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This made me mad so I'm making a thread. First things first, please check your privilege. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to work in their own home, which we are all now stuck inside of potentially indefinitely. (1/14) https://twitter.com/HilltopViews/status/1246871475774091270
Additionally, if a student has a difficult home life situation, it is extremely insensitive and presumptuous to say that they should outline their situation to their professor in the hope that their professor will be sympathetic. (2/14)
I shouldn't have to outline my trauma surrounding being at home so my professor doesn't just think I'm lazy. That's a horrible thing to ask of someone. Plus, everyone is under an ENORMOUS amount of stress and it's irresponsible to pretend people can just work like normal. (3/14)
Professors: if your student's grades just dropped for "no reason," consider: 1) they may have just moved back to an old environment and are having trouble with the switch, be compassionate 2) lots of students are watching the world they were about to go into be destroyed. (4/14)
For my last point and the real reason I wrote all this out: It is very irresponsible to act like Double A and Pass/Fail are the only 2 alternatives to traditional letter grading. There does exist a 3rd option: ABC. (5/14)
Everyone passes and gets credit for their class, and there is still the differentiation between As, Bs, and Cs. This preserves the letter grades graduate and medical schools want, but also gives students a cushion if they are in a situation were they truly can't work. (6/14)
Sure, some people will exploit the system to take the C and stop working. But please, when considering the way a system works in this time, think of the students in difficult situations. This is not a normal semester. You cannot question a student's work ethic during this. (7/14)
If that isn't enough, take a look at my case. I live with a criminal. I do not want to publicly share details about this, but I am scared of him. He lives in the room next to me. No one else in my house believes he is a criminal. (8/14)
I am also constantly misgendered by my entire family, and they have said to my face that my gender is "horse shit." I get yelled at if I correct anybody on my name or my pronouns. (9/14)
My house also consistently smells like weed, I'm not allowed to turn lights on without an explanation, and I have near constant headaches when I'm here. I'm now quarantined in this house indefinitely and still expected to work like everything is normal. (10/14)
I'm also a senior graduating this semester. I'm a B student and I work very hard to maintain my GPA after I failed 2 classes freshman year due to a medical situation. I have been admitted to a graduate program, but I fear my "slipping" grades will prevent me from going. (11/14)
All of this to say: STUDENTS ARE GOING THROUGH SOME SHIT RIGHT NOW. We have to be compassionate and recognize that we can't expect the same performance out of them that we're used to, and not every student can outline for you why their performance changed. (12/14)
One thing is constant in this: we are going through a pandemic right now and I personally am a bit more concerned about the possibility of my dad, 5 of my friends, and my grandparents (all immunocompromised) dying horrible deaths from this virus than I am about my grades. (13/14)
Ok, I'm done. Stay inside, wash your hands, wear a LAYERED fabric mask if you have to go outside, and wash it immediately after coming back in. Everyone please stay safe, best of luck to you all. (14/14)
