Fighting for a Grade and a Friend is getting Baptized

Well, I am home now, and the semester is over! Whew... what a relief. I will find out my final grades tomorrow, but I am pretty sure that I did well in all my classes. Unfortunately, there is one class that I am really having to fight the teacher for a good grade in... here is what happened...

So I registered for a music theory class this last semester. When I got to class, the teacher and music department secretary had made a mistake, and way over filled the class. In order to accommodate everyone, an early morning class was opened up, and anyone who was able to take a class in the morning was begged to. I was one of the few students in the class who could because most of the other students were in an early morning Basic Piano Skills class at the same time as the early morning theory class. I didn't want to take the early class because I already had a couple of days where my schedule kept me in classes for 10 consecutive hours, and I didn't really want to make it 11. But I agreed to help the department handle the overload.

A few weeks through the semester, the professor (who by the way, is fresh out of college himself, and has never taught a class before, and is not married) sent an email detailing the grade outline for the class. In the email, he informed us of the department policy that if you miss more than seven days of class, then your grade will drop by a letter from where it other wise would have been.

Well, as the semester progressed, my professor stopped taking roll, and at the same time - though not because he stopped taking roll - I began to sleep through my class occasionally. After it happened a few times, I went to the professor and asked him exactly how many absences he showed I had and if there was anything that I could do to make them up. He told me that he didn't really know how many absences I had, and never would entertain, or suggest any way to make up absences; in fact, I felt like he totally blew off my request for a way to make up work.

Over the semester, I slept through a few more classes, and approached a couple more times. He still couldn't tell me how many absences I had, and told me not to worry about it. Near the end of the semester, I got sick, and missed a few more days. I approached him again just to make sure that I didn't need to worry about anything, or do any make up work, which I was more than willing to do if he wanted me to. This time his tune was a little different. "Well, part of being a musician is being dependable, so I don't know. You have probably missed more than seven days." I asked if he wanted me to do anything to make some of the days off. He completely blew off that request.

So now I am in an email battle with him, trying to get him to let my grade be an A, which is what I have earned in the class. It is completely unfair to the entire class if he applies that policy to anyone, because the best he can do is guess at how many absences someone has. And to make matters worse, I feel like he lied to me when he said not to worry about it. All semester I took steps to make sure that I could still get an A, and all semester my professor led me on, believing that I was fine. After all, I scored high on every assignment, and scored almost 100% across the board on the five different sections of the final.

I will let you know how it turns out, but so far it doesn't look like I am going to win with him. But, I plan to appeal my grade if he gives me a lower grade.

On a happier note, one of my best friends has decided she would like to be baptized, and she has asked me to do the honors. I agreed of course. I had expected her to join the church for a while now, and was just waiting the news. It came about a week and a half ago in a text. Best news I had heard in a while.

Don't forget your daily dose of Music!