Anonymous wrote:

I tripped over these fourms just on accident looking for advice on a formal letter that is due. If it isn't any trouble could someone point out any areas that need revision. here it is: *** Bunting Drive North Augusta, *** ***   November 1, 2007   Mr. B Assistant Academic Dean. X College X Road X-town, State  zip code   Dear Mr. B:   Subject: Grade Disputation   The reason why I am contacting you is because of my strong disagreement with my final grade in English 102 (Fall 1, X). I feel that I have received this grade unfairly and wish it to be reviewed. I must emphasize on the imbalanced acts that were made during the quarter.    My concerns primarily deal a lot with my final paper. Mr. X informed the class that “everyone” could and should turn their paper in for him to review before the due date. I tried to take advantage of this but was rejected because of Mr. X’s busy schedule. On September 20th my final paper was due. I had to appear in court and was not able to make it to class (documentation attached). I turned in my paper at the next class and was notified that it would be counted late and after a quick review was told that I would fail the paper. He identified the major format errors I had made within five minutes of looking at my paper. I do not know why he could not have taken five minutes before the class  to tell me about these errors that needed to be fixed. I asked if I could quickly change these errors and turn back in a revised copy. I was rudely told, “Yes…next quarter.” I was dissatisfied with myself but life goes on. I left in disappointment and walked to my next class with another one of Mr. Xs’ students. I asked her how she did and was shocked when told that she was allowed to take her essay home and revise it. She forgot to type major parts of her paper and had many format errors. Mr. X told her that if she didn’t redo the paper and turn in back in on the 23rd, she would fail (a due-date altered from the rest of the class). I had asked Mr. X for the same privilege minutes before and was denied. When confronted about it, he told me that it did not matter as she failed anyway. I found out when talking to him a second time that she had actually made a “B”.   The second of my concerns is about my “daily grade”. I just recently found out about this and should also be brought to your attention. Mr. X enlightened me that I had earned a “D” for my “daily grade” when I initially spoke with him about my disputation. His reasoning behind it was that I slept in class “all the time” as he put it. It is hard for me to grasp this because of the fact that we had to write an essay every class besides the first week and a half. The first week and a half was “an exact repeat of English 101” as Mr. X put it. The repetition of the material made it hard to fight dozing off. I saw this in many students' faces. I dozed off twice during this time period. I would like to bring it to your attention that I was not the only one falling asleep during his lectures. It became sort of a joke about Mr. X and his dictionary. He would prop it up acting as if he was reading, but was clearly sleeping. After the introduction of the course, our assignment from then on was to write an essay each class. It is rather hard to fall asleep writing an essay that is due in two hours. I am 100 per cent sure that I was awake for each paper. Not only was I awake for each essay, but I made it a goal to stay in class until everyone had left early. He told us that he wanted us to stay the full two hours even if that meant writing another twenty pages. I figured that was the reason I had received such a low grade in English 101.   Yours sincerely, Cory X  <mod note:  Specific names and places have been removed>