Timeline for How can I deal with a professor with an all-or-nothing grading habit?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
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| Dec 7, 2020 at 0:20 | comment | added | cag51♦ | Folks: this is very much an "extended discussion." Please take it to the chat (the system doesn't allow us to move comments to chat more than once, so we'll have to start deleting if flags are raised). | |
| Dec 6, 2020 at 23:06 | comment | added | Acccumulation | There's a fine line between promoting growth mindset and engaging in victim blaming. Trump's response to getting COVID was very much growth mindset, and it was also incredibly inappropriate, as it suggested that the people whom COVID had killed simply didn't have a positive enough attitude. | |
| Dec 6, 2020 at 21:59 | comment | added | Dan Romik | @RutherRendommeleigh ok, thanks for clarifying your position. For what it’s worth, I didn’t promise OP they could become an astronaut or win a Nobe prize or anything like that if they just tried hard enough. I didn’t even promise them they could pass the exam, for that matter. So I stand by what I said, but you make some reasonable points about the larger cultural trend of telling people to believe they can achieve anything they want. | |
| Dec 6, 2020 at 21:49 | comment | added | Ruther Rendommeleigh | Maybe that's just my personal experience, but I've observed a strong tendency of (especially young) people to believe beyond reason that they are somehow "special" and if they just try hard enough (in their limited frame of reference) they will achieve pretty much any goal, regardless of how much skill is actually involved or what their chances are, statistically. Now, I'm not saying that they're necessarily wrong, but outgrowing that mindset, acknowledging realities and mapping out a realistic path to success is usually the way to actually do it. | |
| Dec 6, 2020 at 21:39 | comment | added | Ruther Rendommeleigh | My (finer) point is that the path to taking control of a situation starts with identifying the factors contributing to an outcome, determining what influences those and concentrating your efforts where they're most likely to make a difference. Dumb example: no matter how hard you study lottery numbers, it's not going to affect your chances of winning (if it's a fair lottery.) In OP's case, I worry that taking your advice at face value without considering that countless other students probably tried the same might lead to them fighting windmills. | |
| Dec 6, 2020 at 21:01 | comment | added | Dan Romik | @RutherRendommeleigh it sounds like you missed my point about growth mindset and believing in one’s ability to control the outcome of a situation. The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset - resigning yourself to a fixed outcome that you believe is dictated by circumstances and you are unable to change. Your comment seems like an example of such a mindset. Whether that’s a reasonable mindset to have in the context of this particular situation, people can decide for themselves. | |
| Dec 6, 2020 at 12:30 | comment | added | Ruther Rendommeleigh | "It sounds like it’s not impossible to do well in the class, just more difficult than you are used to." - since this course is known to be "difficult", and half of the students in it are re-taking it, I'd expect that "study really really hard" would be a very common strategy, along with informal study groups and handing down of notes. ~75% of students still failing suggests that effort might not be the deciding factor. | |
| S Dec 6, 2020 at 4:20 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Dec 6, 2020 at 4:20 | comment | added | cag51♦ | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Dec 4, 2020 at 17:09 | history | edited | Dan Romik | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 4, 2020 at 10:36 | vote | accept | Nabla | ||
| Dec 4, 2020 at 2:46 | comment | added | Daniel R. Collins | (1) Must point out that the claimed effects of "growth mindset" have failed large-scale replication studies (e.g.: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886917303835). (2) The idea that a news site would take up a "my professor is too hard" story is difficult to believe -- I'd like to see an instance of that ever happening (barring actual breaking of rules or malfeasance). This answer would be improved if those items were edited out. | |
| Dec 3, 2020 at 21:42 | comment | added | CrepusculeWithNellie | I agree with most of this answer, except the suggestion to scandalise this using the press or to drag this into the cesspit that is "social" media. This can quickly grow out of control. And yes, I have a somewhat negative view of social media. | |
| Dec 3, 2020 at 21:24 | history | edited | Dan Romik | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Dec 3, 2020 at 20:47 | history | answered | Dan Romik | CC BY-SA 4.0 |