Studying is an experience filled with different emotions and challenges. The thing is that we all go into schools and universities hoping to have a brighter future. This is the reason why I continue to try my best even when I feel so drained.
To be honest, I did not want to publish an article today. I have started trying to finish multiple articles on my draft and I even tried to start new ones but I could not continue writing them until the end. I was still bothered by what I learned yesterday and today has not been any kinder.
I experienced personal problems that are slowly eating me bit by bit, and I am barely holding on. Thankfully, I have people who look out for me and support me.
One of the things that bothered me today is when I checked my student portal and see an INC in my grades from last year. You might be wondering why I am bothered about that if it is from last year, I mean I should have been able to coly with the professor's requirements right?
What happened?
This is the question that I asked myself when I saw the mark on my portal. Because the professor was no show when the pandemic started and when the semester was about to end, he gave us a week to answer all of the problems in our book. The activities were around 15+ and each one contains around 20 questions with some that even have 45 questions. Imagine the stress we had to go through that to comply with his rushed requirement. What's more, is that he required us to have our activities delivered at our university, and we still complied because we have no choice in the matter.
After that, he went off the radar again. The encoding of grades went by with no sign of our grades on Calculus. Not even the Department Head could tell us how we can reach our professor. And we did our best to reach him to coordinate about what is happening but he was nowhere to be found.
As time went by, we did not give up and we always still ask around our new professors about our Calculus professor but none of them could tell us how we can reach him about our grades.
An Unforeseeable Outcome
It has been a year since then, and one of my block mates noticed that the grades changed from black to INC. He asked us to check if it is the same for us, and sure enough, our whole block is INC. My mind refused to work after seeing that.
How could that happen when I complied? I did not even have enough sleep then because I wanted to pass it on time and this is what happened. I do not understand how he could stay off the grid for a long time and then suddenly give us a mark we did not deserve.
Additionally, during the time where we took that subject, our university issued a memorandum stating that no student shall receive a grade lower than 3.00, not even INC. So what happened? Why did our university allow this kind of thing to happen to students who are already struggling?
I would understand it if the professor coordinated with us about it but he did not. He left us to our own devices and we had to fend for ourselves. Is what he did fair and just? He did not help the students and he still gets to keep his job while giving us an undeserved grade?
A Cry for Help
We were just freshmen when the pandemic happened but we still did our best to coordinate with the university when the pandemic happened and there was no news of what will happen. We complied with everything and we did our best to cope.
No one knows what to do anymore. I refuse to apply for grade completion for a subject that I did what was required of me. I will not pay a fee because of a professor who did not value the time of the students nor our efforts.
We do not know what will happen. Right now, we are in the process of communicating with our Department Head about this matter, hopefully, they will be able to help us unlike all the times that they turned a blind eye to our plea. I do not know what I will do if we cannot do anything about it because I do not want to lose my scholarship.
I have much to say about this matter but I would risk too much information that may harm the reputation of my school or lead this article back to me. So I will stop here now. If you know anything about what to do in our current situation, please feel free to leave a comment.
Just a reminder that I will not answer any more questions asking for the name of the university or the name of the professor. This article is meant to release the frustration I am feeling, not bring any damage to my university or professor. I am still hoping that we may be able to resolve this matter quietly. So, please refrain from asking these questions. Thank you.
If you are interested to see more of my articles, I have a list of all my articles written last May. This is the link to that list: https://read.cash/@ZehraSky/may-2021-articles-summary-59e3f5b8
I would also be doing a weekly summary of articles for June so you can look forward to that.
I also want to express my gratitude for the continued support of these wonderful people who upvoted my recent article.
@DM
First, thanks for the mention and you are welcome. Second, I don't know what is happening to a lot of the mentors. I understand they are going through challenges themselves but to put students through even more is not fair. I hope university officials will step in and help resolve the issue. In the meantime, it is best that you all work as a group (block) so it is clear to the department that it is not one or two individuals with the problem but a bigger group.