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Have you ever been graded unfairly - because of internal politics?

Hmmm, I suspect this doesn't happen particularly often.
More likely are academics that mark very differently to their colleagues..... just because of different methodological preferences, etc...

As pamplemousse says it's unlikely. If two markers really disagree about your work, then a third person is brought in and those cases then tend to get sent to the external examiner too. So assuming you're asking about a UK masters degree then no I've never heard of this. I have heard it's much more common in other countries, where there's only ever one marker and your fate rests entirely in his/her hands.

Hmmm, I can't say I have had a particular experience of being graded unfairly due to internal politics, but I am aware of how inconsistent marking within a single department or even a single module can be. This seems to be particularly bad when a large group (i.e. the whole module or even the whole year) have their work marked and graded by different members of staff. Sometimes there are blatent inconsistencies, where a person has lost a whole grade for one explicit reason, and another has made exactly the same error and received no penalty for it, or even a comment regarding the error. More frequently though, the reasons for differences in grades are not so explicit, so it is hard to make sense of why one piece of work had received a better grade than another. I think one of the worst situations is where different lecturers mark project presentations, where there is no second opinion and no possibility of moderation since the presentations are not recorded. Yet students' results are sometimes 'surprising' enough for a lot of people to question how consistent the marking really is. On a related theme, I mark a lot of undergrad work as a PhD student, as do many other PhD students, and it is quite clear that some of us are not marking to the same standards, even where the marking guidelines are quite specific. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of politics going on behind the scenes though...what sort of internal politics are you referring to? I have known overall module marks to be 'boosted' due to a ridiculously unfair exam paper etc....KB

Well, I have been graded unfairly but not because of internal politics. It was rather because I had a really bad tutor, who believed that I shouldn't do my MBA because I was a foreiner and a woman!!!!! My mistake was that I didn't say anything to anybody, I just did my best and, despite hiw attempts to fail [he was saying that this degree is not suitable for me, that I can't study for postgraduate (even if I had 2 more masters), that all my explanations were wrong (even if I he had given them to me) and so on] I managed to pass and now I am studying for a PhD.

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A friend studying here was saying to me recently he had a problem with that

I agree just different types of examiners.

The presentation is an interesting one - not recorded. I did a presentation - and I was told - a couple of times - by some Phd students that it was one of the best papers they'd heard out of everyone, and that nobody gave a paper like it, yet I got a C and other people got an A.

The focus of my topic was a different field than the field of the examiners, and people who got an A, where in the same field as some of the examiners. Probably different kinds of marking for each field. I dunno I guess can't do much about it - so will forget about it

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Sinead, what in this situation made you think about 'internal politics'? To me it could (and probably is) a case of 'grading'. This will sound harsh, but I saythis from experience, peers are not always the right evaluators. Not that profs are. There is no set rule.



But just that I do not see why you would necessarily reach the conclusion of internal politics based on a C and the fact that peers said it was good. Why would they want to harass or play games against a masters tsudent? It happen,s if there have been specific reasons, and they will publicly display this (unlikely) by giving C to a star paper, that's a REALLY strong thing to happen.



Is it the real case, though? Who was playing politics? AGainst whom? I truly cannot see it... Enlighten us??

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Hi PhDBug - has this topic upset you before, when people mention it? I'm sorry if this topic is personal to you. If its an upsetting topic to you, I didnt mean to offend



why are you upset? what is making you fumed by this? and why is it personal to you? why do you express anger? (Ive seen you express anger in other posts by others - you might need to talk to someone)

I was replying to the other user about presentations

Hi Sinead,

I am on a masters course as well at the moment. I think grading can almost always be thought of as unfair as you put it. We would like to think that marking schemes are always infallible and that examiners mark coursework in a consistent and fair way, but truth is that in most cases( even the physical sciences ), marking schemes can be rather flexible and open to interpretation and so there is room for variability between what one examiner might give and another might gave. That is why for marking dissertations which tend to make up quite a large contribution of the overall master's grade awarded, two examiners will grade the thesis independantly and a third reader may be drafted in should they disagree by a certain threshold (usually about 10%).

I cant say I have been completely happy with all my grades on this course and in some cases grades appear to be given rather arbitrarily but I wouldn't put it down to anything sinister like politics. I would agree that there is no benefit for examiners in messing over masters students and so this isnt likely to happen at this level. Courses may be marked in a certain way to ensure an acceptable distribution of grades but I think this is pretty much standard across the board. No course wants to have a reputation for being too hard or too easy and finding a happy medium can be a tricky prospect for course organisers.

Having said that, from my own experience and listening to other people on this forum, politics can play a big role in whether a student successfully completes their PhD thesis or not, so to answer your question: Yes politics does play a role but not so much at this level

I should add that i dont think there was anything overly aggressive about PhDbug's post. I've seen people post with much less tact and alot more aggression on this forum. So I wouldnt read too much into it.
8-)

======= Date Modified 19 Jun 2009 03:34:17 =======
Decided against giving advice.

It's funny that you edited your orignal comment to insert this crap above!

Hmm, agressive, upset and I "might need to talk to someone"??

Isn't that what this whole forum has been telling YOU for the last few days??

Anger is not something I am prone to, but I must give you a salute dear Sinead, you've managed to (with this crap above) to irritate me a little now!

Cheers!

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Sinead, I think I must say this. Why do you keep deleting your posts? Every single thing you post is modified later and these below have been deleted. About 6 months ago, we on this forum experienced very similar behaviour from someone called Masters2008, who has since then deleted every single post of their's after complaining of acute depression, being advised by the entire forum to see a counsellor, and then deleting their posts.

It annoyed many of us for a substantial period fo time,. for we wasted time anad energy in replying to posts that were deleted!

PhD Bug can you stop answering my questions.