From An Instructor’s Perspective
It was September, my third term as creative writing instructor for a private Christian high school. It was the last period of the day and the first day of the new school year.
A small group of students filed into the classroom; there was the sound of multiple conversations. The limited number of desks were soon occupied. The tardy bell rang, I waited a few seconds for the last conversations to dwindle and die. Silence, then a seventh grade boy’s hand shot up in the air. I smiled to myself recognizing the student as Tony Diego. I knew him well from the elementary school’s Young Writer’s Club, which I sponsored for the last two years.
“Yes, Tony?” I asked.
“Miss H, what grade are you going give me in this class?”
The word “give” stuck in my mind, uncomfortably. Tony, should have realized from the past two years in writing club on the elementary campus, that I don’t give grades or awards easily, these are earned. But since Tony asked, this seemed like a good place to begin the introduction to the class.
“Tony, I don’t give grades, each of you will earn your grade. It’s up to you what grade you earn, decide now and work towards it. What grade do you want, Tony?”
He replied with a broad smile, “An “A”, Miss H.”
“Good this is how you earn it,” I said beginning to explain the required assignments for the year ahead of us.
This incident caused me to recall a conversation I had with Beth, the school’s administrative secretary just a few months prior at the close of the past school year. Beth had approached me about changing the grade I recorded, for eighth grader, Roxanne. A grade she had earned. “Can’t you cut her a little slack, and give her a “D” instead of a Fail?” Beth inquired. “No,” I said. “Roxanne had the same opportunity as the rest of the students.
She could have earned a “B” easily. But she refused to complete some of the assignments and didn’t seem to try with the exams, which were open note. In all honesty, this is the grade she earned.” I explained.
Beth continued to pressure me, asking, what difference could one little letter grade could make to me…it would mean a great deal to Roxanne on her transcripts. I agreed, grades do mean a great deal to a student on their transcripts or should. But to change the grade, would be dishonest, besides being a terrible injustice to the students who worked hard to study and complete the assignments. Roxanne knew what was required at the beginning of the class.
From A Student’s Perspective
As a college student I encounter the lollipop grade situation numerous times. My creative writing instructor, I am sure felt she was encouraging her students by simply handing out “A’s” to any student who came to class each week and handed in some form of writing which resembled the assignment. It didn’t have to be good, or even the student’s best effort, just so it was something written on paper which resembled the poem, short story, or whatever the assignment required. I know many students thought this was “cool”.
Certainly this instructor had no problem filling her class roster to overflow; word traveled about campus, “she’s an easy grader.”
What is wrong with this approach? Personally I enrolled in the class to learn how to write fiction and poetry. I expected an honest evaluation of my writing. In the last semester of this class, the instructor asked me to write a Gothic Romance or Suspense, feeling that with my decorating background, I could easily set the proper background for the characterization. I receive an “A” on the assignment. That was twenty years ago. Recently, I read through this novel and groaned over how badly it was written. In the past twenty years having gleaned more knowledge and experience from editors, agents, books, magazines and a correspondent writing course, I was able to spot blatant errors in mechanics. How could a college instructor in good conscious grade this manuscript as an “A”? When I decide to rewrite this novel it will require massive revisions.
Similarly another college experience with lollipop grades occurred in my last semester of college. I was tutoring in special education. One of my students, who I will refer to as Steve, had a serious comprehension problem. It took a lot of repetitive, patient work for him to grasp basic ideas. Transferring them into a written form, such as answering study questions, was a challenge of a whole different level. Writing was extremely hard for Steve.
During the last week of the semester Steve mentioned he had taken a marketing class in the evenings with Dr. Freeman. I knew the instructor, as I was enrolled in his day time class. Knowing how difficult the assignments had been in this class, I asked Steve how he was doing. We talked about how hard the final exam had been. Steve then disclosed that he didn’t do well in the class. Dr. Freeman had told him, that he had earned a “C-” for the course. I tried to sound somewhat consoling, telling Steve I knew it was a hard class, and that I thought he did well to earn the “C-”. Steve grinned, telling me that is what he earned, but not the grade he would receive. He was getting an “A-”. I asked him how this happened. He told me he just talked and talked to Dr. Freeman, until Dr. Freeman agreed to give him the elevated grade. What Steve did was manipulation. This is a technique a lot of people use when they are unable to succeed at the level they desire.
