Dear ___,

I understand your disappointment with your grade of ‘C’ on the essay question. I hope that you can understand why I can’t re-grade or negotiate grades: I’d have to do it for any student who questions his/her grade, and then it would be open season and I’d constantly be re-grading.

I always try to be fair and empathetic when grading, but I acknowledge that it is ultimately subjective. Having graded 60 essays, I can’t remember yours in particular, but if I wrote “more details,” it was likely because your essay contained the basic elements of the answer that I was hoping for but didn’t say much beyond that. ‘C’ is considered an average grade, and that was the average of the students’ grades on the exam (though I did curve it up a little to give you all a bit of a break).

Over the course of a college career, you will sometimes get a better grade than you probably deserve for this or that assignment, and sometimes you will get a worse grade than you deserve. It will ultimately average out (or even slant slightly toward better grades, since most teachers tend to be empathetic toward their students). I’m not saying that is what has happened in this instance, but you should be prepared for it to happen.

I know that answer may be unsatisfying. But you are doing very well in this course (92%) and I’m confident that you will do just fine on the final assignments and receive a very good final grade.

Dr. Giffone