Is Academia really a Meritocracy?

[Xylem]

Does anyone else here believe that some work can be subjectively marked to the point of the marks being innacurate?

All the way through my school life teachers have always given me low marks (c's), due to whatever reasons, but everytime an independent exam came id get top marks.
Its possible i tried harder on the ones that mattered but i dont think thats true.

Now when it comes to university, im still getting 'averagey'
sort of marks that i know im better than, but i dont know what i can do to get better.

Basically my question is can u get screwed by subjective marking?

[Keyser.]

My guess is that you're not as smart as you think you are.

[Xylem]

Ive considered that, even my close friends show me their better marks and say mine was better.
Also i can see myself that my work is better.
Im not the type of person that lies to himself, i give a lot of thought to my assertions and im pretty sure im right.

I know this sounds extremely arrogant, but it really bothers me when i think about this, and how it could affect my future.

[Golden_Rhino]

[ QUOTE ]
My guess is that you're not as smart as you think you are.

[/ QUOTE ]

That, or you are a huge douche who really gets under the profs' skins.

[catalyst]

[ QUOTE ]
My guess is that you're not as smart as you think you are.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure this is the answer.

[Xylem]

No wonder no one likes the yanks.

Yea, i did open myself up for criticism, and can see how my informal style can be easily criticised.
I can also see why you feel it necessary to put me down, believing i need it.

Im not here to look smart, i just wanted a bit of advice.
Frankly i dont care if u think im dumb or not i know im intelligent...
Even my mom said so.

[bav]

Absolutely there is a great deal of subjectivity in the grading of certain subjects. If you want to be a creative writer, you better be creative enough to write stuff the folks grading the work like. If you're doing sociology term papers, you may find some profs will be annoyed if you pick a side of a topic they feel strongly the other way about.

Friend was struggling with a tech writing class, getting B's and C's on the first two or three things he turned in. He visited the instructor and schmoozed her--his nose was covered in brown goo upon his return. A's on everything after that.

But it's not limited to the artsy sorta courses. I was taking an EE lab class and folks were dying trying to come up with lab reports the instructor liked--he'd give out one or two A's, two or three B's, and the rest C's. Yet I was getting A's on everything I wrote. One day my lab partner got fed up and grabbed my paper and his and went to the instructor and basically showed that the data contained within was identical, the basic ideas expressed were the same, and yet he got a C and I got an A. Instructor explained that oh no, my way of expressing all of this was MUCH better and it's not just about the data. Well, no, the truth was simply that the instructor liked me and my writing was entertaining (not that lab reports are supposed to be entertaining, but I tried to make 'em light), but the technical details within the two reports were identical and I agreed with my lab partner that he was being screwed (but then so were about 11 of the 12 other students in the class).

But I was on the receiving end of ill-treatment. On an energy conversion test once one of the questions was something like "tell me everything you know about XYZZY". I put down about 12 items and lost 4 points of credit for not putting down enough detail about several of them. Friend of mine wrote down 6 points, every one of which I had covered in at least as much detail as he did. He got full credit. I took the two tests to the prof who told me it was my own fault for putting down too much information (!). I clearly knew more about the topic than a person who received full credit, but I lose 4 out of 15 points?

Life is not fair. Get used to it. It's much worse in the real world where there isn't a slew of homework and exams to backup grades. You may as well learn to live with the system now 'cause it ain't gettin' better after graduation (Office Space and Dilbert are only barely works of fiction).

[catalyst]

bav, good post and nice stories. But, do you honestly believe OP is being "targeted," or however you would like to describe it, by all of his teachers throughout his academic career? My guess is he really just thinks too highly of himself.

[catalyst]

[ QUOTE ]
No wonder no one likes the yanks.

Yea, i did open myself up for criticism, and can see how my informal style can be easily criticised.
I can also see why you feel it necessary to put me down, believing i need it.

Im not here to look smart, i just wanted a bit of advice.
Frankly i dont care if u think im dumb or not i know im intelligent...
Even my mom said so.

[/ QUOTE ]

You asked us a question:
Basically my question is can u get screwed by subjective marking?

Sure, there are instances where you can. But, if you have experienced the downside of this supposed subjective marking throughout your entire academic career, you probably just aren't as smart as you think you are and that is why you receive lower marks. Or, you are smart but your work just sucks.

Yeah, it's blunt - sorry, welcome to the internets.

[ballin4life]

Shouldn't OP just ask his teacher what he did wrong?