Do students haggle for grades in the US?
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Anonymous
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Hello, my question is pretty straightforward.
I live in a country where when I was in high school at the end of each semester, all our teachers would have one-on-one time with each and every student regarding their grade. So, we would get our grades on paper but prior there would be time alone with your teacher where you would basically haggle for your grade. I don't know how else to describe it other than the word "haggle". For example, I'd walk into my teachers classroom and we would sit down and she would straight up ask me "What grade do you think you deserve?" or "What grade do you think you're going to get?". And I remember one time I responded "an A" to my teacher and she laughed in my face. I was 14 years old haha. Now, the reason I used the word "haggle" is because I would hear other students come out of their "meetings" with the teacher and say something like, "OMG she was gonna give me a C but I persuaded her to give me a B!" This happened a lot. Whereas I myself had no haggling skills. This would bother me so much because I would think, well if at the end of the semester if the teacher thinks a student deserves a C, HOW could they change their mind? You're the teacher! Anyway I'm really curious to know if this was the case for you too, or if this doesn't happen at all in the US? Because where I'm from this is their method. Thank you |
Anonymous
| No. |
Anonymous
| No, but there may be some flexibility. Subject to school policy and teacher goodwill, it may be possible to negotiate some opportunities for extra credit work. Also, while the end of the semester is far too late, there may be cases on individual assignments or tests where a student could discuss an ambiguous question and present a defense for their approach in hopes that the teacher might reconsider that individual grade before it is factored into the semester grade. |
Anonymous
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OP here, oh wow thank you guys.
nope in our case it wasn't about extra credit. we don't have that in my country.. crazy |
Anonymous
| Sometimes teachers will give extra credit but it is usually up to the students to seek this out. Grades are dependent on certain criteria being met, no haggling. |
Anonymous
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OP here, my country had a different grading system but in 2012 all schools from the sixth grade and up implemented the A-F grading system. and it has truly been a horrible experience. many teachers still complain.
they thought it would be the like in the US I guess, but its fairly new so they still don't have it down... |
Anonymous
| Most kids on public school get As so no haggling needed. They get retakes and no late penalties. |
Anonymous
What’s wrong with it? |
Anonymous
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Yes some teachers do this out in CA. It’s considered bad practice but in smaller school systems with less teacher insight, younger teachers misconstrue that this is a good way to get kids to self reflect. It’s not. There are far better ways to achieve self reflection. It disproportionately rewards high confidence, privileged, extroverted kids and penalizes kids with lower self esteem, minority kids that have lived under low expectations and introverted kids. It also favors boys over girls as girls are less likely to brag about themselves.
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Anonymous
This. Wholesale haggling about grades sounds like a nightmare. US HS teachers do not have time to do that with all the students they teach! Plus sounds like a great set up for a lawsuit re unfair grading. |
Anonymous
| The US system is much less fair. Teachers often let individual students haggle or browbeat them into giving a higher grade. So, one kid might get a 92% A- and not complain. Another kid might have a B and haggle their way into an A, thus leapfrogging the kid who actually had the higher grade. |
Anonymous
Some students absolutely DO push their teachers to increase their grades! And then some parents email or call and push as well! Heck, they do that even when their kids are in undergrad 
The ability to wheedle is a very important one, wherever you live in the world. Please develop it, it will stand you in good stead when you're negotiating salary or anything else. Personally, I'm not great at it. But one of my friends has a gift in that area. He's going to be charmingly pushy and get something extra, but without hurting feelings or offending anyone. I see him do it every week, but I can't replicate it! |
Anonymous
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My district doesn’t allow extra credit. I’ve tried to build in self-reflection for its own sake and not as a way of haggling over final grades, but find that it requires socioemotional skills my students have not yet mastered.
There’s a lot of parents who lobby for grades to be bumped up (either the final average or raising specific assignment grades). |
Anonymous
| No. I’ve never heard of this. |
Anonymous
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OP here, thank you for all the responses!
im so interested in reading about this cause all I know about grading in the US is from the movies.. however I am of the belief that getting "straight A's" is a common thing to expect from your children , or its doable. But here its almost impossible. Like the smartest most studious girl I knew got A's mixed with B's . And we don't get that thing from our teacher where they tell you that this is going to be 50% of your grade etc.. |