As Barber explained to a somewhat incredulous audience Wednesday: Florida State is what she believes to be the only institution in the country that fines its professors when they turn grades in late at semester’s end. The tab: $10 per grade.
“We charge for every grade for every student that is not turned in by our deadline,” Barber said, adding, slowly for emphasis: “I’ll say that again: Every grade for every student that is not turned in by our deadline.”
Hat tip to Instapundit.
At the college level, I think that's a fair charge. I have known professors who delay grading until the last minute, leaving students wondering if they will have the prerequisites for other classes. So that's a problem. In most public schools, we deal with a variety of computer hosting issues, so that some teachers end up having their grades lost in cyberspace only to return later. That's a technical issue that is a problem at the server, not a problem with the teacher. I will say that one of the biggest complaints I have is that many of my incoming freshmen don't seem to understand deadlines because middle school teachers would give progress grades as opposed to project completion grades. If teachers are expected to have such deadline penalties, then students should as well. And vice-versa.
ReplyDeleteSee my comment on that article.
ReplyDeleteGood comment. I added a bit to it in my own comment.
ReplyDeleteI see nothing at all wrong with that charge. If we do nothing else as professors, we should at least be able to get students' grades in on time.
ReplyDeleteSure, it takes more up-front planning at the start of the semester (i.e., making sure you collect the 'final papers' in each of your classes well enough before grades are due). And sure, there can be emergencies, like getting sick or something (though I suspect there'd be leniency in that case).
But I'm getting kind of tired of a society that pats every screw-up on the head and says, "That's okay, you can't POSSIBLY be expected to fulfill your responsibilities."