Am I just paranoid, or is my English teacher singling me out?

[hbdragon88]

I'm a junior and in College Prep - a class that I consider degrading because it is unchallenging, simplistic, and easy. This is an easy class - essays are simpler and shorter, we read less stories, and there's less complicated discussion.

However, I have received bad essay grades on the last two essays I have written. In my last essay, on Naturalism, I got a 70; I've talked to other people and they were surprised that they got higher grades (78 and 79) compared to mine. I think that my writing is better than a 70...I think my teacher is purposefully grading me down, or at least singling me out for harsher grading.

This could just be acute paranoia, however.

Instead of accepting the grade, I'd like to have CFC read it and judge whether my teacher is dead-on in his analysis and grade, or if I'm right.

Please read the Word document first and then see the comments my teacher put in.

The password is "ambrosebierce"

I scanned my essay (teacher and my name blocked out):
scan0001.jpg (749KB) - Page 1
scan0002.jpg (853KB) - Page 2
scan0003.jpg (210KB) - Page 3

The annotations:
K - Awkward
PT - Present Tense
Ag-P - Pronoun agreement
Per - Person

 

[Plexus]

I'm getting an error; Is your word document password-protected?

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm a junior and in College Prep - a class that I consider degrading because it is unchallenging, simplistic, and easy. This is an easy class - essays are simpler and shorter, we read less stories, and there's less complicated discussion.

However, I have received bad essay grades on the last two essays I have written. In my last essay, on Naturalism, I got a 70; I've talked to other people and they were surprised that they got higher grades (78 and 79) compared to mine. I think that my writing is better than a 70...I think my teacher is purposefully grading me down, or at least singling me out for harsher grading.

This could just be acute paranoia, however.

Instead of accepting the grade, I'd like to have CFC read it and judge whether my teacher is dead-on in his analysis and grade, or if I'm right.

Please read the Word document first and then see the comments my teacher put in.

I scanned my essay (teacher and my name blocked out):
scan0001.jpg (749KB) - Page 1
scan0002.jpg (853KB) - Page 2
scan0003.jpg (210KB) - Page 3

The annotations:
K - Awkward
PT - Present Tense
Ag-P - Pronoun agreement
Per - Person

The attached file was passworded, I could not open it. i will look at the other file tomorrow.

 

[Sims2789]

For some teachers, you have to write their type of essay. Find out what type of essay that is and write it!

 

[hbdragon88]

Sorry. The password is "ambrosebierce"

 

[Plexus]

I thought the paper was fair, by no means perfect, but decent. I'd have given it a B-.

Your teacher may have graded your paper harshly, but I don't know how your teacher grades. Is this paper below the quality of your usual work? I find that if I do a half-assed job, my teachers are sometimes able to pick up on this (and grade me on effort).

You could try to ask your teacher if she would let you rewrite it, but don't think you have very a strong case for a change in grade; this isn't an A paper for a CP class.

 

[Yom]

Sorry, but the teacher is more right than wrong. The paper certainly wasn't deserving of an A. Can you tell me for what exactly the teacher was asking in the essay? It may have included too much plot summary for the amount of analysis present (there wasn't that much plot summary, but there wasn't a lot of analysis). The thesis was also not very specific; it used awkward language. On the whole, I'd probably give it a C, not a C-, but it depends on how hard the essay is meant to be. I can understand a 70 (or lower) if this is supposed to be a major analytical essay.

 

[stormbind]

The teachers are policed. Random pieces are selected for cross-examination to make sure the teachers are giving correct grades.

However, it is never random! The pieces actually selected are from the top and bottom of the spectrum.

To keep exceptional and difficult-to-grade students (good or bad) out of the limelight, teachers will fiddle their scores and award unsuspecting grades to guarantee that those pieces are never checked by authorities.

At least this is my experience

 

[hbdragon88]

This wasn't a major paper. We were given the weekend to write it (prompt on Friday; turned in on Monday). He was expecting a maximum of two pages, and uses the Jane Sheffner (whoever she is) method: Topic Sentence, Concrete Detail, 2 Commentary. It's the standard, rigorous way we write our papers in.

 

[YNCS]

It wasn't a particularly good paper. Not much analysis, lots of minor grammatical errors, a rather pedestrian effort. A 70 is about what it deserves.

 

[Perfection]

Pah You call that a Junior year Bierce essay!

This here's a Junior year Bierce Essay