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Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Blatantly Biased Bureaucracy 

I want to kill somebody.
Preferably the person who supervised my group's Final Year Project (FYP).
If I could, I would leave him to die a lingering and most painful death.
Yes, that is how enraged I feel towards him.

I just got my results today and while they're not fantastic, I am not exactly perturbed since I didn't even finish any of my papers. But what galled me was the discrepancy in the group's grades for FYP. Two of us had lovely Bs and the other two (myself included) had annoying Cs. It was a bit of a shock and I thought I would drop the conscientious supervisor an email for an explanation. Here's his (extremely) brief reply:
The examiners board considered the overall average marks of students.
Your fyp was discussed extensively. The consensus was that it was between high C and low B.

Right.
That was typical of him, not answering what needs to be answered.
So I called.
And the explanation is so ridiculous, nobody would be able to believe it.

According to our dear sup, our project was dithering between a high C and a low B. So to resolve the problem, the Board decided to look beyond our FYP and consider our overall academic record. Since the two lovely ladies with the lovely B did really well in their third and fourth years, they were granted the B grade. On the other hand, the two of us who didn't get such good grades were inconspicuously handed the C grade.

Which is patently UNFAIR.
This is a group project and the project should be looked upon on its own merit and not judged according to other modules. As a group, we should all be getting the same grade, be it B or C. Besides, the implication is that since we don't do well in exams, we probably deserve, and should accept, the C, while the other two had better grades and are B-grade material. That's biased and f***ing nonsense. Anyway, what is the Board there for, if not to resolve grades in a justified manner? This is definitely not justifiable.

Perhaps the exceedingly well-placed supervisor got it wrong. Or maybe his explanation was warped because he have speech communication problems (in which case he should seek the expert help of Dr Joseph Sommerville).

I detest NTU.


What's Playing on iTunes
Are You Happy Now from "Hotel Paper" by Michelle Branch

yAnn at 5/25/2004 02:12:00 PM