The paragraph that I didn't write

I finished up my grades for Calculus this afternoon, and posted them where the students could see them, then sent out an e-mail alerting them that they were available. Within an hour or so, I had an e-mail from the highest D, explaining how he REALLY needed a C, and look how close he was.

I wrote back politely, saying it was a tough decision, and that someone was going to end up the highest D, and it happened to be him. (The D cut-off was 69%, one percent lower than promised in the syllabus, and 0.4% higher than this guy's course average.) I started to write a second paragraph, but I stopped, because I thought it was an invitation to a grade appeal. So here is approximately what I would have said:

What frustrates me is that you really could have avoided this position. Although your exam average was a D, and in fact you got a C on only one of five exams, you could have averaged a C by the simple step of doing and turning in your homework. You missed 16 assignments. If you had turned in any three of them, you would have averaged 69%, and we aren't having this conversation. Who knows, if you had done all of them, you might even have learned a bit more calculus, and gotten even a higher grade.

OK, I might have made it more polite than that. But even at my politest, I didn't think it would be politic to point out that he missed a C by three lousy ungraded assignments. I gave credit for doing the homework and handing it in, so when I said he only needed to turn in three more assignments, I meant it.

Sorry, buddy. You rolled the dice and took a chance that you could get the grade you wanted without doing the homework. You lost. Thanks for playing.