How can I ask a lecturer not to disclose (my) grades publicly?

Question

In my university, some, but not all, professors upload online the grades of every student and their names next to them a few days before making them final at the end of the semester. This is done to give a chance to the students to point out any mistakes the professor may have made.

No one other than the students can see the final grades. When the professor uploads the non-final grades, they are visible by everyone.

Since few people get good grades, others are jealous of them. Long story short, I really have an issue with this.

Is it unreasonable to ask my professors to email my grades instead of uploading them online, like they do with everyone else? What other alternatives do I have?

I live in a European country.

Answer 1

My experience from European universities is that even there, the grades should not be posted by name, but instead by a student ID number. However, in most cases, the university requires the public posting of the grades in such a manner (for exactly the reasons you suggest—to allow for petitioning of changes in grade).

Moreover, because of the large number of students who may be taking a course, it can be highly impractical for the teaching staff to respond to individual requests for reporting grades by email. (Imagine having to send out 1800 emails for a single course!)

Consequently, while you might ask for anonymizing of the grade reports by student ID instead of name, I think it would be unfair to ask the professors to report individual grades by email, unless you have an exceptional and demonstrated need for such an email (for instance, you are unable to get your grade because of extended absence without Internet access).

Answer 2

Yes, it's unreasonable. Any request for special treatment for you personally is unreasonable unless it is grounded in genuine need: e.g. a disability or an acute change in personal circumstances.

If you feel strongly that this practice is wrong you should instead seek to change the practice for all students through the usual university channels for seeking change and raising grievances.

Other posters have suggested that posting results is illegal under data protection legislation, they are wrong; Data Protection legislation does not forbid the posting of exam results in Europe in general although specific countries in Europe may have stricter limits.

Answer 3

I think your request is very reasonable and what your professors do is unethical and likely illegal¹ (not that I would recommend outright suing before trying to talk to people).

A solution you could advertise to your professors and that neither requires any software nor a big additional effort is the following:

• In addition to their names, students give some arbitrary name or similar on their exam sheets that they can remember, e.g., Paul Erdős, Ichabod Numberwrangler, Robert'); DROP TABLE STUDENTS;-- or AxPeYvs2`{P97_E$T+!?tj0YY.

• When the grades are published, this name is used instead of their real name. In the unlikely event that two students chose an identical name, use an initial or similar to distinguish them in an unrevealing way (or use e-mail).

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^{¹ I am not familiar with every legislation and it may depend on the exact circumstances, but for example this document from the central data-protection agency of the universities of a German states that even publishing results in connection with the student ID needs a written consenst from the student.}

Answer 4

It is fine to ask your professor if there is some way to keep the grades confidential when they are posted. As others say, perhaps they could be posted as an ID, or maybe the professor has access to a way to easily send it as an email.

However, keep in mind that there is a strong possibility that you will receive a negative answer.

You seem concerned about peer harassment, but most people at the college level can, and will, act like grown adults. If you do happen to encounter harassment, just staying professional should remind them of this. If not, there are avenues you can take to report harassment, but they sometimes vary - so you'd have to check your own school's policies and procedures.

Congratulations on your achievement

Answer 5

If what the professor is doing is legal in your country, and he is unwilling to accommodate your request, you should petition the institutional hierarchy, dean, president, or such for a change in policy. If you have a student governance committee/senate/parliament, you could approach them to approach the university to change the policy to use student ID's. In the U.S., published student IDs should cannot be the students federal ID number, aka social security number, nor a portion of that number. This requires a structural change to the computerized student records system and may take years to effect. In the interim, a system of nick names could be devised so that only YOU and your prof knows the whose nickname is whose. Also, most electronic databases have a record number assigned to each record, i.e. each student has a different record number, somewhat akin to a line number in a paper and pencil grade book. The prof could display that record number instead of a name. Maybe not the best solution, but probably the easiest to effect in the short term. He only needs to communicate students' record numbers to each student privately. Be mindful that, whatever the alias system is used, the ordering of the names on the posted list should not be in the real name alphabetical order. If your name is Aaron Aardvaark, or Zybignu Zzypata, most can detect who is first or last on the list. Beyond the university, you can petition your local senator or MP, as the case may be for a national or state law. That, again could take years.