This is Going to Hurt Me More Than it Will Hurt You

Proclaimed my dad just prior to him doling out a whoopin'. The statement was blatantly absurd in my estimation, but it was meant to convey to me the sense of conscious that my dad had regarding the situation i.e. punishment is not easy or pleasant for the giver or the receiver, but it is necessary in order to achieve a desired future outcome of acceptable behavior.

It’s a concept I don’t think a good friend of mine has encountered or pondered. An Adjunct Professor of Law at a university in northern Cal, my lawyer friend recently discussed his grading system for his students’ final exam. The students’ grades ranged from As to Ds, but he proudly pronounced “I did not give anyone a ‘D’ and passed everyone.” I asked him why and to this he answered “I can’t fail a student.” I repeated his words back to him “You can’t fail a student? YOU didn’t ‘fail’ the student, the student failed.” He said that to him, it just wasn’t right to fail a student.

So, I asked him what the client of the failing students’ law services will receive when they need his "expertise" or worse, have a lawsuit. Rather than getting a passing student, they’ll get a student who shouldn’t have passed, but because the professor doesn’t believe in failing students the client and ultimately, society suffers and fails. He understood, but to him it was a matter of principle.

What if this was the standard for professors of medical students? What if it is?

I understand now, and have for many years, the right-ness of my dad’s “this will hurt me more…” statements. Because it really does. It’s not easy being the guy who must adhere to and uphold standards and proffer punishment when it would be much easier to give a pass or passing grade.

But whom does this ultimately help? In my case, having me and my ol’ man suffer in the short term benefited me in the long run. In the law students’ case the pass doesn’t help him/her, doesn’t help his clients, doesn’t help society and diminshes the standard of civilization to its lowest common denominator.

All because the Professor has decided his principled decision is based on him not wanting to feel bad.