Beware of Author Mills

[WilliamW]

Quality control?
Oh yes, you mean writing what they want to hear...

True story. In response to a "discussion" question for an online course I noted that the math in the factual background for the question was inaccurate, and submitted a corrected breakdown. My premise was that in order to answer the question accurately one should first know how to do the underlying (simple) math.

I received a "zero" for the assignment and the prof's comments were "missed the point entirely” and “inappropriate and non-responsive.” Because of that zero grade my grade for the course was 0.39 short of an A. Coincidence? Yeah, right.

I emailed the prof and told him I was going to file an administrative appeal. He called my bluff and said I could re-submit the answer, probably figuring I wouldn't go to the trouble. Instead, I copied the summary at the end of the applicable chapter of the course text and submitted that. It wasn't exactly verbatim, but only because I corrected some of the clumsy phrasing in the original. Prof accepts it, says it's "excellent" and re-submits my assignment grade as a 70, which is enough for an A in the course.

Clear academic lessons here:

Thinking for yourself--bad

Bringing real life context to pointless academic exercises--very bad

Ignoring administrative incompetence and doing what you're told--good

Regurgitating the course text--excellent!.