Should Teachers Give Out Grades for a Bad Situation?

            In Thursday’s lecture, Dr. J brought up this example about grades. You are the teacher. A student in your class is in a single parent household and has to work to pay for his college tuition. Because he has to work, his performance in the class was not well, and ended up with a D as the final grade. You find out that he needs a C in your class, neither he will lose all of his academic scholarship. What would you do if you were a teacher in this dilemma? How would you morally reason your answer?

            Personally, I have never had to ask a teacher for a grade. I simply earned it and appreciated whatever the teacher gave me. Though if I were a teacher, I would never just give a grade out like that, because it would not be fair to all of the other classmates. If a student is having problems keeping up in class and the grade starts dropping, the student needs to tell the teacher of the unfortunate circumstances. If the teacher were to give out a grade just because the student will lose the scholarship, then according to Kant, who believed that a maxim should be treated like a universal law, all students who are in the same position will have to be bumped up to the grade they need. If I were to follow Kant’s theories then, it would be a “universal law” to bump up the grade of every student who had some bad times. A problem with that would be that what would be considered a bad time?

            A consequentialist, a person who solely base their moral reasoning on consequences, may say that if the teacher does not give the grade, the student may drop out because, the cost of college would significantly rise. But if the grade is bumped up, and the other classmates find out, then the others would want a grade bump too. By doing that the teacher may lose credibility in their grading policies. Would you be willing to raise every student’s grade just because of that one student?

            Another problem about this example is that it somewhat emphasizes the student being from a single parent family. I think that this doesn't matter at all. Some families where the parents are still married, still make their child pay for their own tuition. So it is not like this student is the only person in the world that has to work and go to college. Probably thousands of people have to go through this issue, but they still manage to get good grades. In conclusion, if I were the teacher I would not give the student the grade he needs.