I have just read through a pile of mostly bad essays and graded them accordingly, much to the horror of their authors. I don’t like handing out poor grades, but I cannot give one page essays, the assignment for which was designed to showcase students’ very best writing decent grades if the essays totally suck. I have told the students that my function is to insure that they can perform well in English 110, and that I would be doing them a disservice by giving bad essays good grades.
A few of the students felt quite betrayed and blindsided, I think. As I have throughout the semester, I encouraged them to make appointments with me to discuss and improve their writing proficiency. I also told them that I am doing so for their benefit, not mine, as I don’t like to work extra hours without extra pay any more than they do. I do, however, feel responsible if they have diligently proceeded through the entire semester and are still incapable of writing clearly.
To that end, I will spend all day tomorrow in conference with students, though I really need to use the time to produce work for the classes I am taking. I do think that by informing students of that detail, some were convinced to make appointments and stop hating me.
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