Final Grades...

I taught five classes this semester. One of them (my on-line MBA class) isn't over until January 10. One of them is a graduate class, full of master's students. Eight students, four A's, four B's. One of them is a class full of seniors. Sixteen students. One A-minus, five B's, seven C's, two D's, and one F. (In the accounting school, a D is essentially an F and doesn't count towards graduation.) This is the second time I've taught this course in five years that I didn't have a single A grade. (The A-minus was actually benevolent. The student earned two points under the A cut-off, but there was a big gap between this student and the other five B's. Rather than a B+, I decided to be generous... because I've had this student in two earlier courses, and she failed both of them! To earn the high B was worthy of recognition. She was also obviously coming down with the flu on the day of one of the exams.) My last two classes are junior level classes. Between them: 85 students, five A's (including 2 A-minuses), thirty B's (including a sprinkling of B-minuses), forty C's, seven D's, and 3 F's. It must be noted that all but one of the students earning the D's and F's wouldn't have been helped even if I had added 20% to their grades. I advised every one of them to drop after the mid-term, but did they listen? (Nooooooo. )