The Final Cut

Doing poorly on a midterm usually does a pretty good job of making one concerned about their future.  I got a particularly difficult midterm back in one of my classes recently, and an interesting point of discussion came up as we were going over the exam. 

I performed pretty well on the exam, but the rest of my classmates were pretty bitter, as they didn’t perform as well as they had hoped.  Because this wasn’t the gripe of one or two individuals, but rather 80% of the classroom, our Professor offered a possible grading solution.  The qualms of the students could be answered by grading according to their “z-score”.  Essentially, grading by your z-score would boost your overall grade in the course significantly if you performed better on the next exam, thus rewarding improvement.  So then what about the students who performed consistently throughout the semester?  The people who did well on the first exam wouldn’t suffer any loss in grade for performing worse or just as good the second time around. 

On the surface, it seems as if there isn’t any reason not to utilize this grading scheme, right?  Here’s the caveat: When grading according to z-score, the people who performed poorly on the first exam have the potential to do better than those who have been more consistent all semester.  Because this doesn’t seem 100% fair, the Professor told the class that if anyone opposed this grading option, he would not implement it. 

If you were in the group of students who did poorly on exam 1, the choice to vote for the z-score was obvious.  I however, was among the more consistent students, and so I had a choice to make.  I sat there pondering the situation, and I decided that I was going to veto the z-scoring option.  My reasoning was that I’ve been a fellow classmate of many of the kids in this class for years now, and I know firsthand that they don’t put forth the effort that I do when it comes to schoolwork.  A lot of these kids are underhanded and malicious, and I saw no reason that they should be able to get a higher grade than myself in this class when I have worked harder than them all semester.  I had my solution, and I was partially content.

I say partially because I still felt a little uneasy, though I couldn’t explain why.  I felt as though there were no clear solution to that situation, and that it wouldn’t be possible for every party involved to emerge happily.  This rationalized my decision, and even though I felt a small pang of concern, I was able to stick to my guns with this thought in mind.  Then, one of the students who also did well on the exam rose his hand and asked the class to please consider the option afforded.  His reasoning was that everyone has that one class that they get off to a bad start in, and there’s no reason why you couldn’t have sympathy for the students who fell to the left side of the bell curve.

That’s when I realized that I had the ability to make sure that everyone could be satisfied.  I went back to my assumption that not everyone could be happy in this scenario and I realized that everyone could be happy.  The only thing holding me back was the thought that someone was going to do better than me even though they weren’t as dedicated from the start.  But what did that matter, really?  In the end, I am still going to get a good grade in the course.  So what if someone else did better than me?  I was essentially deciding that I wouldn’t be happy based on someone else’s performance, which I don’t feel is justified.  If I decided to veto the z-score, I would be adopting the cut-throat mentality that I hate so much.  I don’t want to be like the rest of the business students in my school.  I’m not about stepping on someone else to ensure that I do well.  I want to succeed purely from my personal strength and hard work.  Much like my thoughts in this post, I don’t feel as though I have the right to pass judgment on someone else.  I decide the fate of no one.

It’s comforting to know that I’m able to maintain the same mentality time after time, even when in clouded thought.

Stay classy.