At Harvard, your parents complain to the Dean and the professors that the grade should be commensurate with the money paid and be unrelated to actual student achievement. It was just a matter of time before some “student” cut out the middleman and used direct persuasion on the professor. This has long been coming to academia; now it’s here. It won’t be the last time.

Over a dozen years ago I was an adjunct serving an evening MBA program. One semester, after submitting grades for all of my students, I received an email from a student from another country. She asked me to review her B grade to see if she might actually have earned an A. I check, calculated carefully, and said no. She remonstrated that she was about to graduate, her parents were traveling a long distance to attend, and she really wanted to complete her MBA with a 4.0. Again, I said no. She escalated to the assistant dean who spoke with me saying he’d appreciate another look, but he would back me up. For the third time, I said no. The student never offered any sort of inducement to me, thank goodness.

The next semester I had only 13 students in my section, usually had 30, and none from other countries. I am only guessing that the student, who worked part-time in the international student office, sent out an email broadcast about me to all of the international students and maybe others complaining about me. I have a small ego, so her behavior had little effect on me, but I do hope in later life she got past her lack of professionalism.