Sunday, July 09, 2006

Faculty follies - grade appeal non-sequiturs


The cartoon is intended to convey the extreme asymmetry of grade appeals. Students never pressure an academic to lower grades. Hence grade inflation is endemic to the enterprise of grading. The common grounds for appeal are also a rich source of non-sequiturs for the skeptical connoisseur of unreasoned reasons. Some examples:
  • I think I deserved a better mark...
  • I worked really hard on this...
  • I usually get higher marks...
  • I think this was a stupid assignment...
  • I copied off Fred and he did better than me...

A statement similar to the last example of course has never actually been made by any student. But I hope this scenario actually happens sometimes... the unendurable dissonance of righteous indignation, frustration and guilt which would be experienced by the plagiarist is a pleasure to contemplate.

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