To the Editor:
It should hardly be surprising that this generation of college students equates effort with guaranteed success. After all, from the time they first compete as youngsters, be it in T-ball or at birthday party games, all participants are rewarded with a trophy, medal or prize for merely showing up and taking part regardless of their ability or talent.
Why wouldn’t they feel entitled to a better than average grade for doing the minimum amount of work; they were brought up to believe that effort rather than merit is rewarded.
John Mahoney
Woodbury, Conn., Feb. 18, 2009
Note from KBJ: Desert and entitlement are different concepts. If I train harder than my competitors in a 5K race, I deserve to win, and they don't. But that doesn't mean I'm entitled to the award. The person who crosses the finish line first is entitled to the award. I can deserve X without being entitled to X, and I can be entitled to X without deserving X. Desert is a function of effort. Entitlement is not a function of effort. Students who believe that they deserve a good grade merely because they made an effort to get a good grade are correct. Let me repeat: Students who believe that they deserve a good grade merely because they made an effort to get a good grade are correct. What the professor should say to them is that deserving a good grade is not the same as being entitled to a good grade.
Note 2 from KBJ: Here's an example. I had a Logic student who studied twice as hard as any other student, but ended up with a final score in the 80s. He deserved an A, but was not entitled to it and didn't (therefore) receive it. The student got A's in all of his other courses at UTA.
Note 3 from KBJ: See here for an encyclopedia entry on desert.
