Professor’s Creates A Bizarre Grading “Contract” And Student Finds A Creative Way To Get Around It. – ‘I decided I had nothing to lose.’

Humans have been teaching and learning for thousands of years, so you would think there’s a pretty good blueprint for how to do it now.

There’s always someone who wants to reinvent the wheel, though, even if they have no idea how.

OP had one of those professors in college. She didn’t give people much guidance, and asked that they just go along and figure it out.

Last semester I had to take a class from a professor who wasn’t bad as being incompetent, but definitely was one of those “I have a new way to teach that I developed” kind of professors.

She also gave the vaguest instructions on what she did want in her turned in work, and didn’t believe in study guides as she wanted to encourage “reading the material”.

Honestly I got more out of the book than her class, and buying the book alone would have been far cheaper.

Trying to get direction out of this lady was worse than trying to pull teeth, met with mostly “do your best”.

She also had a “grading contract” with some bizarre and hard-to-follow rules about what your work would earn you at the end of the semester.

On top of this she apparently handed out a “grading contract” on the first day to everyone we had to sign and return, I missed this due to being sick so I didn’t get it until later.

Said contract basically boiled down to indicating what grade you wanted at the start of the semester. You either met the conditions for that grade, or you would fail.

So basically by saying you wanted an A you either met the qualifications for an A or you would fail even if you could have gotten a B or C instead. If you decided to play it safe with saying you wanted a C, even if you exceeded and would normally get a B or A you would just get a C.

Since OP had some health issues at the outset of the semester, she was behind the 8-ball. She buckled down and did her best to catch up.

So to cut out a lot of the drama of the semester, two things. First being I had surgery at the beginning of the semester.

Second is I was working full time while at school to pay for said school. Both ended up with me missing a lot of work, and normally I would just cut my losses except I am very close to my degree and my professor said I could make up the work. Otherwise I would fail and need to retake the class anyway in the spring.

So I decided I had nothing to lose and buckled down with basically getting next to no sleep for weeks, I had over a month and a half at least amount of work and two weeks to do it in.

The professor still wanted her to sign the contract, and after some negotiation, she decided to accept a lower grade and not do the final, because she was exhausted.

Now, finally, this is where the malicious compliance comes in.

During an exchange where I was emailing my work she told me I still hadn’t done her contract. Which at that point only a few weeks out from finals I didn’t get the point.

But she told me either I did the contract or I would fail. She also had let slip that not doing the final would drop you a letter grade, but not fail you.

The only exception to her weird contract that wasn’t in it, and one I confirmed very deliberately in writing.

At this point I was bone tired, and honestly forcing myself to continue working on anything. Which may not sound like much but with my mental health history was herculean effort. I just wanted the pain to stop and a full night’s rest.

So I decided if not doing the final just dropped me by a letter grade, then I would just do the work for a B and end up with the grade I thought was fair for how the semester had gone. This meant for even more work, but it also meant I didn’t need to worry about a final and could finally just sleep.

The professor had to accept that, but she did change her policy going forward.

Which I explained as much to the professor when she asked me why I didn’t have a final turned in on the last day. That so far has been the last I ever spoke to or seen of her.

Imagine my surprise when I actually ended up with an B in her class. Personally I take this to be her never wanting me in her class again, and I don’t know if it makes me a witch overall.

But I do know she apparently has it now not doing the final is an automatic D. So sorry to anyone who got her after me.

So at least something good came out of it.

The top comment says this is definitely not how grades are supposed to work.

They’re surprised that more students didn’t outright refuse.

But this person says it’s not as easy to win as it should be.

And this commenter says it’s a good thing she’s not a law professor.

No gambling on grades.

This is pretty wild, I’ve gotta say.

I don’t know if I would have signed it, but who knows?

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.