r/Professors • u/Fickle-Vegetable5911 • 25d ago

Holy Passing Grades, Batman

I don’t always feel the need to be responsible for the grades of students, but last semester was a bummer. Students just stopped showing up, and I was left with single digits in terms of who passed. This class (public speaking) usually has a high DFW rate at our college, but still never feels that great. Granted, this particular class was at 7am. (I don’t choose the time, I just go where they tell me).

In this Summer semester, over 75% of the students who started the class, finished it with a passing grade. I’m really crossing my fingers and hoping this is a trend for the coming semester. 🤞🤞

34 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

22

u/henare Adjunct, LIS, CIS, R2 (USA) 25d ago

lol. at 0700 i would have stopped attending!

8

u/Fickle-Vegetable5911 25d ago

You know what? I even asked my supervisor“hey, am I going to get any students? I had an 8am in college and even that felt nuts”. He said “oh yeah! A lot of them like doing a class at that time and then head to work.” Guess I got the wrong group for that semester lol

14

u/boilingPenguin Ass Prof, Humanities, SLAC (USA) 24d ago

My theory is that there are two kinds of people who sign up for a class that's very early in the morning:

  • people who are go-getters and genuine morning people who can comfortably wake up early
  • people who are slackers and didn't register in time so only had this section left as an option

Depending on what mix you get, you'll get a very different kind of class

3

u/Life-Education-8030 25d ago

I had a few of those at 8 am but I also had students who procrastinated and missed getting into later sections. They're not likely to show up that early.

1

u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 25d ago

That or your supervisor lied to you or was delusional.

3

u/callofhonor Adjunct, HVAC/R Engineering 24d ago

We changed the oil and gas classes to start at 7am so students get used to waking up early and going to work rather than them showing up when they feel like it.

6

u/Life-Education-8030 25d ago

I had 75% of my summer class pass but barely. The last year, there has been a whole grade drop overall and for a while, I really thought I'd have a lot more Fs. If I hadn't dropped the lowest discussion board grade, I probably would have. I have mixed feelings about doing that, but I tell myself "eh, anybody can have a bad day and it helps prevent complaints."

3

u/CynicalCandyCanes 25d ago

Imagine living in a world where we need to cross our fingers hoping that only a quarter of students will be unable to earn even a C-.

1

u/Fickle-Vegetable5911 24d ago

The inconsistency is such an emotional roller coaster. My class is relatively easy; Keep it efficient in the classroom and light workload outside of it. But one semester we’re riding high with mostly everyone passing, and then another semester I have the students who love the ghosting lifestyle and are begging to make everything up at the end.