Comments on: Paying for Grades http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/11/paying-for-grades/ Economics, Politics, Entertainment and Life in Academia Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:41:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Ritesh http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/11/paying-for-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-5254 Ritesh Tue, 04 May 2010 03:32:23 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=1138#comment-5254 Hi Dave, You surely make sense as an educator. Though I've never learnt economics formally, but I will do in future and I also appreciate the fact that you take so much of pain in making things tangible for students and try to relate to it real world and hence easy to understand. About the concept, it will be great concept and would love to be part of such a class. Regards, Ritesh Arora Hi Dave,

You surely make sense as an educator. Though I’ve never learnt economics formally, but I will do in future and I also appreciate the fact that you take so much of pain in making things tangible for students and try to relate to it real world and hence easy to understand. About the concept, it will be great concept and would love to be part of such a class.

Regards,
Ritesh Arora

]]> By: Nik Drescher http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/11/paying-for-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-4239 Nik Drescher Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:41:49 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=1138#comment-4239 If the good the student uses to pay for that shirt/pass is something everyone has equal access to it could work. Like say they have to donate 25 hours to Habitat for Humanity or write three extra papers (you would have to have a way see if they are actually working or writing a good paper though). Now some people would say "Those of us who work 40 hours a week and have a family will not have equal access." Well they would be right, screw them. I had a teacher who did this in a round about way (not at NMU). He passed out a sheet once or twice a month asking for volunteers for projects (H4H, Honor Flight, Food Kitchen). He said volunteering for these projects would be worth our while (he never said exactly what would happen though). He was at everyone of these projects and you got time to talk to him, get to know him, but also for him to get to know you (which I feel has a slight ability to "change" grades sometimes depending on the prof). It came time for the final and he called off a list of names of people who had gone to at least 1 of these projects. He told each of us on that list to write a one and half to two page paper on what we learned on the volunteer projects. The rest of the class got the real test. Over half of the class had gone to one of the projects. The end effect was that we, the students, helped people, we helped the community, we increased the good will towards the university (and towards the Prof), and some of the students who had never done something like that before had their eyes opened to something they had not seen before. Now the students who did not go to those projects might have thrown a shit storm, but the head of the department basically said "There were multiple opportunities for you to be able to help out. You were selfish. You screwed yourself." A big contributor towards this was there was a news article from the local paper about the university students helping out at a Soup Kitchen. Depending upon the class you can say that a student should be graded beyond just how much they study, how much they can learn, or how well they compute a problem. A couple of the students at these projects got job offers out of them because they usually (coincidentally) were on the same day that a major local business was doing this. I think there are ways a teacher can trade a grade for some sort of service from a student as long as that opportunity is provided equally to all students. I'm a cheapskate, I would probably not pay more than $10 for a grade, other people work a lot or have kids, they might now be able to study 10 hours a week to get a high mark (or they could just be "slower"), and yet other students place a higher priority on other classes or activities (Thursday night drinking was higher up than my Friday morning Math Class). If the good the student uses to pay for that shirt/pass is something everyone has equal access to it could work. Like say they have to donate 25 hours to Habitat for Humanity or write three extra papers (you would have to have a way see if they are actually working or writing a good paper though). Now some people would say “Those of us who work 40 hours a week and have a family will not have equal access.” Well they would be right, screw them.
I had a teacher who did this in a round about way (not at NMU). He passed out a sheet once or twice a month asking for volunteers for projects (H4H, Honor Flight, Food Kitchen). He said volunteering for these projects would be worth our while (he never said exactly what would happen though).
He was at everyone of these projects and you got time to talk to him, get to know him, but also for him to get to know you (which I feel has a slight ability to “change” grades sometimes depending on the prof). It came time for the final and he called off a list of names of people who had gone to at least 1 of these projects. He told each of us on that list to write a one and half to two page paper on what we learned on the volunteer projects. The rest of the class got the real test. Over half of the class had gone to one of the projects.
The end effect was that we, the students, helped people, we helped the community, we increased the good will towards the university (and towards the Prof), and some of the students who had never done something like that before had their eyes opened to something they had not seen before.
Now the students who did not go to those projects might have thrown a shit storm, but the head of the department basically said “There were multiple opportunities for you to be able to help out. You were selfish. You screwed yourself.” A big contributor towards this was there was a news article from the local paper about the university students helping out at a Soup Kitchen.
Depending upon the class you can say that a student should be graded beyond just how much they study, how much they can learn, or how well they compute a problem. A couple of the students at these projects got job offers out of them because they usually (coincidentally) were on the same day that a major local business was doing this.
I think there are ways a teacher can trade a grade for some sort of service from a student as long as that opportunity is provided equally to all students. I’m a cheapskate, I would probably not pay more than $10 for a grade, other people work a lot or have kids, they might now be able to study 10 hours a week to get a high mark (or they could just be “slower”), and yet other students place a higher priority on other classes or activities (Thursday night drinking was higher up than my Friday morning Math Class).

]]> By: Benjamin Seghers http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/11/paying-for-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-4238 Benjamin Seghers Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:21:37 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=1138#comment-4238 It's an interesting concept, but I disagree with it on ethical grounds. Selling participation shirts or simply selling 100% on homework is essentially the same thing (minus the tangible good, which is irrelevant really). In my opinion, it really goes against some fundamental academic principles, namely that students should earn their grades through academic work not by paying off professors or other students. Whether or not the payer suffers in poorer intellect and lower exam scores is irrelevant to me. I don't find it very different from bribery. It’s an interesting concept, but I disagree with it on ethical grounds. Selling participation shirts or simply selling 100% on homework is essentially the same thing (minus the tangible good, which is irrelevant really). In my opinion, it really goes against some fundamental academic principles, namely that students should earn their grades through academic work not by paying off professors or other students. Whether or not the payer suffers in poorer intellect and lower exam scores is irrelevant to me. I don’t find it very different from bribery.

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