Is it fair for a professor to grade us on the possession of past papers?












3















So...



My English professor recently asked us to bring in all of our graded essays from the whole semester in order to fill out a 'rubric' of sorts which tallied the various types of mistakes we had made. She will be grading the rubric, and previously stated that if we did not have all the essays from the past semester in class that day, our grade would be comparably lower than otherwise. She made no mention of 'keeping all graded work' at any point during the course, and in my current institution, I have never been expected to keep past work for any specified duration. There are a multitude of reasons why a student may not have been able to keep particular (or any) essays, which my professor did not take into consideration.



Is it fair for my English professor to expect us to keep all of our past graded work, and then grade us on our possession? If unfair, how can I bring this issue up with her and dispute her expectation?



Thank you all!










share|improve this question


















  • 2





    Have you scoured the syllabus for any mention of this policy?

    – Azor Ahai
    2 hours ago
















3















So...



My English professor recently asked us to bring in all of our graded essays from the whole semester in order to fill out a 'rubric' of sorts which tallied the various types of mistakes we had made. She will be grading the rubric, and previously stated that if we did not have all the essays from the past semester in class that day, our grade would be comparably lower than otherwise. She made no mention of 'keeping all graded work' at any point during the course, and in my current institution, I have never been expected to keep past work for any specified duration. There are a multitude of reasons why a student may not have been able to keep particular (or any) essays, which my professor did not take into consideration.



Is it fair for my English professor to expect us to keep all of our past graded work, and then grade us on our possession? If unfair, how can I bring this issue up with her and dispute her expectation?



Thank you all!










share|improve this question


















  • 2





    Have you scoured the syllabus for any mention of this policy?

    – Azor Ahai
    2 hours ago














3












3








3








So...



My English professor recently asked us to bring in all of our graded essays from the whole semester in order to fill out a 'rubric' of sorts which tallied the various types of mistakes we had made. She will be grading the rubric, and previously stated that if we did not have all the essays from the past semester in class that day, our grade would be comparably lower than otherwise. She made no mention of 'keeping all graded work' at any point during the course, and in my current institution, I have never been expected to keep past work for any specified duration. There are a multitude of reasons why a student may not have been able to keep particular (or any) essays, which my professor did not take into consideration.



Is it fair for my English professor to expect us to keep all of our past graded work, and then grade us on our possession? If unfair, how can I bring this issue up with her and dispute her expectation?



Thank you all!










share|improve this question














So...



My English professor recently asked us to bring in all of our graded essays from the whole semester in order to fill out a 'rubric' of sorts which tallied the various types of mistakes we had made. She will be grading the rubric, and previously stated that if we did not have all the essays from the past semester in class that day, our grade would be comparably lower than otherwise. She made no mention of 'keeping all graded work' at any point during the course, and in my current institution, I have never been expected to keep past work for any specified duration. There are a multitude of reasons why a student may not have been able to keep particular (or any) essays, which my professor did not take into consideration.



Is it fair for my English professor to expect us to keep all of our past graded work, and then grade us on our possession? If unfair, how can I bring this issue up with her and dispute her expectation?



Thank you all!







grades






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 2 hours ago









EquinoxEquinox

405




405








  • 2





    Have you scoured the syllabus for any mention of this policy?

    – Azor Ahai
    2 hours ago














  • 2





    Have you scoured the syllabus for any mention of this policy?

    – Azor Ahai
    2 hours ago








2




2





Have you scoured the syllabus for any mention of this policy?

– Azor Ahai
2 hours ago





Have you scoured the syllabus for any mention of this policy?

– Azor Ahai
2 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















4














If this was not mentioned in the syllabus (or at least announced prior to the papers being returned), this is totally inappropriate. While it may be foolish for students not to keep their graded work (at least until the end of the term), if it was not established as a requirement before the students got their papers back, it cannot reasonably be made a retroactive requirement.



