A Mea Culpa and a Roll of the Eyes

Last week, the Solipsist administered an exam in his writing class. This department-wide essay exam is the equivalent of the final. The writing teachers give the test about two weeks before semester's end so that we can offer a make-up exam to those who are absent or who fail the test the first time.

As department chair, the Solipsist distributes the exams to the writing faculty. Unfortunately, after handing out the exams, we realized we had inadvertently given out the make-up exam to most--but not all--of the instructors.

Now, in terms of screw-ups, this is pretty minor. The way the tests are constructed, it doesn't matter whether students receive the intended exam topics or the make-up topics. Both versions provide a choice of two topics on which to write; furthermore, the writing teachers develop prompts on topics general enough for anybody to write about based on personal experience. In this case, the original exam featured questions about jobs and communities, and the make-up featured questions about stress and goals. Obviously, once the mistake was realized, we just decided to use the original topics for the make-up exam: No harm, no foul.

Well, almost.

Recall that we said SOME instructors got the "correct" version of the exam. In addition, some copies of the "correct" version went to the office for students with disabilities for students who take the exam there (generally because they receive additional time for the exam). Today, one of these students, who had failed, came to protest. She was upset that she had received a different exam than her classmates, especially because her classmates had received an "easier" question; if she could have answered one of those questions, she surely would have passed.

On the face of it, she has a point: She did not have the same opportunity as her classmates. So we listened patiently and explained that we understood how she felt; however, we couldn't give her a passing grade just because she "could have" passed with a different topic. We assured her that any number of students who failed the other version of the test would (and do) make the same argument--that they could have passed with a different set of topics. Furthermore, we explained to her that she would have the opportunity to take the make-up and, indeed, she would have the opportunity to write an essay on the apparently "easier" topic.

Here comes the eye-roll.

"Well, I don't think I should have to take the make-up because now I'm so stressed out that I can't write a passing essay on this topic."

We nodded sympathetically and referred her to the dean.

So what's the point of the story? We know students are stressed out by exams, and we know people will seek out any advantage they can get. We almost admire this student's tenacity; it could serve her well if channeled in the right direction. But we also despair that people put so much energy into protesting a decision, rather than towards more constructive ends. If this lady puts half as much creativity into her exam as she does into finding reasons why she shouldn't have to take it, she will find herself happy at the end of the make-up--unless she's upset that she has nothing to complain about.