[nabs-l] professors and preferential treatment

Fri Apr 22 19:37:33 UTC 2011

Jedi,
  It's too late to take it in any case- I decided to accept his offer
for two reasons.
1.  The final would've lowered my grade, because I didn't know the
material enough for it to stay at a B.  This was pretty much my
professor showing me mercy and cutting me a break which, although I
don't deserve, I'll accept because I'm reasonably certain he would've
given me if I had any other legitimate reason for taking the final
late excluding blindness.  (medical/family emergency, etc)
2.  The accommodations were definitely a legitimate reason to take the
final late.  I can say for certain I needed the accomodations I
requested, namely a human reader and the use of a braille writer.  And
the reader wasn't available during the regularly scheduled time
everyone else took the final.  So since I was taking the final late
for a legitimate reason, and my professor offered others taking the
final late the same chance he offered me to skip the final, I don't
feel like I'm cheating the system.  My professor's definitely cutting
me a lot of slack here, but I don't feel like I'm being dishonest by
taking it, and I certainly don't feel like he's doing this because I'm
blind.  But you make a very good point, and I definitely understand
where you're coming from on this one.
  Regards,
Kirt

On 4/22/11, Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
> I would take the final for two reasons. First, it would raise your
> grade and you would feel as though you've earned the raise regardless
> of what anyone says. Second, testing accommodations is never an excuse
> not to take a test regardless of how late it is, nor is the lateness in
> that case an excuse for your prof not to grade it. Just my two cents.
>
> Respectfully,
> Jedi
>
> Original message:
>> Arielle,
>>   Yes, I was going to take the final late because of alternative
>> testing procedures.  Since this class is pretty heavily mathematical,
>> I use a brailler and take the test with a TA as a scribe...so I work
>> out the problem in braille, then read the TA the problem.  For this
>> class, doing the test on a laptop just wouldn't be practical for me,
>> although I'll definitely keep the suggestion in mind for future
>> classes.
>>   So...yeah, the reason I would've taken the final late is
>> blindness-related.  In that regard, blindness was a factor, but I'm ok
>> with the arrangement my professor worked out.  Do any of you guys
>> think I shouldn't be?
>>   Take care,
>> Kirt
>
>> On 4/20/11, Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Kurt,
>>> I'm a little confused-did the final already happen for the rest of the
>>> students? If so, were you planning to take it later because of
>>> alternative testing procedures? Or, has your section's final not
>>> happened yet?
>>> You're definitely in a tough situation and I admire you for seeking
>>> the fair path rather than the easy one. I do have a couple of comments
>>> based on my past work as a teaching assistant. First, nowadays there
>>> is a lot of external pressure on professors to be lenient (sometimes
>>> overly so) in their grading. It does sound like this guy is generally
>>> very lenient in his grading for all students. Since he did say he
>>> offers grade adjustments to all students who repeat the class, it
>>> doesn't sound to me like blindness was a factor at all in the
>>> decision, unless, as I asked about above, you are taking the final
>>> later than everyone else because of your particular testing
>>> accommodations. This brings me to my second observation from teaching
>>> and that is that oftentimes professors don't like dealing with late
>>> tests. We tend to grade tests (and especially finals) all at once and
>>> so it takes some extra effort to grade the tests that come in later
>>> and add the new grades to the gradebook. I have TA'ed for professors
>>> who have waived students' late finals in order to avoid this extra
>>> hassle. So if you are needing to take the final exam late because of
>>> alternative testing procedures, it may well just be easier for your
>>> professor to not have to grade it.
>>> One way to avoid having to take tests late, if you don't already do
>>> this, is to request to take your tests on your laptop in the regular
>>> classroom. Your prof can email you the test, or give it to you on a
>>> thumb drive, and you can email it back. In my experience about 95% of
>>> professors are fine with this arrangement. This has the advantage that
>>> your test is received and scored at roughly the same time as everyone
>>> else's.
>>> Best of luck!
>>> Arielle
>
>>> On 4/20/11, bookwormahb at earthlink.net <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>> Kirt,
>>>> How good of you to ensure your grade is fair rather than out of sympathy
>>>> or
>>>> something because you're blind.
>>>> I'd say if the final would raise your grade then take it. But if it
>>>> would
>>>> be
>>>> lower, just go with the work you've already done.
>>>> Also another idea to earn the grade is extra work or doing the homework
>>>> you
>>>> missed for some credit.
>
>>>> Ashley
>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Kirt Manwaring
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 11:53 PM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] professors and preferential treatment
>
>>>> Dear nabs list,
>>>>   So here is my professor's reply to my email.  I'm accepting it, but
>>>> I feel a little guilty about doing so.  He offered to let me not count
>>>> the final exam because he offered the same to other students who were
>>>> taking the exam late.  I want to hear your guys' thoughts, I'm still a
>>>> little bit hesitant to do this even though I know I probably will.
>>>>   (message begins below)
>>>> Ahoy Kirt:
>
>>>> Thanks for your e-mails. Honestly, I can't say that your blindness was
