Doing what is asked of you is a C?

[Rednog]

Meh, university teachers are always a little odd. I had (and to some degree still do) teachers who are like for every hour in class you should spend 2-4 hours at home studying per subject. My shortest class is an hour and a half and my longest is 3 hours and I have 4 classes. Just for that single 3 hours class I should spend between 6 and 12 hours studying?!
I know a university student's main priority is to study and learn but imo teachers should be spending the majority of the time going over the main concepts in class and the book/home study should either be for 1) If you don't get the material in class you can learn it from the book or 2) The book is supplementary material.

 

[El Dwarfio]

SNIP

Seems like a nice guy, I've got a professor who leaps on my every typo, vocally disagrees with every opinion I voice, tears my work apart in frontof the class and then....

...Grudgingly has to give me full marks because despite all that, my work is fucking good and if he didn't I would report his ass. Damn socialist, ecofemenist rant machines.

OT: Too be fair his attitude isn't completely unwarranted, if your not prepared to do more than the minimum required of you then how are you supposed to stand out against the hordes of unemployed goons that wander the streets these days?

 

[crudus]

What I wanted to ask you guys is if you agree with this statement: "Doing exactly what you're asked is average work, and will be rewarded with a C, an average grade."

Thoughts?

Personally I think it is bullshit, but I am a military man and even grew up in a military environment(via grandparents).

I had a teacher like this. I decided at some point to have fun. I decided to follow him word-for-word and did twice what he asked for while still missing the entire point of what he was getting at.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

"Doing exactly what you're asked is average work, and will be rewarded with a C, an average grade."

Hi. Teacher here - been teaching English at a University for six years.

Doing the requirements (exactly what you're told) is the definition of a C. That's 75%.

That's pretty universal at the college level. Cause, see, if you DON'T do what you're told, you get an F.

So yeah, your teacher may have not said it in a "nice" way, but that's exactly correct.

Therefore, you are indeed wrong to be insulted or upset. That's just how it is.

 

[lacktheknack]

No, that's right.

Heh, in MY old university, I found out the hard way that doing the bare minimum would probably net you a D (I flunked out over that). Employers aren't looking for someone who does exactly what they're told to, no more and no less, they're looking for someone who will go out of their way to do better. Your teacher is prepping you for the real world, which is what school SHOULD be about.

 

[Signa]

As long as there is a rubric to aim for an A, I think it's OK. Just doing as you are told and being given a C seems unfair. Otherwise, without a rubric anything above a C is arbitrarily decided by your teacher if you met B or A grades. You can't run a structured grading system like that.

 

[Little2Raph]

I've found this to be a fairly standard attitude, both at university and later on in the workplace. If you just do "what is asked of you" then you will receive an average grade (or performance review), but if you show some initiative and go above and beyond merely what is asked then you will recieve better grades and be more likely to be promoted. I think the idea is to encourage people to actually think about what they're doing, take an interest in their work or their job, and try and excel - rather than just drift along effectively letting other people think for them and tell them what to do.

Maybe that might sound unfair, but in my experience the workplace (and university as well) is full of lazy slobs who won't lift a finger to do anything unless they're "told to do it". For example, I work with a guy who will quite happily sit on his arse and not bother to do an important piece of analysis (I work in a quality control lab) simply because he wasn't told to do it. Meanwhile the client has to halt production because he doesn't have his results in time, which costs both time and money, all because some this guy can't be bothered thinking for himself, using his initiative and doing what has to be done without being told.

In reality it just boils down to work ethic. If the majority do an average job and only wait to be told to do things, then we wind up with an average way of doing business, an average economy, and people start to realise they can get things done quicker and cheaper if they go offshore. That's half the reason why the economies of most western countries are in the toilet and why they're being eaten alive by the Chinese. . .

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well that is approximately how it worked in my day, however it was always defined work X will get you an average, work Y for above average, and work Z for top grades.
Now work X was usually simple enough you could actually do it in class and maybe add a little something at home, Y and Z were the ones where you properly invested extra time.

There were still some old farts that just graded you on how their arthritis felt that day, but for the most part it was clear what you need to do to get the right grade.

 

[McMullen]

I think it's fairly good prep for the job market at least. If you only do what's asked, then you had better have good connections. To get in because of talent, you need to go beyond that. There are lots of people competing for opportunities, careers, and other finite resources, and to get them you're eventually going to have to show that you can't just do the job, you can do it better than all those others can.

So yeah, a C is merely doing what's asked.

 

[zerobudgetgamer]

Well, first off, what's the class? The concept of "doing what is asked and then some" can differ greatly depending on what sort of class this is. If this is a Math Class, for instance, I'd say the dude was full of crap because telling you to do the following problems out of the book, doing them all perfectly, and getting a C for that just doesn't make sense.

