Seth Kinast’s Blog

If you kill someone in self-defense, it’s just manslaughter, right? I might have to send thugs after my Physics TA, who is the worst TA I’ve ever had in any subject. Wow.

Dr. Murphy,

My name is Seth Kinast and I am a junior currently enrolled in section 902 of PHYS 1311, with Sohrab Hossain as my TA. I was told you were the administrative contact for this semester’s 1311 labs and so am writing with a problem I’ve had recently.

I approached Mr. Hossain last Tuesday, the 15th, with my lab workups that were due that week, as well as a makeup lab. Rather than accept them at that time, he requested that I put them in his mailbox by 5:00 the following day. I put them in his box around 3 as the physics office was closed by the time I left lab. The next week he passed back the lab but I did not receive mine. Upon inquiring, he declared that he had never received my labs and intimated that I had not turned them in, when obviously I had even attempted to give the packet directly to him the previous Tuesday. Mr. Hossain informed me that he could give me the average of my other labs as a grade for the missing one, but I do not feel that this is acceptable as there is no reason that my grade should suffer due to his failure to keep tabs on the whereabouts of my packets. I am not the first student who has had lab work disappear after being turned in to Mr. Hossain, rather the third or fourth that I’ve heard of; indeed, another student had his work go missing the same day. I am fearful that this mishap may not be a singular occurrence, and from what I understood, this “average of other labs” rule only applies to the first time labs go missing. Having maintained a 4.0 all the way into my junior year, I really wouldn’t like to have that slip just because my TA continues losing labwork and thus kills my physics lab grade… not to mention the added work now set upon me of rewriting two previous labs and submitting them again.

I am hopeful that policies could be implemented that don’t involve the intermediary of mailboxes; I would feel much safer giving my labs directly to my TA, so that there is no excuse if they go missing again; he informed me that placing labwork in TA mailboxes was a course policy and not his decision.

I appreciate your taking time to read this note. If you could let me know the official stance on grades for lost labwork, that would be wonderful. Have a great week.

Sincerely yours,
Seth Kinast

Of course I didn’t include the “Hossain is the WORST TA EVARR!!!!11ONE” part. But blah! I have two labs to redo now, and I probably won’t get full credit for them. I’m frustrated.