Don't like your grade? SUE.

[SWTXBelle]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...to-3128943.php

QUOTE - Karla Ford and Jonathan Chan expected to be spending this year studying legal briefs and litigation as second-year law students at Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Instead, last spring, both students were dismissed after getting a D grade in their Contracts II course.
Now, the two are suing the school and their former professor, saying their final grade was "arbitrary and capricious."


I don't see why the school doesn't let them see their exams - but if 50% is class performance they are probably TOL. Legal eagles, what say you?

[SydneyK]

From the article: Holley noted that final grades are determined by a complex formula in which instructors award points by ranking students according to class performance. That counts for 50 percent of the final grade, with a uniform, multiple-choice exam counting for the other half. The exams are evaluated by an outside contractor, who also calculates the final grade.

When they say 'ranking students according to class performance,' do they mean that students are pitted against each other, and that each student represents a specific place in the class rank (as in 5th of 50)? Or do they mean that students who perform to X level receive X rank, and all the students in the class could technically have the same rank?

Regarding the students not being permitted to see the exams, I wonder if the outside contractor who evaluates the exams still has possession of them. ??

Yuck @ the whole thing, though. Without knowing the ins and outs of law school, I'm hesitant to take a side. Was there a syllabus? Does it outline the grading system? Could the students have checked on their progress in the 'class performance' portion of their grade? If so, did they? There are just so many holes here.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Legal eagles, what say you?

I date back to the days when grades were based 100% on the final exam, which was graded on a curve.

And I'm really trying to get my mind around the idea of anyone other than the professor grading exams. If that's the norm now, times have definitely changed.

Beyond that, it's hard to make any judgments about this without seeing the complaint and actually knowing what the claims are. On one hand the article seems to suggest that the grading system is arbitrary, but elsewhere there seems to be some suggestion that these two students were targeted to be "curved out."

[Low C Sharp]

I date back to the days when grades were based 100% on the final exam, which was graded on a curve.

Those times are still here at most law schools. Texas Southern isn't typical in any way. And your job prospects coming out of there at the bottom of the class...the school's doing its students a favor by forcing them to cut their losses after an unsuccessful first year.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Those times are still here at most law schools. Texas Southern isn't typical in any way. And your job prospects coming out of there at the bottom of the class...the school's doing its students a favor by forcing them to cut their losses after an unsuccessful first year.

Thanks for the info. It's a school I know nothing about.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...to-3128943.php

QUOTE - Karla Ford and Jonathan Chan expected to be spending this year studying legal briefs and litigation as second-year law students at Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Instead, last spring, both students were dismissed after getting a D grade in their Contracts II course.
Now, the two are suing the school and their former professor, saying their final grade was "arbitrary and capricious."


I don't see why the school doesn't let them see their exams - but if 50% is class performance they are probably TOL. Legal eagles, what say you?

I find it unsurprising that they got D's in contract law, if they think this is a legitimate suit.

[SWTXBelle]

The irony of suing because you received a D in contract law did not escape me.

[knight_shadow]

Upon first glance, I rolled my eyes at this, but the "complex formula," outside grading, and lack of transparency re: the test is odd to me. Where is the harm in "Hey, I got a D. Can we go over the test so I know where I dropped the ball"?

I'm not sure about grading in law school, but it seems alarming that one grade would drop your average that low. Their overall performance must have been lacking, in which case this is not much of a shocker.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Upon first glance, I rolled my eyes at this, but the "complex formula," outside grading, and lack of transparency re: the test is odd to me. Where is the harm in "Hey, I got a D. Can we go over the test so I know where I dropped the ball"?

I'm not sure about grading in law school, but it seems alarming that one grade would drop your average that low. Their overall performance must have been lacking, in which case this is not much of a shocker.

If they were part-time students, a 4-hour D would be > 1/3 of their GPA. Kind of hard to recover from that. Law schools are free to grade however the hell they want to. Classroom performance is a valid way to grade.

I always thought classes where classroom performance counted were better classes. Students were better prepared on a daily basis. Otherwise, you could prepare some days, volunteer like hell, then blow off reading some other time and sit back and take good notes, or not even that.

Towards your 3L year, there's not a significant relationship between your ability to be ready for class from day to day and your ability to get ready for the final, or at least there wasn't for me.

[AGDee]

Not law school, not Texas, but today, my crazy professor added new requirements to our first 10 page paper under his clause that he may change the syllabus at any time, with or without notice to the students. So what? I would agree, except that the paper was due TWO DAYS AGO. He changed the requirements and docked everybody 10 points for not meeting the new requirements. My head is spinning with this idiot. I would like to sue him.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Not law school, not Texas, but today, my crazy professor added new requirements to our first 10 page paper under his clause that he may change the syllabus at any time, with or without notice to the students. So what? I would agree, except that the paper was due TWO DAYS AGO. He changed the requirements and docked everybody 10 points for not meeting the new requirements. My head is spinning with this idiot. I would like to sue him.

How ... in the hell ...

[AGDee]

Our thoughts exactly. When he was questioned on it by one student, the student received a reply that went something like this:

"Do you really want me to get out of my recliner, put down my beer, put aside my Playboy magazine and go to my computer to give your paper a second read through? I will use a sharper pencil and find more of your errors and I won't be as forgiving of them this time. Please tell me no."

I am trying very hard not to let this man stress me out, but he is IMPOSSIBLE.

[AGDLynn]

I would SOOO DEFINITELY COMPLAIN to the Dean and post it in the student newspaper if there is one.

[psusue]

I know what the title of this means, but every time I look at it I think "why do you have to come at me like that?"

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by AGDLynn

I would SOOO DEFINITELY COMPLAIN to the Dean and post it in the student newspaper if there is one.

The department chair has been notified. She told that student that she would wait for corroboration from more students. I'm going to see her at an auditors professional org meeting next week so I'm going to talk to her privately and clue her in to this clown.