If this is a Science, History, or English class, basically something where the homework is far more essay-based than "answer the questions in the book," then he actually has some merit. In classes like these, I knew a LOT of people who, in both High School and College, were more focused on how many pages they had to write, the size of font they could use, the spacing, etc., all so they knew how little they actually had to write. They haven't even gotten the damn subject yet and they're already trying to think of ways to cut it down to the bare minimum. Now, obviously, when he says "do exactly what you're told" I think he's talking about the above, when he gives you a range of pages you need to write, and all you do is the lower end of the range. Obviously, he's not asking for you to write a thesis paper every week - hell, most teachers will actually discourage people to go very far over the given range - he just wants to make sure you're actually doing good work.

Still, though, a little clarification would be nice. Again, the type of class you're in makes a world of difference.

 

[McMullen]

If you do then you are likely to do well in life later on, your job will almost certainly have you doing things you wouldn't choose to. Putting in extra effort will get you promoted if you push for it too. It's a good habit to get into.

Or get identified by someone your boss sees as a threat to their own position, resulting in no end of misery and finally thrown under a bus in order to keep their own position secure.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the voice of cynicism. Don't listen to it. Yes, that shit can happen, but if you're that kind of person you can either find a way to avoid it and expose that asshole of a boss for what he is, or get kicked out and go on to bigger and better things than serving time in a mediocre, thankless job for the remainder of your working life.

Bosses like that make you look back on the day he fired you as one of the best days of your life.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

It's a bullshit statement that teachers use because how do you describe average. I will give you a good example. Say that you want me to bring the groceries into the house and put them away. It's an easy task and I do as I am told with no mistakes. I put everything where you want it and you come up to me with a pissed off look on your face. So while I was putting away the groceries you got mad because I didn't juggle oranges after I was done. It's stupid reasoning because some things can only be done by following the rules. I think you should grade him at the end of the year. Slap a C- onto his desk and tell him that the reason he got it was because he didn't break dance into the classroom.

I like this post.

What's he getting at, anyway? I'm not sure if he's saying you should excel at what you're asked to do or just do random shit outside of what he asks in the vane hope that something you do impresses him.

The way it sounds, it's like if one of my mathematics professors gave me a problem to solve, and after solving it quickly and flawlessly, I get stuck with a C because I didn't write an essay on the discovery of the methods I employed. With my feet.

 

[Kriptonite]

I don't see a problem with that. C is average so that's what you get when you do an average amount of work. You know that, so do something about it.

 

[evilneko]

I'd say it depends on the course, or even the particular assignment. In an English Comp class I'd say it's perfectly fine. In anything more objective, I'd be rightly pissed about it.

 

[axlryder]

I'll go against the grain and agree that this seems unfair, but I'll explain myself as to why. You see, these days it's expected that you get all A's if you want to qualify for quite a few scholarships. Even if you don't need a 4.00 to actually qualify, teachers these days (or at least from what I've seen) grade easy, in general, so a 4.00 GPA isn't exactly rare. That being said, someone having a less than 4.00 likely doesn't have much of a shot at a scholarship which takes grades into account, given how many others students probably already applied that DO have a 4.00 (plus whatever else). So, from a purely financial perspective, it's potentially forcing a kid who might have a big workload otherwise to not make that 4.00 that they might need in the future. I blame the standards and general attitude currently in place, as, like I said before, most teachers hand out A's so easily that seeing a 4.00 on a scholarship committee isn't particularly exemplary or rare.

TL;DR: he could be costing some students their competitive edge in regards to scholarships due to his unusually high grading standards that some students might not be able to meet for various reasons.

Now, if you're actually in college, yeah, stop whining.

 

[Yopaz]

That does sound reasonable enough. If you want to get good grades you should work for more than what is asked for and more depth. However you should be made aware of his grading system. If we did exactly what we were told to we had chances of getting something along the lines of a D.

 

[DkLnBr]

I thought thats how it was supposed to be. C was average, B was above average, D was below, and A was putting in 120%. so if you just do the bare minimum, then shouldnt that be just average? I dont know why people just EXPECT straight A's all the time (Honour students the exception of course)

 

[Twilight_guy]

C means you did exactly the required minimum and put in no additional effort at all. D means you couldn't do the minimum completely and F means you are far below the minimum. If you follow the requirements to the letter and knock off the instant you have the bare minimum then yes a C is the correct grade.

 

[FalloutJack]

Hello Escapists, long time no see in the forums.

Anyway, I have a bit of situation I wanted your opinions on.

The new semester just started, and I find myself with a teacher who... Well, I don't like him. The general consensus seems to be he's a self centered jerk, but that's besides the point. What I wanted to ask you guys is if you agree with this statement: "Doing exactly what you're asked is average work, and will be rewarded with a C, an average grade."

Thoughts?

Personally, I don't like it. Maybe that's because my grade is on the line, but still, it just doesn't seem like a good way to grade. If I'm asked to do a certain amount of work, and I do it, I'm really going to be rewarded with a C? I don't know, that seems like a little spit in the face to me.

But again, that's just me. Am I wrong on this one? Please, tell me if I am.

Also, feel free to share stories of teachers you haven't exactly hit it off with. I love reading the silly stuff that teachers can do sometimes.

I never wrote what merely panders to a professor. I wrote what is true or makes sense or is entertaining (dependent on the class) and stuck with my guns. My diploma reflects that this practice worked out in the end.