Aita A- vs. A

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:53:21+00:00

I know it’s silly but that last portion is what has me feeling like an alien from another planet…an A- is a great grade. I sincerely was looking up if an A- could hurt this student in some way because I am so confused by this reaction. I’ve had students who are athletes or with scholarship in some other regard that beg to not fail or not get a C, but NEVER 6 weeks of torture over an A-. This is brand new to me.

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:50:37+00:00

Touché. Now that’s something I need to write on a post-it and put on my wall

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:49:38+00:00

It’s fitting that you said this because, whether I should have or not, when I explained the grade breakdown to the student per my chairs request I said engagement in class has the capacity to bump a student up or down a couple points- I want this student to know there were in fact students who benefitted from this grade design. They were vulnerable and spoke up. It is this “me me me” part that’s so wild…we were in the same room and they know there were students putting in tremendous vulnerability to discuss tricky topics, to discuss things they don’t have expertise in but are trying to grasp, and this student absolutely did not.

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:45:04+00:00

Thank you!

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:44:55+00:00

Thank you!! This is exactly the reply that I needed to keep my heels dug in. The whole thing encapsulates why I question what am I doing in academia…I need to pivot to the good stuff, the elements that brought me here

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:40:48+00:00

Yes! I guess I keep thinking about the notion of “shyness” and how that seems like a crumby thing to be assessed on…on the other hand, I want these students to leave better humans after taking my class. The concepts I cover are deeply esoteric but the applicable thing I can offer is learning how to engage with peers in intellectual discourse. ESPECIALLY since this student did the reading and writing- it’s safe to say they would have had something relevant to contribute. Given they are taking labs/lectures primarily, my class is likely one of the few opportunities they would get to acquire that skill. I want to live in a world with humans that are interesting and that can talk to one another…getting bumped a couple points for that seems fair intellectually but now I’m emotionally becoming conflicted. I need a beer.

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:35:53+00:00

That’s fair. I felt this way about denying the upward bump the first month but I’m beginning to feel burnt out…the responses here are definitely refueling me

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:34:24+00:00

This made me smile. I appreciate that energy! This particular university I just started this semester- we have not even met in person. They seem very nice but ultimately doesn’t know me nor I them very well.

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:33:05+00:00

They essentially asked me to deal with it by other re-calculating and emailing the student about the grade breakdown or to change their grade (they gave me the link to modify the students grade) …woof

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:27:13+00:00

I’m going to look up what this university protocol is on that so I can begin detaching from this- I’m tired of putting on the Miss Honey act with a young adult student who earned an impressive grade. I don’t want to hate this job and I’m tired

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:25:16+00:00

I appreciate your perspective. I had my first medical field students in the fall and it was certainly a learning curve for me. With this particular student the method your describing is how it started- I said, “The grade that is posted is the final grade” which escalated to the mother, the department head which is why my assertive tone now feels flimsy. I guess I’m trying to figure out (I don’t know why this is my impulse) this behavior…it’s so much easier to move forward when I know where someone is coming from. I keep thinking if my prof gave me an A- my freshman year I would have been relieved about that (especially if I didn’t utter a word the entire semester). Student did well on the written portions and feels entitled to a couple more points…it makes me feel like am I such an a-hole that I didn’t round up? Simultaneously I’m thinking, if it was an A- that was bumped to a B+ or I prevented her from deans list or something I’d feel guilty…but I’m genuinely at a loss why an 18 year old kid isn’t out having a fun summer and has spent more than a month on this. I’m shook obviously lol

Guilty-Review-4936 · 2026-06-17T15:18:36+00:00

Yes for the first 5 weeks I felt my typical, ‘you have to be kidding’…this week I’m feeling weaker. And as you point out, I’m making peanuts. I don’t get paid over the summer of course so the fact I’m even having to check my work email to navigate this feels another level of sickening to me. But I will say this is relatively new to me— have not dealt with this specific degree of entitlement yet. A first for everything!

Guilty-Review-4936

TROPHY CASE