Thursday, April 2, 2009

More Grade Drama: Should We "Fine" Tardy Professors?

My answer would be a (somewhat) emphatic "no." But The Shark brought to light some interesting commentary we hadn't seen in preparing our earlier discussion of the 100-day grade debacle.

Apparently, Florida State University recently began fining professors who turned grades in late. As the article explains, Florida State seems to be the only institution to fine professors for turning in late grades, and charges a $10 fine "for every grade for every student that is not runed in by [the] deadline[.]"

Interesting. As I expressed in my earlier posting, I do believe law schools would benefit from rigid deadlines, but this really does seem over-the-top--not to mention the potential legal problems associated with a punitive approach of this kind. Professors, like students, have things come up that need tending to...delays are obviously not ideal, but are a very necessary reality for those who have other important obligations to tend to.

9 comments:

  1. As a professor, I would disagree with this. If you allocate your time correctly, I think there is no reason to fail to submit grades by a deadline. It would be unrealistic, on the other hand, to have exceedingly rigid rules without the ability to adjust for contingencies, but this would only be the exception rather than the rule. I like FSU's approach.

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  2. What do you think a judge is gonna say if you turn in your brief late? DENIED!!!! What happens if you turn in an exam late? F!!!!! What happens when a teacher turns in there grades late? An apologetic smoochfest. We have a phrase where I'm from it's called 'if you do the crime, do the time," and FSU clearly gets it. If its illegal, make it not illegal. Every school should be FINING THESE PROFESSORS.

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  3. Congratulations, blackbook on getting quoted by ATL. You have arrived!

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  4. I work at a firm that will fine you if you don't enter your billable time every two days! I think this is perfectly reasonable.

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  5. Kudos to FSU, but I'm sure they'll have a harder time drawing top faculty now. Who would choose to work at the one place that fines you for late grades?

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  6. Case Western Reserve now fines faculty for late grades, as well.

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  7. CWR law school? Or just the university? What's the terms of the fines?

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