Back in high school a few of my classmates got paid by their parents to get good grades. I remember some guys said they would get $5 for an 'A' and $2 for every 'B'. Then I heard much higher figures from some non-honor roll students: 20 bucks for every 'A' and $10 for every 'B'! Wow! I would have cleaned up at the end of every marking period! I coulda had that ten-speed bike in no time, instead of painting our house that summer (Of course, if I hadn't painted the house I would never have learned the words to "Road to Shambala", by Three Dog Night, listening to my transistor radio up there on the scaffolding while slapping white paint against the shingles.)
The odd thing is that the rates for good students were a lot lower than for the kids that rarely made the honor roll. "Biff" might earn 20 clams for every 'A', but he rarely got one. So the net payout from the parents was pretty minimal, whether their kids had high GPAs or low.
Now that I'm in graduate school, I realize that I am getting paid to get good grades. And it ain't no small potatoes, either! My company has an educational assistance plan that pays for tuition, usually about a thousand spondulicks for a three-credit course. I also get 5 hours per week to attend class during the day, which is a good benefit! But here is the catch: "To continue in the Educational Assistance Program, you must receive grades of "C" or higher for undergraduate course and "B" or higher for courses taken in a graduate degree program."
I took my final exam on Saturday night. I think I was between an 'A' and a 'B' in the course; not bad for a guy who four months ago would not have recognized a partial differential equation if one had fallen into my lunch! I think I did okay on the final. But if I blew the final, and I get a 'C' in the course; I am out of the Education Assistance Program. Sudden death! One strike, and you're out!
I have heard that professors will bend over backwards to give their students at least a B-. Other sources say no - their profs are strict that an 'A' is 90 or above, a 'B' is 80 or above, and so on. I don't think I'm a slacker, but I did sign up for the Atmospheric Dynamics course a little weak on the prerequisites.
So I'm getting paid a thousand dollars for every 'A' or 'B'. If I get anything below a 'B', I'm out of the program. Maybe I can still try to get a Master's Degree on my own, but it will be a lot more difficult.
The stakes are high. This game is for keeps.
The Triumph of Hope over Experience
It depends on the subject and the material, but usually profs (the ones I know) will try and make sure that if you did good work and had one bad test, it doesn't kill you. It's really how it should work--everyone has bad days so if you know the student well enough you can bump them a bit if you believe they know the material. I always make sure that students who really blow it get another shot--so they can retake a test and raise the grade if they've been trying--they usually can't get an A then, but they can make sure they get what they need. As long as they are learning...
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Holy Moses! I got an A- in the class!!! I must have kicked some major barotropic butt on the final! Either that, or coming to office hours really helps. So does doing ALL the practice problems at the end of each chapter.
My career as a graduate student continues . . .