Grad student says C-plus cost her $1.3 million in lost wages. Takes her case to court but judge is wary.
I have known students to complain bitterly about grades and to disparage their professors on Internet rating sites.
But a grad student in Pennsylvania is taking her outrage to the courtroom. Before you attack the student, read the details. There are some odd elements to this case.
The woman was an otherwise A student who attended the class and participated in class discussions. And Megan Thode had an expert in her own home; her father teaches at the college, Lehigh University, and testified that he was stunned that a professor would give a student a zero for participation when the student showed up and talked.
Today, the judge in the case criticized both sides, according to the Morning Call, which is the local newspaper in the area covering the trial. (Here is a good piece by the Call on today’s proceedings.)
From the story:
“It’s regrettable that this case hasn’t been resolved,” Judge Emil Giordano said in the third day of a civil trial in which Megan Thode is seeking $1.3 million and a higher grade, claiming breach of contract and sexual discrimination.
In addressing the lawyers on Wednesday, Giordano said he approached them on the first day of trial with what he believed was a reasonable settlement: that Thode, 27, of Nazareth, be allowed back into the program, and be allowed to take the class again.Orloski and Neil Hamburg, an attorney for Lehigh, declined to comment outside of court on whether one side or the other rejected the proposal.
Giordano’s comments came just before the lunch break, and as he questioned whether he has legal authority to order a grade raised, as Orloski {Thode’s attorney} seeks.
Giordano said he has looked at cases in Pennsylvania and nationally and has been unable to find one in which a judge had done so.
Giordano said, “I remain unconvinced that the judiciary should be injecting itself in the academic process.”
According to a story on AJC.com:
Thode took the class in fall of 2009. Her instructor, Amanda Eckhardt, testified this week that she stood by the grade, saying Thode failed to behave professionally and thus earned zero out of 25 points in class participation, bumping her down a full letter grade.
“I … believed she received the grade she earned,” Eckhardt said.
The C-plus prevented Thode, an otherwise A student, from going on to the next class and advancing in her professional therapist studies, according to The Express-Times of Easton. She wound up getting a master’s degree in human development instead.
Her attorney, Richard Orloski, argued Eckhardt targeted Thode because she is an outspoken advocate for gay marriage. Eckhardt testified that while she believes marriage is between a man and woman, she would never allow her personal views to influence her treatment of students. She said Thode had outbursts in class, did not participate appropriately, was emotionally unstable and failed to heed a warning letter.
Stephen Thode, the plaintiff’s father and a longtime finance professor at Lehigh, testified on his daughter’s behalf and said her participation score was highly irregular. “I have never heard of a case, not just at Lehigh, where a student achieved a zero in class participation where they attended and participated in every class,” he said.
–from Maureen Downey,for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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59 comments Add your comment
KIM
February 14th, 2013
9:10 pm
Just curious as to why participation is part of a grade anyway. If a grade represents a student’s knowledge and ability to apply the knowledge, how does it fit into the evaluation? Writing that, though, I feel the student must have known what was in the syllabus and that she would be evaluated on that. I note the other profs who choose to blog have varying opinions/comments on their evaluations. Being a long time public school administrator, we have worked hard to have grades truly reflect ability to apply knowledge…and BTW Maureen, have you read the work by several people of the Zero and what it actually does not represent? I suggest you look at that.
Progressive Humanist
February 14th, 2013
10:36 pm
@KIM,
Here’s why I use professionalism/participation in my grading structure, as do most professors in my department: In addition to simply awarding a bachelor’s or master’s degree, we certify teachers at the same time, which means our university is putting a stamp of approval on that graduate to say they are qualified to be responsible for the education and care of public school students. In the math, history, or English departments, for example, the students get a diploma, a pat on the back, a “good luck on the next phase of your life”, and that’s it. Up until then they have only done classwork, papers, and tests in the confines of a college classroom.
But in our department students are in public schools from their sophomore year observing a few days a week, and by their senior year they work full time teaching classes in k-12 in addition to taking courses on the college campus. They have to be fingerprinted, have background checks, and are around children every year beginning their sophomore year. We essentially are telling the public schools that they can be confident that our students are prepared to act as teachers even before they actually are.
