A colleague told me a really interesting story not so long ago when we were reminiscing about our college days.
We were talking about our professors – the good, the bad and those in between. She was telling me she had one in particular that had driven her completely bananas.
After the semester ended, my work mate told me she had taken an internship abroad. When checking her grades online she noticed that this professor had given her a C instead of the A she deserved. Realizing it must have been a mistake she emailed him. He replied, sure enough it was a mistake and that we would amend it.
Every few days she would check her grades, only to see that he had not kept his word.
She emailed and emailed and the response came back: I will change it.
Even when she returned the offending C sill lingered on her record. And when the new semester started she decided to take action.
She got the course schedule to find out when he was teaching.
Mid class, she burst in demanding her grade to be changed.
Not taking no for an answer, my work mate said she marched him down to the office where she watched him change the C to an A.
Mission accomplished.
After the grade swap the professor told her he admired her determination.
In fact, he was so impressed with her refusing to let it slide that he told her he would help her arrange an internship through some connections he had.
My workmate was thrilled. She told me she had been trying to no avail to get an internship in her chosen field.
I was so impressed with this story and of her not taking no for an answer.
I guess the moral of the story is threefold: professors can sometimes be wrong, don’t take no for an answer when no shouldn’t be the answer, and if you truly believe that something is not right then change it.
