Marking redux

Okay its official, grading papers and exams is my least favourite part of teaching.

I try to create a learning environment where there are no surprises at the end of the semester. My students had 65% of their grade at the time of writing their final exam and submitting their personal interest papers. Many of my students were at an "a" level going in to the final but that wasn't always the case after.

When did final exams become a non-measure of the learning that has occurred throughout the course? My students, of which the majority did earn A's, seemed to think that the final exam is just a formality and that their performance on said exam should not change their grades. I am a little lost in this new world where people think that they should get a particular grade just because they expected it. My personal experiences with final exams have often been frustrating and confusing but I don't remember blaming anyone else when I did poorly. Perhaps it is part of grade inflation that doesn't just occur at prestigious schools. Perhaps I have unrealistic expectations of what graduate school writing should look like. Perhaps I need to reevaluate whether dumbing down the final exam would be "fairer".

I think that in the future I will read negative reviews of professors with a slightly more jaded eye. For I am sure for the individuals who expressed dissatisfaction with their grades are prepared to take out their frustration in that forum.