Lets say you are taking a class. You feel like you understand pretty much what is going on in class. You do a little homework here and there and feel like you have a grasp on the material. You go into the midterm exam…leave feeling a little overwhelmed, but feeling like you probably got a C. You get your mark back…and you bombed it…like nuclear bombed it. You got a 19.2%.
Question: Who’s fault is it?
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That is a good question. It depends heavily on the context, and I can’t really pass a judgement without more information. But I’m inclined to say the professor. If you’re in a class, and you feel confident in your knowledge and abilities, and then you miserably fail the test, I’m inclined to say one of:
a) The professor was so bad, you learning the _wrong_ stuff and thought it was correct. I had one of those in highschool
b) The professor put content on the test that was not comparable to what you learned in class (had a few of those here)
c) The prof is an a**hole marker. I’ve seen it happen, but never had one that bad personally.
I feel a tendency to agree with the first comment, I have had teachers who teach material which seemed relevant to the test but the test is a “level” above the teaching. The examples given in class to teach were too simple based on what was given on the test. I have also had the third point of a teacher type being too strict on the desired result. I believe any test should reflect a students understanding of the material in class as well as reflect the teachers ability to teach. Now if this is a reflection of only one student and that student was well below the average of the class then it would be the student however if this is a typical mark given to majority of the class then it would have to reflect back unto the teacher, showing either a poor approach to teaching the material or a poor marking of the test; teaching, if the material on the test was comparable to what was taught in class but the students just “did not get it”; marking, being too strict in the expectations of the students. I believe the goal for any teacher is to have the majority of the class not only learn the material but to have the class enjoy the method being used, the excitement of the material that the teacher has in the material should be shown through the teaching. The more “fun” you make it, the more “fun” people will have with it. Find a way to make what you are teaching relevant to their daily lives and they will find it exciting, is my belief.
I agree with the first comment as well. I’m sick of hearing “well, its fair game” and I’m also sick of these $150 poorly published textbooks. It is truly a failure of the UofM math department that many students revert to Grants Tutoring. The questions in the book are not in sync with the way in which an exam will ask the question. In addition to that, the final answers are done assuming students are granted access to a calculator. Useless!
Thanks for the great comments guys! I will be posting a follow up post soon!
I don’t think there is enough information to make a judgement. If I looked at the exam I might come to the conclusion that it was too difficult or too different from the material taught. Then the professor had an unfair exam.
If the student did poorly on the quizzes, then it’s the students fault for not seeing the problem. The quizzes are worded very similar to exams. The whole purpose of quizzes is to give students an idea of how well they understand the material
If the student did well enough on the quizzes (without cheating), and the exam was fair, then maybe the student simply couldn’t handle the pressure and choked. It’s happened before. Freshman are often not familiar with university examinations. It happened to me on the 235 honours linear algebra final in second year, and I wasn’t even a freshman.
My personal view is that it’s usually the students fault. Having TA’d as long as I have. I find the students that do badly or VW the course, were typically doing badly on quizzes and didn’t put the effort into changing the situation. Class averages have been steadily going up, and kids are getting smarter (as much I as I might complain to the contrary).
Though, my current lab students have every right to complain, they haven’t had a quiz in almost 4 weeks and they’ve had a revolving door of instructors. I’ve been doing my best to keep their heads above water.
I would really look at how the rest of the class did, relative to their previous marks. If everyone else was pretty consistant with their previous marks, then the problem is the student. If everyone else bombed, the problem is with the teacher. It has been suggested that the most incompetent people think they are competent, so it could just be the student overestimating his/her knowledge of the subject matter. Like other posters have said, more info is needed to make an adequte appraisal
I really think the student is responsible for their mark. If they’re not doing the homework, how can they feel they understand the material? Conceptual understanding is necessary to apply the knowledge, but lots of times it’s applying the knowledge that’s the difficult part.
If the student wants to ensure they have a good mark, they need to do the work.
If I don’t do the work in a class, even if I get the ideas, I fully expect to get below a C. If they don’t do the work they shouldn’t be able to complain about their grade at any point.
I strongly feel that it’s the students fault. I believe I’m in one of Eric’s labs, and I really thing that regardless of the situation with my professors (good, bad, or ever changing), it’s my mark and it depends on what I do. Bad professor? I get to love my textbook. textbook sucks? I get to ask my classmates if they get it. There are many resources outside of the classroom. Starts with the homework though! It’s -my- mark, and I have control over it.
The entitlement a lot of students feel really irritates me. It’s always the professors fault apparently, which is so not true. Eugh, I could go on about this >_<
oh oops, I posted above and hit enter, without my name!
It certainly would not be the fault of the teacher, regardless of the situation. You must do lots of work to get a decent grade in school, especially in mathematics. However, if you love learning, you will do well. I think teachers are the scapegoats for a lot of student, and wrongly so. It is disrespectful to the teacher to blame them for your poor grades.
I like the following method for studying:
*Study at least 8 to 10 hours a day (you know you’ve done well if you get a throbbing headache).
*Resist temptation to call or see friends.
*Delete your Facebook during the school year.
*Laugh a lot.
…and
*Don’t blame your teacher if you get a low grade!
Mathematically,
Jason
The key would be “feel that you understand pretty much what is going on in class”.
Omitting the possibility that the prof pulled some nasty, obscure garbage for the exam, it is the student’s fault.
As stated in the first line, there is no indication of total mastery of the course material. Same with “A little homework here and there, and have a grasp of the course material”.
All this points to the student being underprepared.
At a more basic level, the consequences of this failure fall on the shoulders of the student, regardless of who’s fault it is – but based on the original post, it doesn’t seem as though the hypothetical student has taken ownership of that fact.