Grades in the Seminar

Yesterday for the first time all semester a student raised a question about grades. (Clearly this doesn’t mean yesterday was the first time students have thought about it.) He mentioned that his mother asked how he was doing and he had to say he has no idea. I asked him if he was in the class primarily to learn or primarily for a grade and he said, “to learn, but that won’t satisfy my mother.” He’s an excellent student, and I believe him.

This morning I emailed him to say that on the basis of his blogging, in-class participation and the one graded essay he’s turned in his performance is excellent and I would rate it as an A. I wonder if this will solve the problem. I’m not sure I could do this as easily for all the students.