I don’t want to enfranchise laziness, of course. The Bible condemns it. However, the Bible also doesn’t spell out exactly what productivity in labor looks like. So I think that there may be more room on this question than some might think.

I haven’t fully developed my position on this, but I want to do so in days to come. I think of people like Andrew Carnegie, who worked for a few hours a day, but nonetheless became the world’s richest man; Winston Churchill, who had an unusual work schedule and took long naps despite an incredible workload; and David McCullough, who writes only for a short period every day.

These and many other examples, along with one’s personal example, perhaps, seem to suggest that we might have productivity all wrong. Perhaps we’re dumb to equate it with the mere logging of hours. Perhaps it is has much more to do with how one works, though of course some tasks and jobs do call for long hours at different times.

I think we could probably stand to reexamine this, and to focus more on working smart than working long.

BC–appreciate your thoughtful response, as always. Grading is subjective, you’re right. But does this mean that students should be able to negotiate for grades, as many of us seem to think we can? Is there not significant good in accepting the standards given us, and in working with them, and seeking to learn through them? Is this not what life requires of us on so many fronts?

Subjective standards are everywhere around us. Some are better than others, but surely many students have far too heightened a sense of the subjective element of grading and far too low a sense of submission to authority, the duty to work hard, and the poison of an entitled mindset.

Russell–thanks much for your words. They are encouraging.

I actually disagree in places. I do not mean to dismiss the aspect of pride present in grading complaints, or advocate grade inflation, etc., but there is, I think, something more substantive in students’ objections. Your argument seems to require that grading is or, at least, can be fully objective. But I don’t think that it can be. For example: say I’m teaching you Greek, and I’ve to develop an exam. I can make the exam more or less difficult as I see fit – it could be so difficult that every student fails or so easy that every student receives an A. Of course, if I’m doing things properly, neither of these possibilities will happen. But that’s just my point – that the subjective evaluative choices that the instructor makes affect students’ grades.

This is an adage in software development. The more people that you add to a project (after a certain number like 4 or 6), the longer the project takes.

Aimee’s problem is entitlement. She’s entitled when she puts her all into a class. Whether she gets it or not. There is a lot of math, science and engineering that a lot of people can “puts one’s all into” and they still won’t pass. Appropriately so.

There are a lot of English, Greek, Literature, and Art classes that I could put my all into (and I have on occasion, though not always) and I will still earn a D+ or C-. Appropriately so.