. All this professor did is what was done before: expose today's 'education' for the sham it has become.
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