Came across this article Opinion | No, You Don’t Get an A for Effort – The New York Times by Adam Grant. The NYT article is behind the paywall: here is his LinkedIn post.
My 1st thought:
Actually, once I did receive an “A” mostly due to my effort – please don’t try to extrapolate and apply to your situation though. It was during my graduate school, and I thought I was going to get a “C” or worse because I didn’t do well in the tests (in one test, I scored 30 or something out of 100). But the professor knew that I tried: both homework and the tests. At the end he still gave me an “A”.
Not all the professors in my graduate school were as nice. I received “B” and “C” one each in the fall semester of 2000 when I started working full time (10/2000), at the same time attending the two classes in the evenings. I received all “A” for my graduate school classes until then.
My 2nd thought:
The table turned about 26 years later. Last school year, as a teacher, actually I tend to agree. Sometimes students could be overly obsessed with the grade. Last school year I had 1st hand experience: I gave the initial grades to the students per my assessments. Quickly a student emailed me to complain. I quickly backed down and gave everyone the same grade: A. I was a parttime adjunct professor and I’m not in a mood to argue with someone – in a way this is similar to arguing with someone on Internet.
PS: I am aware in the HS the grades also matter in college application and admission. In the HS that my 14 year old goes to, because it’s a top public HS in the state, they compete on the number of AP courses completed too: which I don’t think it’s a good idea.
(Update 12-28-2024) Came across this one Trump responds after Elon Musk escalates his feud with MAGA loyalists over H-1B visas. And let me quote Marc Benioff, CEO and founder of Salesforce: “Can we staple a US green card to every degree earned at an American university?”
If the policy above is implemented, I would not be surprised some International students may bribe the American professors via bitcoin.