Talk About Impossible Standards…

This story reminded me of a story my granddad tells of his brief time as a college lecturer. 

Granddad worked for the same bank for his entire career, working his way up in seniority. When my grandma got sick, he decided that he wanted to spend more time looking after her, so he changed jobs and took up a part-time lecturing role at a college, teaching about banking and accounting.

Part of Granddad’s duties as a lecturer involved setting and marking the final exam based on the content he’d taught during the year. As an inherently fair person, he made sure that everything he asked on the test had been covered at some point in his classes, although that also included tangential subjects that weren’t strictly part of the curriculum but had been discussed anyway. 

Once he’d completed the marking, he was called into the boss’s office during moderation.

Boss: “Now then, [Granddad]. I see that you’ve awarded [Student] full marks on his final exam?”

Granddad: “Yes, that’s right. [Student] has worked very hard this year, and it’s paid off. He answered every question correctly and provided a high level of justification, showing that he also understands why he got the right answers.”

Boss: “Well, okay. But we never give 100% to anyone. That suggests that their answers were perfect and there’s nothing they could do better.”

Granddad: “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. [Student] has done everything flawlessly. If he were my employee in the bank, I’d give him a bonus for exceeding expectations.”

Boss: “No, no, no, you don’t understand. We never give anyone 100%. The highest score we ever award is 97%. You need to change your mark to give [Student] 97%. It’s still an excellent score, and it won’t affect his overall grade.”

Granddad: “But it’s not true! [Student] achieved a perfect score! He couldn’t have done anything more unless he’d taught the course himself! I will not punish that. If your marking system only goes up to 97%, then you’re telling me that 97% is actually 100% which, as a bank manager, I can tell you doesn’t make any mathematical sense! [Student] will receive full marks for his assessment because that’s what he deserves.” 

The student kept his perfect score. Granddad went back to the bank shortly after this exchange. He decided that academia wasn’t for him.

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