Creative Writing Essay: Kurt Wiesenfeld

Exam Instructions:



• Read the passage carefully and write an essay responding to the argument that the writer presents. In your essay, be sure to summarize the passage in your own words, stating the author’s premises and conclusion.

• Develop your essay by explaining if you think the author’s argument is persuasive or not persuasive. Support your reasons for this decision with evidence from the text and/or reasons why others may doubt the argument.

• You may consider including aspects of critical thinking such as fallacies, bias, types of premise, etc. when planning your response.



Making the Grade ( reade the article )

-by Kurt Wiesenfeld



I went to my office the day after final grades were posted, and there was a tentative knock on the door. "Professor Wiesenfeld? I took your Physics 2121 class? I flunked it? I was wonder if there's anything I can do to improve my grade?" I thought, "Why are you asking me? Isn't it too late to worry about it?”

After the student gave his tale of woe and left, the phone rang. "I got a D in your class. Is there any way you can change it to 'Incomplete'?" Then the e-mail assault began: "I'm shy about coming in to talk to you, but I'm not shy about asking for a better grade. Anyway, it's worth a try." The next day I had three phone messages from students asking me to call them. I didn't.

It used to be that when you received a grade, that was it. You might not like it, but you accepted it as the outcome of your efforts or lack of efforts (and, yes, sometimes a tough grader). In the last few years, however, some students have started behaving like disgruntled customers. If they don’t like their grade, they try to trade it in for something better.

What alarms me is their indifference towards grades as an indication of personal effort and performance. Many, when asked about why they think they deserve a better grade, admit they don’t deserve one, but they would like one anyway. They’ve learned that they can get by without hard work and real talent if they can talk the professor into giving them a break. There's a weird assumption that they can get (even deserve) a better grade simply by begging for it. With that outlook, I guess I shouldn’t be as shocked as I was that 12 students asked me to change their grades after final grades were posted. That’s 10 percent of my class who let three months of midterms, quizzes, and lab reports slide until it was too late.

Their arguments for getting better grades often ignore academic performance. Perhaps they feel it’s not relevant. "If my grade isn’t raised to a D I’ll lose my scholarship." "If you don’t give me a C, I’ll flunk out." One sincerely overwrought student pleaded, "If I don’t pass, my life is over." This is tough stuff to deal with. Apparently, they think I’m responsible for someone’s losing a scholarship, flunking out or deciding whether life has meaning.

These students had better take themselves seriously now, because our country will be forced to take them seriously later, when the stakes are much higher. They must recognize that their attitude is not only self-destructive, but socially destructive. The erosion of quality control – giving appropriate grades for actual accomplishments – is a major concern in my department. One colleague noted that a physics major could get a degree without ever answering a written exam question completely. How? By getting enough partial credit and extra credit. And by getting breaks on grades.

But what happens once she or he graduates and gets a job? Most of my students are science and engineering majors. If they're good at getting partial credit but not at getting the answer right, then the new bridge breaks or the new drug doesn't work. One finds examples in the real world. Last year a light tower in a stadium collapsed, killing a worker. It collapsed because an engineer miscalculated how much weight it could hold. A new 12-story building could develop dangerous cracks due to a foundation that's uneven by more than six inches. The error resulted from incorrect data being fed into a computer. (Should we give partial credit since no one was hurt?) Those are real-world consequences of errors and lack of expertise.

But the lesson is lost on the complaining 10 percent of students. When you say that you won't (not can’t, but won't) change the grade they deserve to what they want, they're frequently confused or angry. They don't think it's fair that they're judged according to their performance, not their desires or “potential.” They don't think it's fair that they should jeopardize their scholarships or be in danger of flunking out simply because they could not or did not do their work. But it's more than fair; it is necessary to help preserve a minimum standard of quality that our society needs to maintain safety and integrity.