C's are average, no more, no less. People should not be offended when they get one, unless they have been absolutely superior students and did not get recognized for that fact. The whole sense of entitlement that people have these days REAAAAALLLLLY drives me nuts... one of my huge pet peeves.
That said, as a student, I had the closest thing to a nervous breakdown that I've ever had when I got my first B in my senior year of high school. Looking back, I'm so glad it happened then, so that I could learn that I wasn't the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world. I remember one of my teachers actually apologizing for having to give me the grade, he felt so bad. The other teacher, I am still friends with and I respect him all the more for being a hard-ass and grading me on my performance. I have never had much respect for teachers who didn't give me what I deserved, bad or good.
When I got to college, I let my studies slide since I didn't know what grad school was (I'd given up on med school by my 2nd quarter) and there was just too much fun to be had. Got a C in calculus (acceptable; I have always sucked at math), and a C+ in World Literature (unacceptable, since I was in love for the first time, but also an English major!). Still, I didn't really care that much, since my identity revolved around a lot more than just my grades, after those first B's in high school. And, in terms of grad school, it didn't really matter anyway, since I took a lot of post-bacc courses and proved that my 3.55 undergrad wasn't a true representation of my ability. (Have been getting darn near 4.0's ever since, yay!)
Now, let me say that as a high school teacher and a college teaching assistant: a C is AVERAGE. And that is not a judgement on someone's intelligence; we just can't have the majority of the population running around thinking they are A students, when really they are average. People should be okay with who they are, not feeling inadequate and needing teachers to validate their existence with an unearned "A." I believe in the normal curve, with a little room for people at the bottom to redeem themselves after the first hard knocks.
I don't care what kind of insane inflation takes place, I do not see any reason for giving an average student anything higher than a C. If they have not gone out of their way to be an excellent student, and by that I mean giving up certain social activities before things are due, not coming in stoned or drunk, seeing me during office hours and obviously making a huge effort to BE A GOOD STUDENT, then they do not deserve a higher grade. Now, of course, if some idiot manages to pull off really high scores on everything while still being a horrible student (somewhat like myself
), then I won't deny them the A. But those who are smart enough to do that are few and far between... the rest, IT'S OKAY TO BE AVERAGE, jesus. Take your C like a man/woman and move on.
... and yes, I am almost SURE I got a C (or worse) on my recent Statistics test. This makes me feel like crap, not because of the C, but because I know I
deserved that C. I know I am an above-average student, but I let myself be average on this test, and that is why I feel bad. It is not shameful to have the C, but it is shameful that I did not apply myself more efficiently.