Frickin subjective grading (EDIT)

I love being a computer programming major. If I do my work and learn the material, and if my programs run the way they’re supposed to, I get good grades. It doesn’t matter what the professor thinks of me, it doesn’t matter if my professors are having a bad day or whatever, if I get it right I get an A. I love absolutes.

Which is why I HATE taking humanities classes. I’m in a history class right now, and aside from just having a ridiculous amount of reading (this week I have 3 very long chapters from one textbook, 4 in another and 4 in another….yes, that would be 3 textbooks for the one class, which wasn’t cheap, either!), I am going crazy with the subjective nature of the grading.

Not to toot my own horn, but I’m doing a pretty damn good job. I’m getting all my reading done, I totally understand the concepts, and my papers and discussion posts are good. My mom, who is my harshest critic and a college professor, has read through most of my work and said she would give it an A.

But my professor is stuck on giving me an A- on everything. I know this is not a big deal, I know that an A- is not a bad grade. But after 3 semesters I have a 4.0 and I would like to keep it!! An A- would ruin my average. And to lose my 4.0 over a class that has nothing to do with my chosen field would just be so frustrating.

I have asked the professor a lot of times for suggestions, constructive criticism, anything! Basically, I think if you get a grade that is less than an A it should be accompanied by some sort of commentary as to what you could have done better, right? But even when I specifically ASK him for feedback I only get positive feedback. Seriously, in response to my asking what I can do better, he has told me that he’s giving me "really good grades" and that my work is excellent.

Gee, thanks. I mean, it’s nice to be told that I’m doing good work, I guess, but it would be nicer if those glowing comments were accompanied by excellent grades. I’m halfway done with the class (just turned in midterms yesterday) and I’m ready to give up. I don’t mean give up and drop the class, but I mean give up on trying to improve my grade and keep my 4.0. If I get yet another A- on the midterm I’m just going to assume that will be my grade for the semester and I’ll stop stressing about it. Or at least try.

I just hate feeling like I have no control over my grade, and like no matter how good my work is, my professor just doesn’t GIVE anything higher than an A-. I can’t wait to get back to my computer classes in the fall.

EDIT

Literally a few minutes after I wrote this entry my daughter had a seizure. I spent most of today in the ER with her. She’s ok. I’m too exhausted to write about it right now, but I feel so silly having this trivial little rant about my grades up here as my last "update" when my day has been taken up by something so big.