Student Email Example #1 (Request Denial)

Student Email Example #2 (Detailed Request Denial)

Topic: Denying A Request

Audience: Unspecified Undergraduate Student

Intended Reaction: Inform towards Cessation

Scenario: Student Grade Change Request

From: (Name Redacted)
 Sent: Monday, December 14, 2020 7:14 AM
 To: Andrew Rosbury
 Subject: Reflections

Inquiry (name has been redacted, message unaltered otherwise):

Good Morning Mr. Rosbury,

This is (Named Redacted)(Group A) from your Mass Communications class this semester. I’ve been thinking about all week about your words and how you communicated them in our last email. As I agree with your general statements. I’ve put in a lot of time into this class and made the necessary changes to my lifestyle and people around me to insure I would do well. As a student who’s been struggling the last few years, I am very close to my goal of a 4-year college yet, 1 grade is going to make the difference in my GPA. I have a lot of responsibilities that require me to do well in your class and given that this was the first time I had submitted an assignment you could not view. I constantly have tried to engage in class when I can, and I have put in the effort outside of class to understand what I’m learning. I don’t believe I deserve a C for all of this. This means a lot to me and I don’t expect you to twist your hand, I just needed to share this with you as I’ve been wanting to press send for the last seven days. Thank you.

Response:

Mr. (Name Redacted),

This is going to be my final response on this matter, so please read this email carefully as I do not intend to respond further.

One of the other classes I teach is Argumentation and Debate and in that class I teach the students about logical fallacies. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they are often very easy to believe, but they are not valid and they carry no argumentative weight. An example of a common logical fallacy is a correlation fallacy in which a cause is linked to an effect. If I were to say that the effect of increased shark attacks during summer months is correlated to ice cream sales it sounds believable. Logically, however, it would very difficult to prove that sales of ice cream has anything to do with shark attacks and the only real correlation is that during summer months more people may be near bodies of water which are near where sharks are feeding. People often rely on fallacies as a mental shortcut as it is easier to believe or rely on a fallacy than it is to face a more effectively reasoned argument that has better evidence.

I do not intend this next statement to be rude or hurtful, but I have identified a logical fallacy in your email to me: “I don’t believe I deserve a C for all of this.” Stating that you “deserve” a grade that is higher than the one which you have earned has no argumentative value as the evidence that you offered is not strong enough to counter the choices which you made during the semester. In my class, as you are well aware, you earn the grade you receive by accumulating points. It is an either or situation. You either accumulate enough points to earn a grade in a certain percentile or you do not. It is that simple.

I have often thought about using a similar fallacy with the college’s leadership: I believe I deserve to be paid a lot more than this and I want a more prestigious title as well! I say this as an example and with 0% seriousness.

Now, returning to your inquiry: my class was not a priority for you and please do no try to argue that it was. You did not make my class a priority. If attending class had been a priority then you would have attended all on-campus meetings and you would have emailed me on the days that you did not attend, just as the syllabus requested. The protocols were all in writing. Here is something else to consider: I could have given you the grade of a “0” for attendance and participation as according to the syllabus if you miss more than one class without a documented excuse then you lose all points related to that grade. In fact, I even emailed you on 9/10/2020 regarding the attendance and participation grade. You can view a screenshot of the email in the image below:

If the image won’t load, then I have also attached it as a PDF.

Let us go back to my class being a priority which it was not for you, despite what you say. I have said to various students on more than one occasion and I shall say it again to you: It does not hurt my feelings if my class is not your favorite class. I am not trying to win a popularity contest. My focus is teaching a subject matter and encouraging learning and application. There are only so many hours in a day, and everyone needs to decide how they spend those hours. If my class is a low priority for you, it does not affect me, but you must accept the consequences of making that decision. If you do not turn in an assignment on time, the way I have specified it to be turned in, then that is your fault and you must accept the consequences. You paid for the class. I’m just doing my job. Here is an example: every semester I have students who fail the final exam because they did not make it a priority to study. They studied for other exams in other classes and made the assumption that the final exams for this class would be easy. The consequence of that decision affected their final grade. That was their choice, not mine, and therefore their final grade in my class is their fault. I know you may not like reading this, but it remains true. If my class is a low priority for you then you must accept the consequences of making that decision.

As for the assignment upload mishap, here is another response if you did not like my previous one: all the due dates and protocols for how to complete and submit the assignments are available Canvas. If you asked for an extension and never submitted the work, then you get a zero for that assignment as I cannot grade something that I never receive. Did you ever ask me for assistance? You could have met with me after class rather than being the first one to leave and you could have emailed me anytime, but you chose otherwise. Why? The means by which you could have improved your standing in the class were available to you and you did not take advantage of them. I do not think there is anything left for me to say other than your success was and remains your responsibility.

In consideration of your last sentence in which you say you do not deserve the grade you earned: ah yes, I always love the guilt-tripping about how a certain grade in my class will ruin your academic career, chances of getting into your dream school, dream program, dream job, etc. No, your COLLECTIVE ACADEMIC RECORD will be the one ruining those things, not just your grade in my one class. I would be unhappy too if my grade was not what I wanted or expected it to be, but I would also examine the choices I made this semester and consider if those choices are what lead to the current grade that I am unhappy with. You made the choices you did this semester. I did not make those choices for you. I just stood on protocol that was stated in the syllabus. Did you even read the syllabus? I said in my previous email to you and I shall say again in this one: Success is always about personal responsibility.

If you want to file a grade appeal that is a choice that is available to you, but please know this: if you file a grade appeal the grade appeal review board will have access to my gradebooks, to your Canvas activity and to the email correspondence between you and I. I will also provide copies of the attendance sheets which, on some days, do not have your signature of attendance. If you want to exercise that option it is available to you and I will respond accordingly as I have evaluated your performance in my class equally and fairly as I have all other students enrolled. All the grades in this class were earned by point accumulation the final grade calculation is based on how many points were earned by work submitted

If you wanted a better grade in the class you would have done what was necessary to have earned it, you could have documented your absences, requested extensions for assignments and then submitted them, you would have not waited until the last minute to start assignments and then submit files that have no relation to the assignment and you could have studied harder for the final exam and gotten a higher grade, but you chose not to do those things. You did not do what was necessary to earn a higher grade and that is not my fault.

I wish you success in your future endeavors.