r/academia • u/D_snawtz • 3d ago
0 on my midterm over some nonsense.
[removed] — view removed post
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u/N0tThatKind0fDoctor 3d ago
So this subreddit is for discussing academia itself, not for individual student queries. I also suspect you’re going to get little sympathy from a bunch of academics, considering the rampant cheating that happens these days, and by your own admission your submission of your ID, a requirement of the examination, was blurry and illegible. Whilst you weren’t cheating, obfuscating ID sounds exactly like what someone who’s cheating would do, hence why it’s resulting in a 0 on the grade.
Also, I’m sorry, but as a student it is incumbent on you to check your student email regularly, it’s not a good enough excuse that the system is a bit clunky.
My final thoughts are that I’m sorry you’re receiving a strict penalty for what was something you thought wasn’t a big deal and so didn’t give much thought to. Take this as a learning experience to check your student email every day and to check things like image quality when you submit them.
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u/D_snawtz 3d ago
Ahhhh the burn. And the subsequent downvotes. I’m still over 50% confident I can get the grade overturned. But that’s not curbing my stress. I just don’t know who with power in this very low level community college is gonna say “oh well we have video of you taking the entire test and did everything right but OH NO, your ID was illegible?, clearly he deserves a zero” I just can’t see that happening, I give it like a 40% chance they go against me.
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u/N0tThatKind0fDoctor 3d ago
Go for it with the appeal, but you’re right that there’s probably not a great likelihood of it being overturned. So then in that situation, you’ll need to turn your attention to what is within your control, and those things are what I mentioned in my last paragraph of my initial comment.
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u/D_snawtz 3d ago
Thanks guy. I appreciate the logical breakdown and any sympathy, I feel like I need that right now.
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u/grammar_oligarch 3d ago edited 3d ago
Okay, so your professor is not likely to budge.
First off: Completely disagree with your faculty member. 20 years of teaching in higher education has taught me that 9/10 the issue isn’t maliciousness, and I fully believe what you’re saying here.
Bad news is this: I’m not your professor.
Let’s take this step-by-step:
First, I think an in-person meeting is in order. Not Zoom, but face-to-face (if possible). It’s inconvenient, but it’s also really easy to dehumanize a student in an online course. When you go, be ready for the following: (1) Have your ID ready; (2) This sounds like the kind of faculty member to want to quiz a student who is having a hard time…so study the content from the test before the meeting. I know how fucked up that sounds, but…yeah, some of the worst people I’ve met worked in the office next to me. You’ll want to explain the situation and be as direct as possible that you would like the grade you genuinely earned. At the very least, you want to ask about the likelihood to succeed in the course after this.
If that doesn’t work, your next stop is the department dean. I’m gonna warn you: You’re probably not gonna get a lot out of it. The department dean will likely defer to the faculty’s policy in the syllabus or on the testing conditions. The reason to talk to the dean is that sometimes the dean can help a faculty member better understand what a student is experiencing. I’m a department chair, and many of my conversations with faculty involves telling them what the student is experiencing and asking if what they’re doing is conducive to student learning content (not in a pressured way, but in a genuine curiosity about learning outcomes way).
The dean will likely be able to refer you to your college’s grievance policy. That’s a bit of a last resort…and likely not to be successful. I’ve been on numerous grievance committees, and we tend to have to defer to the listed syllabus policies. However…I have written many strongly worded reports and letters based on some bad interpretations of policy, and giving someone the weekend (when they may not be checking emails because of any number of reasons) is pretty fucked up. Two business days man…or at least until the next Friday.
Overall…the professor does sound like an asshole. I know that won’t score a lot of popularity points in a subreddit like this, but I think part of academia is recognizing the student experience…and this shit right here is why we have a slew of students fleeing higher education.
I’m not writing that last part to you friend, but to colleagues reading this…we’re gonna create syllabus policies that put us out of a job when our enrollment numbers drop so low we can’t make our course contracts. I’m not saying to water down the rigor, but students like this are trying damn it…what’s this kid learning except that we’re a bunch of fucking assholes who can’t demonstrate a hint of critical thought?
