> I know of one rather sore incident in University where a particularly harsh instructor failed a bunch of his students, who then had to retake the same course that summer in order to graduate. They studied their brains out, and got A+'s on the exams and coursework. Imagine their shock when they found he'd assigned everyone D-'s on their transcripts. His reasoning was "You've already failed the course; I can't give you better than D." So not only were the hard-working students penalized and brought down to the same level as if they had slacked all summer, their Grade Point Averages were pummelled twice -- by both an F and a D. If only they had taken it up with the students' academic Ombudsman, I'm relatively certain that the arbiter would have ruled in their favour.

EGADS! That makes my blood boil just READING about it. I would have DEFINITELY objected to it, I think. In my university career, I failed and re-took one course, and earned (and received!) an A- the second time around. (We did not have A+'s at the U of C, so an A- is the second best grade one can receive.) I almost contested the original F, hoping for a D, but then I got a copy of my final exam and reviewed it. Wow, what a horror story. Such a well-deserved F has never been assigned.

> Wolf "fortunately most of my instructors knew how to act like adults, so I never had to vent any spleen" spirit

Don "Still wonders how tired he must have been that day to write such a poor exam" Monkey