Dear Editor,

One of the primary roles of academic faculty within higher education is to equip students with theoretical and practical knowledge as they prepare themselves for future employment. In addition to this, lecturers play a crucial role in helping students develop their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills as well as other general life skills.

While it is not a part of their core responsibilities, many lecturers extend themselves beyond teaching and researching to help students transition into higher education and navigate the university experience, which can be quite challenging academically and financially.

As a lecturer with a decade of experience across universities locally, regionally, and internationally, it has always been my belief that educators should be concerned about helping students achieve their academic goals so that they can graduate within a reasonable time to chart their economic independence. Tertiary education in Jamaica is exorbitant for most of our students; consequently, we should not wilfully delay their progress, especially when we have some amount of power over their future.

At the same time, students must be diligent and responsible throughout their college journey. They must understand that, at this level, lecturers have no duty to spoon-feed them. They know that if they fail a course, they have to pay to resit it, and failure can further postpone their graduation date, which has economic consequences.

However, what is unacceptable is when students spend time to do their work and demonstrate the requisite effort for a course but end up scoring low or failing due to victimisation.

It baffles me that some lecturers pride themselves on having a high failure rate or being among the elite who “mark hard”. Are they there to serve their own interests or that of the students?

Some lecturers also victimise their students when students challenge their teaching, leave them poor feedback, or counteract their beliefs, whether doctrinal, moral, or political. Some lecturers feel attacked whenever students contradict their position. They believe they are the guardians of knowledge and the sole experts in their fields. But students equally bring academic value to the classroom. Instead of viewing them as competitors, they should be seen as collaborators.

As someone who teaches academic writing, I mark numerous essays that do not support my core beliefs. However, guided by the established rubric, I grade my students accordingly and not based on my feelings. In fact, I practise an open-door policy with my students. Whenever grades are released, I always tell them to check their scores and the feedback given. If they have any queries, they can contact me for a review and an explanation.

However, a lecturer who may have strong political affiliations might be triggered if he or she receives an essay that strongly disagrees with his or her party’s operations and policies. Due to political bias, the student may receive a low or failing grade.

Imagine the shock the student experiences, knowing full well his or her essay is worth a higher grade.

In such a case a re-mark should be requested, except that it is at the student’s expense. The same lecturer should not be allowed to re-mark, but another colleague, who is preferably not known to the student.

But how does one move forward afterwards? The student is left with distrust because a lecturer who is supposed to look out for his or her academic well-being used his or her work to sabotage him or her. The student also wonders if other students have been victims.

The university administration should take disciplinary actions, but do they always? How can we ensure that students are not discriminated against because of religious, racial, and political biases?

As humans, we share divergent views on many things, but students should not be penalised on unfair grounds due to lecturers’ inability to suspend their prejudices when marking.

Oneil Madden

maddenoniel@yahoo.com