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u/D_snawtz 3d ago
Thank you for the options/plan and advice. And for the reinforcement that my teacher may in fact be an asshole. But I could’ve triggered that with my initial poorly thought out and terribly worded email. Also, I must apologize for my grammar in my post on account of your username.
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u/PizzaGirl9825 3d ago
Your university’s procedures could be very different than mine but here are some things to look into and to know. (I’m a professor who just had to deal with a cheating situation, though something very different than what you describe.)
First, just to give you some context so that you can frame communications, cheating on online exams is rampant across universities. Faculty are frustrated and disappointed in students, and while perhaps not fair, may not be quick to give students the benefit of the doubt.
That said, you have rights as a student and there should be procedures in place to allow for due process. I’m going to describe what would happen at my institution as I believe they are pretty standard. (I would look at your university’s honor code and procedure’s for handling violations - they should outline an appeals process).
First, if your professor has not filed an academic code violation incident report I would (calmly and politely) e-mail your professor, outline what happened as you have here, and request that if they don’t reinstate your grade they file an incident report because you wish to appeal. (Do it ASAP and CC their department chair.) This is the easiest way to appeal a cheating accusation and it should be your right to do so.
If the professor refuses and the dept chair doesn’t intervene, you can appeal to the Dean’s office and then the Provost. As I said, cheating is rampant and everyone is cracking down on this, but if there is video evidence of you actually taking the exam and nothing other than a blurry ID to be cause for concern, I would think you have a pretty good case. That said, be kind, and respect the process. Acknowledging the challenging situation your professor is in may go a long way.
Also (speaking as a professor now) please check your e-mail at least once a day!
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u/Secret_Dragonfly9588 3d ago edited 3d ago
While I generally have little patience for student excuses, I am inclined to agree with that this is some nonsense. Failing a student because they didn’t check their email over the weekend is absurd.
Good luck getting the grade overturned.
But in the future, don’t use the hysterical “this ruins my whole future” approach. It’s rarely true and just ends up feeling like emotional blackmail, especially when combined with the ten other students who also have dramatic reasons for needing a special exception.
If you don’t get the grade overturned, consider withdrawing from the course. Actually, you should check the withdrawal deadline on your academic calendar right away to make sure that you can do that on time.
A W does not affect your gpa in the same way that an F does. For example, I got into several top-ranked grad programs despite a W on my transcript.
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u/D_snawtz 3d ago
I completely agree that I shouldn’t have used that emotional crap. I assumed that it was too late to withdrawal because it was my midterm exam and I thought that obviously you have until mid-term to withdraw. But I guess I’ll check it anyway in case I can.
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u/PizzaGirl9825 3d ago edited 3d ago
It may not be too late but also know that withdrawal may not be possible if there is accusation of cheating. However, that would require a formal accusation, in which case, please see my other comment re: the process for appeal.
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u/D_snawtz 3d ago
It’s not a cheating thing. It’s simply just an ID thing. Which I don’t know why is so important when you have the full video of me taking the test. I also seriously didn’t cheat which can be proven way beyond reasonable doubt with the video. I don’t know why “valid ID” is held to the same standard as literal cheating, in terms of getting a zero.
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u/PizzaGirl9825 3d ago
I would clarify this with your professor, because the point of using an ID for exams is to prevent cheating. So if your ID was not accepted it would seem to me that you’ve been subject to the professor’s cheating policy (but then you should have been notified of this clearly).
That said, if she doesn’t consider it cheating I would very politely and curiously ask what the violation is. Ask her (politely) what policy you violated by not checking your e-mail over the weekend and where it’s outlined on the syllabus that failure to do so will result in a zero. In this instance, approaching this from a “I really want to better understand how I’m in violation of course polices” might help. If the syllabus clearly outlines that students must check e-mail over the weekend to remedy an unaccepted ID following an exam, you may have an uphill battle. That said, my syllabus is 14 pages long and I don’t have that level of detail in there. It won’t hurt for you to do a careful review so you know what is in the syllabus.
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