You should bring this problem to the attention of the instructor. You do not need to reveal whether you actually have all your past papers when you bring this up, lest the instructor try to wave your concerns away if you say that you actually do have all the papers and are just complaining as a matter of principle. I would also suggest having multiple come to her together to make the same objection; that may make it more likely that she will relent. However, if the instructor does not agree to make a change, you should take this up with someone higher up. That could mean the department chair (or other departmental official, such as the director of undergraduate or graduate studies) or a student ombudsman, if one is available.






share|improve this answer
























  • "If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

    – Captain Emacs
    1 hour ago












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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









4














If this was not mentioned in the syllabus (or at least announced prior to the papers being returned), this is totally inappropriate. While it may be foolish for students not to keep their graded work (at least until the end of the term), if it was not established as a requirement before the students got their papers back, it cannot reasonably be made a retroactive requirement.



You should bring this problem to the attention of the instructor. You do not need to reveal whether you actually have all your past papers when you bring this up, lest the instructor try to wave your concerns away if you say that you actually do have all the papers and are just complaining as a matter of principle. I would also suggest having multiple come to her together to make the same objection; that may make it more likely that she will relent. However, if the instructor does not agree to make a change, you should take this up with someone higher up. That could mean the department chair (or other departmental official, such as the director of undergraduate or graduate studies) or a student ombudsman, if one is available.






share|improve this answer
























  • "If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

    – Captain Emacs
    1 hour ago
















4














If this was not mentioned in the syllabus (or at least announced prior to the papers being returned), this is totally inappropriate. While it may be foolish for students not to keep their graded work (at least until the end of the term), if it was not established as a requirement before the students got their papers back, it cannot reasonably be made a retroactive requirement.



You should bring this problem to the attention of the instructor. You do not need to reveal whether you actually have all your past papers when you bring this up, lest the instructor try to wave your concerns away if you say that you actually do have all the papers and are just complaining as a matter of principle. I would also suggest having multiple come to her together to make the same objection; that may make it more likely that she will relent. However, if the instructor does not agree to make a change, you should take this up with someone higher up. That could mean the department chair (or other departmental official, such as the director of undergraduate or graduate studies) or a student ombudsman, if one is available.






share|improve this answer
























  • "If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

    – Captain Emacs
    1 hour ago














4












4








4







If this was not mentioned in the syllabus (or at least announced prior to the papers being returned), this is totally inappropriate. While it may be foolish for students not to keep their graded work (at least until the end of the term), if it was not established as a requirement before the students got their papers back, it cannot reasonably be made a retroactive requirement.



You should bring this problem to the attention of the instructor. You do not need to reveal whether you actually have all your past papers when you bring this up, lest the instructor try to wave your concerns away if you say that you actually do have all the papers and are just complaining as a matter of principle. I would also suggest having multiple come to her together to make the same objection; that may make it more likely that she will relent. However, if the instructor does not agree to make a change, you should take this up with someone higher up. That could mean the department chair (or other departmental official, such as the director of undergraduate or graduate studies) or a student ombudsman, if one is available.






share|improve this answer













If this was not mentioned in the syllabus (or at least announced prior to the papers being returned), this is totally inappropriate. While it may be foolish for students not to keep their graded work (at least until the end of the term), if it was not established as a requirement before the students got their papers back, it cannot reasonably be made a retroactive requirement.



You should bring this problem to the attention of the instructor. You do not need to reveal whether you actually have all your past papers when you bring this up, lest the instructor try to wave your concerns away if you say that you actually do have all the papers and are just complaining as a matter of principle. I would also suggest having multiple come to her together to make the same objection; that may make it more likely that she will relent. However, if the instructor does not agree to make a change, you should take this up with someone higher up. That could mean the department chair (or other departmental official, such as the director of undergraduate or graduate studies) or a student ombudsman, if one is available.







share|improve this answer












share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer










answered 1 hour ago









BuzzBuzz

15k94878




15k94878













  • "If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

    – Captain Emacs
    1 hour ago



















  • "If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

    – Captain Emacs
    1 hour ago

















"If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago





"If it's not mentioned, it's inappropriate": +1 - however, if it has been mentioned, I still would expect this to be prominently featured, ie. both in syllabus, and in class, and ideally somewhere else (e.g. on the task sheet of at least the first or first two essays). It is absolutely not standard to being expected to keep past homework (and the rationale is also obscure to me, to be honest).

– Captain Emacs
1 hour ago


















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