You Look Too Young to Receive an "A"

I am a long-time fan of the five paragraph essay; however, I have learned to expand the three paragraphs in the middle into many more paragraphs. This has been my major accomplishment in "inventing the university."

The most awful moment of learning to do this occurred at BYU. I was in my second year of studies there but already had status as a junior. Consequently, I had taken "composition" in high school as a concurrent enrollment class, and I had also already taken my upper level writing class at BYU. So, when I received a B- on a paper after spending hours in the library researching and writing it, I felt crushed. I visited the professor and asked why my grade was not an A, as I had been used to receiving. He used the opportunity to tell me that I looked really young and asked if I had taken my upper level writing class. Well, I turned on the waterworks and explained that I had taken the class and received an A. He looked baffled, unbelieving, and a tiny bit uncomfortable. So, after more tears and some explanation about the work I had done on my paper, he raised my grade to a B+.

What did I learn about inventing the university? I learned that if you look young, you can be discriminated against. I also learned that if you cry a little you can get your grade raised. This is a bad thing. Instead, I should have been mentored. My professor should have offered to let me rewrite. He should have explained what I could do better instead of just telling me that I looked too young to receive a good grade. I did not learn anything about entering the discourse in my field (English) from the discussion I had with him.

So, yes, it is unfair to expect students to participate in writing about a field without helping them to do so. I eventually figured things out because of other, more patient, kind, and skilled professors. The key to fairness in giving students grades is giving them a chance. If all students are expected to crack the code without some sort of inclusion in the club first, then giving grades for failing to converse well is wrong.