"I pay your salary!"

[tlbwriter]

Your grade is based on work submitted, not telling a professor "I pay your salary." That statement will have no impact on the grade and if a professor grades a student harsher because of that then yes, jobs can be at stake.

You really think no one EVER grades based on how they feel about you personally? Even a professor who is rude to you and makes it clear he has no respect for you will be ABSOLUTELY fair and honest? All grading is COMPLETELY objective? No one ever has to write a paper, or answer an essay question, or get a "class participation grade," that gives a professor the SLIGHTEST bit of leeway in grading? Again, I think you're being naive.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Your grade is based on work submitted, not telling a professor "I pay your salary." That statement will have no impact on the grade and if a professor grades a student harsher because of that then yes, jobs can be at stake.

Are you sure about that? Check the syllabus. Does any of your grade rest on professionalism, preparation, attendance, participation? If so, congratulations. Your temper tantrum just impacted your grade. I have many colleagues who explicitly state in their syllabus that they reserve the right to raise or lower a grade a step (i.e. from C+ to a B, from a C to a D) based on class participation and behavior. Even the ones who do not put that in the syllabus can consider it. Look at it this way: say the grading curve requires the professor to give only 24 Bs; the professor grades exams by anonymous number and scores 25 exams to be Bs. He then looks at the exam procedures packet and it states that in the event of a "tie," the professor should consider class participation, etc. and allow that to break any tie. He has no room in the B+ category to bump one up. Then he notices that the temper tantrum is one of the 25. Ah! Problem solved. Tantrum gets the lower grade, a B- or C+ - depending on the grading scale.

Even without considering the flexibility in the grading system, students who want to challenge a grade have a very hard burden. The student has to show that the grade was wholly arbitrary. Do you think that the professor is going to do anything so obvious as to raise flags that the grade was wholly arbitrary? Sure, there may be a few out there who are that dense, but not many.

All of these possible problems are so easy to fix: don't be a big spoiled brat. Before you say anything, ask yourself what you think you might gain? Is it even a battle worth fighting? If so, fight smart, not stupid.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should relay the stories behind the three temper tantrums my colleagues saw last week:
* Student was upset that s/he could not receive the exact accommodation s/he wanted for the Jewish holidays. S/he was offered several possible accommodations, but s/he didn't like them. S/he launched the "My family gives a lot of money to this school" attack. Fail.
* Student was upset that professor insisted on returning an assignment when listed on the syllabus rather than two days early. "I pay your salary." Fail.
* Student doesn't like the Socratic method or the fact that the professor calls on students without warning. "I pay your salary." Fail.

Bicker is right about the differences between smaller, instruction-focused institutions v. most top-tier research universities. But even at the more instruction-focused institutions, teaching is never going to be the most important component in evaluating a professor. Rank, reputation, and development come from the research, not instruction. Higher education is not like high school. Students must take much more responsibility for their own learning. And as we've required less and less individual responsibility in our high school programs, our kids are having a harder time adjusting to an education that they must direct for themselves.