For everyone talking about how this would be changing the rules in the middle of the course, wasn’t the hypo in the OP that one of the university rules was that professors could do this sort of thing? It seems like the student would be gaming the system at his or her own risk.
The OP said disciplinary action. That read different to me than changing the rules for the class. I can take disciplinary action for someone who is rude in class or cheats, or blows off class (if attendance is required), but that to me was different than changing the rules.
True. But it makes for a very far-out hypothetical – essentially students at that institution would not know what action may result in what level of sanctions, and the faculty themselves may not or may impose wildly varying standards, so that’s a horribly badly set up system of academic discipline.
Were I to have that power or authority as presented in the hypothetical? No, still I would not fail them for it, unless I had alerted them of this ahead of time (and since in the hypothetical I have absolute power to do so at my sole discretion, nothing would prevent me from saying so on the last day of class, would it?). I expect them to be sensible enough to never dare ask me for a letter of recommendation (“Prof, you KNOW I can hack it”;“Yeah, and I ALSO know you will coast as soon as YOU think it’s good enough”); but if I did not lay down for them what are the terms of this interaction and what the consequences are of falling short, and they pull a fast one on me while my head’s up my fundament, I will not punish them to avenge my wounded pride.
Not only that, but while academics do generally have the freedom to run their classes, and to set the rules that the students have to follow, this sort of independence is not the same thing as changing rules arbitrarily during the semester.
I’m allowed to set a rule whereby the students cannot pass the class if they miss the final exam, but if i did it retroactively (i.e., decided to fail the students AFTER they had already missed the exam), and without any warning or any indication that this was the rule for the class, i’d probably be overturned on appeal.
And rightly so. I’m a firm believer in professional and pedagogical autonomy for faculty, but we should each be transparent about what the rules are in our classes so that students know what to expect.
I understand what everyone is saying, but college (at least in theory) is preparing students for a future career.
Imagine if a company required an 80% performance metric for certain tasks. You have an employee who performs the first four tasks flawlessly. Then on the fifth, an arguably the most important task, he decides to stay home and drink. When you question him about his absence, he accuses you of changing the rules in the middle of the game because the company handbook clearly states that 80% performance is sufficient.
I don’t believe that it reflects well on a student who completely blows off an entire portion of the course. It violates the spirit of the rule, and I can understand a professor who would want to fail the student.
Why not? The nursery says the plants have to be watered at least four days each week. I water them Mon through Thu. If the boss suddenly says, “Why didn’t you water them on Friday?” I’m going to ask when the rules got changed.
Only if that’s specified in the university rules in the first place. Don’t go adding new terms to contracts unilaterally.
(By the way, you owe my fifty dollars. New term in the contract.)
I’ll question this as well. It’s up to the employer to spell out what they want the employee to do. It isn’t up to the employee to try to do things the employer hasn’t asked. There are jobs where doing more than was asked in certain areas could be detrimental to the task. If the employer wants something done a certain way, it’s up to the employer to spell that out. While it might be wise for the employee to ask for guidance about a task they perceive as major, it’s not necessarily true that the employer expects the employee to work on that particular task.
It’s the same way with the professor. If the professor communicates clear expectations, the students can decide how they choose to perform to those expectations.
Then you need to be clear that you require an 80% performance metric for *each *task.
I may be given a wide rubric like, “paperwork is due on Friday”, (which I am) and then it *is *up to me when and how hard I work on that. If I can get it all done by Wednesday and sip margaritas by the pool Thursday and drive in with my paperwork on Friday…ain’t nothin’ wrong with that, and I’ve got a boss that agrees. But each paper much be filled out 100% before it is turned in, and they all must be turned in on the day the boss says.
if you’re trying to instill a work ethic in college, you’re about 20 years too late. Work ethic is built before kindergarten.
Agreed. Some of my courses specify this because a pass at x level is required (for example, for state job certification associated with the class). Other courses are more holistic. It’s the instructor’s job to be specific about criteria. This results in a long syllabus, but a clear one.