What do you guys think I should do? (school related)

[ZAMIRZ]

well, this is going to be long, but I'd appreciate your advice because the OT forum here seems to give good, well-rounded and thoughtful responses.

I took two classes with the same professor this past fall semester at a local junior college. I also applied to various schools, one of which I hope to transfer to in the fall. Anyway, I took and completed the classes. I showed up to all the sessions except once in each class. I took all the tests, most of the extra credit quizzes, handed in all the papers and generally enjoyed both classes.

This past monday evening I was at a friend's house and I get a call on the cell phone from the professor. He claims he doesn't have a score for the subjective portion of one of the exams and is also missing an essay of mine. I tell him kindly that I took both portions of the exam and turned both in and I also tell him I turned the paper in as well. He tells me he needs the subjective portion in his box by the next morning. I ask him what I got on the objective (scantron) part of the exam and he says 9.4/10. I began panicking because I was leaving to go on vacation early the next morning with my family and expressed this to him. He told me that I must turn it in by tomorrow because time is running out. At this point, I lost the call. Once that happened I left my friend's house immediately and headed home. On my way home, he calls back and explains to me that he has the score for the subjective portion (12/15) of the exam but is missing the objective portion. This struck me as very odd since he even expressed what grade I got on the objective portion. Nevertheless, I double and triple checked with him what exactly it was he needed and he told me to simply fax him the graded scantron which I luckily still had and to email him the paper he claims he does not have. So I do this and leave for vacation.

Upon returning I checked my grades and noticed I had recieved two Bs instead of what I thought would most certainly be a B and an A. Now these two courses involve my major so doing well was something I took very seriously. I have a feeling he may have missed something other than what he called and requested of me that monday evening but am at a loss for how to go about approaching the professor. He seems to me to be very disorganized and I have this feeling that he may have misplaced one of the assignments or not recorded a score for one of the tests. I sent him an email earlier this evening that reads as follows:

---------------------------------------------------------------

In Political Science 14 I noticed I recieved a B. I
was just wondering what contributed to my grade
falling to a B, because up until the final I had
gotten As on both the first and second test as well as
a 4/5 on the first paper, not to mention I had taken
all of the extra credit quizes with the exception of
two early on. I can't imagine I did so terribly on
the final or the second paper which I turned in to you
on the monday following our final. Sorry to take up
any of your time, I would greatly appreciate it if you
could get back to me on this matter.

best regards,

Amir K

---------------------------------------------------------------

I'm waiting on his response and am in a tight jamb right now because I need to submit my grades from this past semester to the schools I've applied to within the next week. I really do not know what to do with regards to the grade, but I'm frustrated now because I really need an A in this class. If he doesn't respond to my email or gives me the runaround, do you guys think I should file a claim with the college? I'm trying to be very sincere with the instructor, but at the same time I want to strangle him. I just don't know what the right thing to do is, because I've never been in such a situation.

[Moses]

Go visit him. Be exceedingly polite and deferential, but persistant. Unless he's a real horses ass, you'll get your "A".

[ronin]

stick to your guns and ask him politely to check his records so that you can get the grade that you should. if you really feel that he is in error, don't hesitate to take it up with your advisor, should you not have any luck. you can still do this politely and with tact. if you did the work, you deserve the full credit. remember, you are taking part in one of the most subjective pursuits in which any human can engage. I've seen way too many outstanding students get lower grades than mediocre students simply based on the subjectivity of the teacher

ironically, your situation reminds me of my own P.S. class, in which my teacher didn't much like me at all. (I didn't baa like all the other sheep) he was a Johns Hopkins grad that didn't make it into the State Department like most of his buddies and had to resort to teaching instead. since P.S. is my favorite subject and one which I knew quite a bit about, it was very difficult to simply just go along with his views. that didn't earn me any favors for sure. in the end I only netted a 3.4!! (yes, a B in our school) but dem's de breaks

[M.D. Holloway]

Most profs are reasonable - some are scatterbrains and a few are bad human beings. This guy sounds like a scatterbrain. Moses is right, be "on" and do not show any signs of disrespect. He is in the profession becuase he enjoys the subject matter, or likes being in front of wide-eyes - makes him feel big, or can't do anything else in poli sci. Either way, you don't know anything but that he is all over the map. Assume he is inept and cruel. You may even wnat to ask his opion on what he would do fi he was in your shos and if he could offer some advice. Many profs are in the biz or just that question to pop. Think how great you would feel if a HS frosh asked your opinion on how to handle something.

[84porsche]

Amir,

Be patient. Give him first a chance to correct his mistake. A 9.4/10 is clearly an "A" unless he has some backwards curve.

I gave my professors a fair chance but some were just "a**es and those I fought with because they had so much education and they didn't know how to teach. I held the record for telling off a professor in front of the class, not something I am proud of but something that was needed. The teacher could not speak English very well. He spoke with a broken English yet he had a grader grading my work on grammar. Needless to say I was not happy about it.

Originally posted by ZAMIRZ
[B] Sorry to take up any of your time.

As far as this line, don't ever apologize. You are not wrong for asking him to check his work. You are paying for a college education and you are entitled to be graded properly and taught well. I would not accept anything less than from this or any professor.

[ZAMIRZ]

Thanks for the support guys.

Moses, If he doesn't respond by tomorrow evening I'll definately go out there and see him in person.

lubemaster, you hit the nail on the head. He is a bit of a scatterbrain. With that said, he has a wealth of knowledge on the subject, in both classes (middle eastern and comparative politics) there wasn't a single question asked by any student which he couldn't answer thoroughly.

84porsche, he seems like a fairly decent person. He doesn't appear to be a shrewd man, but he isn't a likable person at all. Maybe I shouldn't have apologized (makes me seem like sort of a pushover I guess), but I'm just trying to be sincere.

[widebody911]

Kneepads?