I am a sick and pathetic teacher.

I finished grading everything for one of my classes. Come to find out every student made either a C or D, disregarding the one that stop coming to class and only showed up for the final who lord be told got an unexpected “F”.

Here is the problem. I dont like this fact. My grading scale is strange to begin with and it usually works well*. I mean nearly 8 classes of teaching and I have only had this happen this time. I usually get a couple of A’s, a few more B’s, whole shit load of C’s and then the occasional D or F for the deserving student. So why the lack of A’s and B’s. Well it seems my students didnt do so well on the papers and many that did, did not do so well on the homework (such as not doing it.)

So whats the problem you ask? Well Im currently playing with the figures and the numbers to see if I can change curve the class without passing the ones who didnt do the work to pass. This is wrong in my opinion. I shouldnt be messing with weights to see who will pass and who will not. I use a grading rubric to eliminate bias. I grade hard because damnit someone should. Oh fucking hell I hate this shit. I feel terrible when I know a student tried their best and only got a 73 / C. I can justify it with rational talk such as well the student would have made a low C in another class. And the students who made a 60 or below would have failed in another class, but they are passing with a C. I know, I know. But it still upsets the fuck out of me.

*My grading scale:
90-100 – A — reasoning — its hard to get an A in fact you have to do above the call of duty to get an A
75-89 – B — reasoning — somone who makes a few mistakes but hits the major areas — Content and Organization can swing a B. Its not impossible, but it requires effort.
55-74 – C — reasoning — if you work hard but cant quite grasp something or have small errors that keep repeating, I can nail you hard for them and you can still walk away with a C.
45-54 – D — reasoning — D means you have major problems, it should hurt but not to the exten where you cant come out of it. Depending on the number of assignments. One or Two D’s does not mean the end of the world.
0-44 – F — reasoning — If a student scores an F, they presented a paper which shows either a need for serious help and maybe a second try at the class or an unwillingness to do what is needed.

The grading rubric breaks the areas I grade for into 5 areas – Content and Organization, both of which have a multiple of 5; Syntax, which has a multiple of 4; and Diction and Grammar, Mechanics, and Format, which both have a multiple of 3. Within each category, the student can get a grade of 1-5 which is multiplied to the multiple. This allows the student to realize that working on Content and Organization will benefit them more than working on the others, although they are harder to fix than the others. This rubric is the main reason it takes me so long to grade papers.

*edited for spelling error — I knew cubric didnt sound right but it was long day*