>>>> not a factor in deciding your grade, but if it was, it wasn't
>>>> decisive. On your exams you averaged a B. True, you didn't do the
>>>> homework. That would have lowered your grade a full letter. But I
>>>> almost always raise, by one grade, the grade of any student who is
>>>> repeating the class--after listening to my corny jokes for two
>>>> semesters, I think they deserve it. So that brings us to the final. On
>>>> Monday, while we were grading the exams, two students who had medical
>>>> excuses to take the exam late, were just about to get started. I
>>>> basically told them, what [teachers aid name omitted] probably told
>>>> you, namely: I'm willing to give them the grade they had already
>>>> earned in the course so they didn't need to take the final unless they
>>>> wanted to or unless they thought they could improve their grade by
>>>> doing so. One of them got an A the other a C+, but they were both
>>>> content with the grade I offered them and neither took the final. So
>>>> if I cut you some extra slack on account of your blindness, it wasn't
>>>> much. You were graded pretty consistently with everyone else. If, at
>>>> some point, you would still like to take the final, you can tell
>>>> [teachers aid name omitted]--she has a copy just in case you want to
>>>> take it.
>
>>>> Hope that clarifies things a bit.
>
>>>> Cheers
>>>> [professor's name omitted]
>
>>>> On 4/20/11, Serena Cucco <serenacucco at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>>> Hi Kurt,
>
>>>>> I think you're doing the honorable thing by making sure your prof.
>>>>> isn't
>>>>> giving you a B just cuz you're blind and you might well be correct that
>>>>> he/she is.  I hope he/she learns from your honesty.  BTW, what
>>>>> accommodations did you use or know you should've used?  I'm wondering
>>>>> cuz
>>>>> I'm taking Stats this summer online through Rutgers.
>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Serena
>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>>>> Behalf
>>>>> Of Kirt Manwaring
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 7:35 PM
>>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] professors and preferential treatment
>
>>>>> Dear nabs list,
>>>>>   So I'm currently retaking a class I took last semester.  It's a
>>>>> logic class, which involves a lot of tables.  Last semester I took the
>>>>> class, I got a d+, mostly because I was lazy and didn't do all the
>>>>> homework, which made me bomb a few tests.  This semester I did enough
>>>>> in the class to probably get a grade in the C range...but today I
>>>>> found out the professor isn't requiring me to take the final and he's
>>>>> giving me a flat B in the class.  I'm putting a copy of the letter I
>>>>> sent this professor below my message here, I'd love to know what you
>>>>> think of it.  If he's giving me the B just to be merciful, as I know
>>>>> some professors do to students who struggle in classes (especially
>>>>> this professor, he gives students breaks and errs on the side of
>>>>> compassion when handing out grades to all his students), but I want to
>>>>> make sure him cutting me this slack has nothing to do with my
>>>>> blindness.  And I fear blindness is a factor...I'm not sure if this
>>>>> letter will prompt him to change his mind and give me the grade I
>>>>> deserve, but at least I tried.
>>>>> -------------
>>>>> Dear [professor's name omitted],
>>>>>  [teacher's aid's name omitted] just told me I'm not required to take
>>>>> the final and I'm
>>>>> getting a B in the class.  I apreciate the sentiment of what you're
>>>>> doing...and, honestly, a B would look much better on my GPA than what
>>>>> I probably deserve.  It would certainly be more advantageous for me to
>>>>> get a B in the class.  But I can't help feeling it's cheating me of a
>>>>> valuable learning experience, and here's why.
>>>>>  In retaking the class, I knew exactly what I was in for.  I still
>>>>> chose to be lazy and not do most of my homework.  In retaking the
>>>>> class, I was totally aware of the accomodations I needed to make with
>>>>> the course...and those accomodations were made in such a way as to
>>>>> pretty much make my blindness a non-factor.  Or at least a very
>>>>> minimal factor.
>>>>>  I knew exactly what I needed to do in the course to be successful,
>>>>> and I didn't do it all.  I did do better the second time around...but
>>>>> I honestly think my homework score the second semester taking the
>>>>> course was worse than it was the first time I took it.  If we're going
>>>>> purely by points, I'd probably deserve somewhere in the C range.  And
>>>>> I'm totally aware a B looks much better on my GPA.  But I didn't do
>>>>> the work to deserve that kind of grade.
>>>>>  If you're cutting me a break to be compassionate...I'm really not
>>>>> going to argue because I like having a B on my transcript.  But I feel
>>>>> a little uneasy about it because I know I don't deserve it and, were I
>>>>> not blind, I doubt you'd be quite so kind.  And I can honestly say my
>>>>> blindness wasn't the reason I gave you C quality work.  I know you've
>>>>> had blind students do amazing in your class before.  I know how to be
>>>>> successful as a blind student...I just didn't do everything I needed
>>>>> to to get a B grade.  And, although it's really attractive to me and
>>>>> I'm kicking myself for asking you this, I hope you'll reconsider and
>>>>> give me the grade I deserve rather than the grade I want.
>>>>>  Take care and thanks for the class,
>>>>> Kirt
>
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>
>
>>> --
>>> Arielle Silverman
>>> President, National Association of Blind Students
>>> Phone:  602-502-2255
>>> Email:
>>> nabs.president at gmail.com
>>> Website:
>>> www.nabslink.org
>
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