curses

[rivendellrose]

I love going to a TA or professor with a complaint that I find very very valid, and being told "oh, yeah, it was the same way last quarter."

...Huh?

No, I'm sorry - I think you've misunderstood something, here. If the grader is knocking off points on my homework for answers that read exactly like what you, the TA, just explained to us as the correct answer, there is a problem. No, I'm not some kind of hyperactive entitlement-bitch sophomore who thinks she's so damned smart she can't possibly be wrong, and if it was legitimate I would not have the slightest issue with getting a 16/20 on a homework. I'm in my 5th year. I don't fucking care. If I legitimately get something wrong, that's fine.

If, however, I get points knocked off because your grader is an anal-retentive bastard who apparently wanted a fucking essay of explanation for every question, despite the fact that the instructions said to be brief, I get a little twitchy. Especially when two other girls in our section immediately came over to tell me they felt the same way. And not getting the first homework back until the next one is due, thus fucking over 2 weeks because of an ass-hole grader who can't seem to understand a simple fucking one-sentence explanation of an answer? Not cool at all.

You go ahead and talk to the prof, nice-but-ineffectual-TA. I'm going to do the same. This is one of those few times when I get the "no, actually, I pay you" attitude about teachers. I do the work, I get graded appropriately. That's the deal, and that's how it's gonna go.

Comments

[scearley.livejournal.com]

The TA is not the grader?
Holy crap. I went to the wrong graduate school. Not only did I have to grade my own class material but my prof's as well.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Nope. This happens sometimes at the UW, in really big classes. 200-level statistics, being a basic requirement for a whole ton of social science majors... yeah, it's a big class. So they have a grader, probably some other statistics grad who's too socially inept to get a job as a TA. *Growls*

[scearley.livejournal.com]

mine was Intro to Philosophy at an engineering school. 60 science geeks asking "why do I have to learn this crap?" and not understanding why they're wrong.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can imagine that was a very unique kind of hell on earth. :P

[scourgeotheseas.livejournal.com]

It makes no sense to me that you have classes where the TA is different from the grader. I grade my classes' assignments - if I messed up an explanation, I can be more lenient. You should mention this in your eval at the end of the qtr, and perhaps write a letter to the dept.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, it'll be getting mentioned, believe me. I've had classes where the grader is different from the instructor before (one case where it was essays being graded like that!), but this is the first time I've had a serious problem with it. Totally insane.

[scourgeotheseas.livejournal.com]

And you'd be surprised how seriously those evals are taken...just a thought.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Good to know. We're always told how seriously they're considered, but in the really huge classes sometimes it's hard to imagine someone genuinely considering all the opinions.

[freesnowcone.livejournal.com]

That's weird. I also grade 90% of my classes' assignments. And with the ones I don't grade (it's a class with 150+ students and we have undergrad assistants do the basic scoring), the professor himself looks over the scores and changes them accordingly.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's very strange. My TA as much as told us "oh, the grader is very hard" and didn't really respond at all when I read aloud what I'd written and which exactly matched the way she'd just explained the answer. I understand she personally can't do anything, and she said she'd talk to the prof about it, but I can't stand getting the feeling that concerns about fair grading don't seem to be taken seriously.

[freesnowcone.livejournal.com]

But if she's the TA, she really should be able to do something about it. I would think her decisions would override any silly little grader's decisions... That's how it works for me, anyway. My word overrules everyone's but the professor's. I get the feeling that fair grading concerns aren't being taken seriously there, either. D:< Here's hoping you get this craziness straightened out!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

You'd think so, wouldn't you? Possibly there's a cultural thing going on here - the TA is from China and has only been in this country a few years - or possibly this is just the way statistics is run here. Either way, I'll be making the appropriate complaints, you can be sure.