We all had one point in our lives when we came home from school bemoaning how “mean” or “unfair” a teacher was to us.
Upon reflection after growing up, we often come to realize that neither of those things were true, and that teacher was, in fact, calling us out for disruptive behavior, or trying to make us see that we weren’t living up to our full potential.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that teachers are never “mean” or “unfair”.
And just as inappropriate behavior from students needs to be called out, so does inappropriate behavior from teachers.
Redditor kanedle recently had a major homework assignment in his physics class.
In hopes of getting a good grade, the original poster (OP) and his assignment partners went to great lengths to ensure everything was done correctly and by the book.
Unfortunately, their grade was much lower than they hoped it would be.
When they saw the reasons why, they felt compelled to confront their teacher for being unfair.
Wondering if this was out of line, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**Hole” (AITA), where they asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for telling my teacher she can’t deduct marks over putting citations in my work?”
The OP explained why she and her classmates felt the need to confront their physics teacher over a recent grade:
“I (17 F[emale]) am currently taking summer school for 12th grade physics.”
“Recently, we were asked to create an infographic as a group on a topic under the Waves and Light unit.”
“My other two group members (both 17 F) wrote our assignment on the topic of heat mirages.”
“After spending hours on the task, we decided to add our citations on a page below the infographic.”
“This was not explicitly asked on the assignment; however, we wanted to be academically honest students and put down our sources anyway.”
“This morning, we received our grades back.”
“We achieved a level 3 (70s range), and as highly achieving students, this felt absurd to us.”
“However, the feedback that was provided said we gave the output of a level 4, but were instead brought down to a level 3.”
“The reason?”
“‘Citations were not asked for this assignment’.”
“‘I will take off one mark under individual work. 3/4’.”
“Yes, that is the only comment our group received as feedback on our work.”
“The decrease had nothing to do with the quantity or quality of our work.”
“We decided to confront the teacher as soon as possible.”
“Why were we losing a whopping 15% of our grade over putting down our sources?”
“When the three of us approached her, she was very rude and condescending about it, stating ‘you should read the instructions next time’.”
“‘Actions have consequences, and you shall receive consequences for not following instructions accordingly’.”
“I attempted to negotiate further, but the teacher would not budge.”
“She got angry and cut the conversation early before any of my other group members could get a chance to speak after me.”
“We are very upset over losing such a huge percentage of our grade on this assignment over ADDING citations of all things.”
“I believe that if she wishes to use such an excuse and penalize us over ‘not following instructions’, she should have at least given us a 4- instead of dropping us down as far as a 3.”
“Especially since this is a 12th grade course, it is very important for me to do the best I can.”
“I need physics as a prerequisite for my desired university programs, and this will not only drastically impact my grade, but my group members as well.”
“AITA?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation, by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community unanimously agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for confronting her teacher about her grade.
Everyone agreed that not only should the OP and her classmates have confronted their teacher, but they should also have reported her to a department head or principal.
Many were amazed that any teacher not only would mark a paper down for including citations, but would even accept a paper without them.
“NTA.”
“You didn’t fail to do the assignment — which would make sense to penalize.”
“You did the assignment, plus extra.”
“You shouldn’t be penalized for doing a better job than was asked.”
“The teacher is being petty in a way that hurts you unfairly.”
“I suggest going over her head and getting this corrected.”
“It’s really not fair.”- ScarletNotThatOne
“NTA.”
“Also, what kind of school do you go to where they accept work without citations?”
“Especially for senior student,s that to me is wild.”- No-one21737
“NTA.”
“If I were you, I would absolutely be contacting higher-ups to see about getting it reversed.”
“This is just petty.”- lunaxcervidae
“NTA.”
“Your teacher is the a**hole.”
“Requested or otherwise, the common core curriculum typically insists that all essays/presentations/etc need proper citation, and your teacher is getting angry at you for simply doing as you were taught.”
“Take it to the principal, maybe?”- An_Idiot_Called
“NTA.”
“Go above this teacher’s head and talk to the head of the department, assistant principal, or principal.”
“This is unacceptable.”- Syric13
“NTA.”
“Adding citations is the default expectation in most assignments.”
“Is there someone else you can talk to, or a process for challenging grades at your institution?”
“Also losing 1 mark out of 4 is 25% not 15%.”- Puskarella
“NTA.”
“I’m a professional educator, including being a former classroom physics teacher.”
“Assuming that the details are as you’ve presented them, your teacher is an idiot and an AH.”
“The assignment was an infographic, so it’s entirely reasonable that you used outside sources.”
“Citing your sources is a good practice, not just for reasons of academic honesty, as you note, but also because it gives the audience potential places to go to get more information.”
“On top of that, as you note, you did more than the assignment asked for.”
“I doubt the teacher had a rubric that called for deducting points if more stuff was on it.”
“This was an assessment and if your work could be used as evidence of what the teacher wanted to assess, you should get that credit.”
“Your teacher is on a power trip, which earns them AH status.”- Upbeat_Selection357
“Bruh, NTA at all, man!”
“Ridiculous that you’re getting penalized for being thorough and honest.”
“I mean sure, follow the assignment, but downgrading for EXTRA stuff that’s legit professional?”
“Nah, that ain’t right.”
“Stand your ground, maybe even kick it up to someone higher up.”
“Grades ain’t something to mess about with, especially not for some BS like this.”
“Frustrating af, dude.”
“Keep at it and don’t let this malarkey kill your vibe.”- magicalmiaas
“NTA.”
“You went above and beyond.”
“Now go above and beyond her and take it to the principal and your parents.”- walkinwater
“NTA.”
“Your teacher is a twit.”
“Keep on doing what you’re doing, it’ll serve you brilliantly in further education!”- BrightFleece
“NTA.”
“I wonder if she’s pissed because now she has to check the citations/sources or something.”-Malphas43
“N.T.A.”
“Go. Over. Her. Head.”
“Get the Principal involved, the Superintendent of Schools, even the local press, if you have to.”
“She said actions have consequences.”
“Show her that her unethical grading practices definitely will.”- leviathan0999
“NTA.”
“If you were my kid, I’d be in your principal’s office tomorrow with that teacher explaining to me their nonsense and not leaving until you received the correct grade.”- stringrandom
“It’s bullsh*t, but it is extremely common for lazy teachers to pull this.”
“Myself and everyone I know who has ever taken a coding class has lost marks over some variation of this.”
“Like you’re supposed to write a simple code that returns a certain phrase, but there’s a typo in the phrase.”
“If you fix the typo, you lose points because you were instructed to return that exact phrase as written.”
“Get used to asking for clarification if you think something is missing or incorrect in an assignment’s instructions.”
“You’re NTA, but this is not the last time you’re going to run into this nonsense.”
“You might consider getting parents involved in this.”
“If they’re willing to make a ruckus, administration might get the teacher to back down.”
“Going forward, you should also be very, very annoying asking this teacher to clarify every possible detail of every assignment they hand out for the rest of the year.”- Jumpingyros
“NTA.”
“Totally absurd.”
“I would reach out to your child’s guidance counselor or school curriculum administrator and see if they can advise.”
“In my experience, principals stay out of things like this.”- Unhappy-Quail-2645
It’s difficult to decide which is more confusing.
That any teacher would deduct points for a paper where the students went to painstaking effort to make sure all their sources were properly cited.
Or that a teacher would even accept a paper without citations.
One hopes the OP and her classmates do bring this to an administrator at the school.
As any teacher who does this really shouldn’t be teaching at the high school level, if at all.