In this case a professionalism/participation grade is perfectly justified. Whether they speak up in class or not has no bearing on the grade because we all know that a student who is quiet can be taking it all in and can come away with more knowledge than the student doing the most talking. It’s about conduct. Does the student walk in 20 minutes late and disrupt class? If so, are they going to walk into the public school classroom 20 minutes, after their students get there? If they spend the entire period texting their friends (and learning nothing), once they get into a class of their own will they browse the internet all day while their students chat and sleep? If they’re disrespectful to other students and the professor, will they be disrespectful to their future students and curse out their administrators when things don’t go their way?
The bottom line is that our students have to show us that they have the maturity, organization, and personal skills to handle the responsibility they will be handed. And that’s part of our responsibility.
KIM
February 15th, 2013
11:34 am
@Progressive Humanist, thank you for your explanation. It seems, however, that perhaps you should have two grades and distinguish which one covers knowledge and ability to apply and another that covers the topics you clearly describe. What I read is there is one grade and it has factors that are somewhat unrelated to each other and could compromise each other. An outsider such as someone considering the individual for hire might get a rather uncclear picture of what the grade represents. That saying, I appreciate your time to respond. Should there be a grade for professioinal qualities, instead of it being lumped into one grade? I can see the problem professors have, subjectivity vs. objectivity…something we have struggled with for decades in K-12.
Prof
February 15th, 2013
12:00 pm
It was just reported on Cnn News that the Judge in this case ruled there was no breach of contract or discrimination against this student in assigning the grade. “After four days of testimony, Giordano declared that Thode failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the grade was related to anything but academic performance. He also said Thode failed to present evidence proving that Lehigh, Carr or Ladany engaged in any discriminatory acts toward her.”
I just want to add, for KIM, that in graduate school usually anything below a B grade is not deemed acceptable, especially in a professional program such as this one. Thode was in graduate training to be a psychological counselor, and her classroom behavior demonstrated that she would be a poor one and probably could use some counseling herself. She could damage future clients. This DOES seem related to “knowledge and the ability to apply.” It was an Internship course in Therapy, not one in Statistics.
And, off the subject of this student but on that of class participation for a grade, I want to add another reason besides subjectivity why this is problematic: cultural prohibitions against speaking up in class. In the Middle Eastern and Pacific Rim countries, it is considered disrespectful to the professor for it implies the student knows more. I have been told this by many students from these areas.
KIM
February 15th, 2013
9:16 pm
@Prof: ex excellent point you have made about the cultural differences. I should have thought of that as I have done a good bit of grad work in language acquisisiton and know about cultural diff. Also, it is certainly understandable that your points about the student’s specific area of study might make this an appropriate consideration for that particular class. Clearly if she did less than B work, her work would be considered unacceptable. Glad the judge found the case as he did.
Broken system is broken
February 17th, 2013
11:35 am
Participation grading is completely unsupported in public school classrooms. I understand the necessity at colleges and it seems that, if the student was present at every class, then at the very least the professor should have issued a stern rebuke and advised the student of potential grade penalties for inappropriate behavior. JMHO, but this case seems to strike at the very heart of unethical, punitive grading. Hope the truth comes out.
Prof
February 17th, 2013
12:39 pm
@ Broken System. But the teacher did—see cited news articles above–with her letter to the student. And the truth has come out– see the posts citing news sources by myself and by “justpassingby,” Feb . 14, 2:34 am.
You need to reread all the posts here by college faculty about why participation grading is NOT necessary at the college level.
Judge rules that student’s lawsuit over C plus doesn’t make grade. Should courts ever get involved in grade disputes? | Get Schooled
February 18th, 2013
2:59 am
[...] The Pennsylvania woman who sued her graduate school professors over a C plus lost in court last week. Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano ruled that Megan Thode failed to prove that her grade in a Lehigh University fieldwork course was the result of any sort of discrimination. (See our earlier blog discussion of the lawsuit.) [...]
Warrior Woman
February 20th, 2013
2:13 pm
Participating inappropriately – swearing, outbursts, crying, and off-topic interjections, as noted in the articles – does not deserve credit. The student was warned not to continue such behavior, and ignored the warning. She got the grade she deserved.