![]() ![]() A few of them have crazy stories to report. Lecturers of my acquaintance seem to agree that the overt, aggressive disputation of marks is still a rarity in the UK. The results are more varied, more subtle and less dangerous than I had feared – but dangerous they still are.Ĭampus views: When is a percentage not a percentage? The problem with HE marking practices Moving later to the UK, and specifically to a university with an internationally diverse student body, has allowed me to test my assumptions. I certainly encountered more resistance to my marking at the elite university where I trained than at the well-regarded state university where I first taught full-time. This image might be a caricature, but perhaps it contains a kernel of truth. We might associate the contestation of marks with a particular stereotype of American student – one bred for academic success, raised to believe that everything is negotiable in one’s favour, encouraged by ambitious parents never to settle. I also vowed to avoid being in such a position ever again. I didn’t have her confidence, and I can’t wink. When one of her friends walked by the cafe, she winked at them in greeting without breaking the flow of our conversation. But this student took me out to coffee – out to coffee! – to explain how I had underestimated her work. ![]() I still cringe to remember the moment when, as an inexperienced and nervous new graduate teaching assistant, one of my brightest students contested the mark I had given her essay.Īs many readers know, negotiating one’s grade is a familiar part of American university life. ![]() ‘Outrageous stories are still rare and laughable’ ![]()
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