Yesterday I got bribed. No joke. It feels rather weird and I'm not really sure what to do with the "gift."
One of my students desperately wants me to raise her grade. She has emailed and asked about it for a month now. We met in person yesterday to rehash the issues again. And then, as she left, she pulled out a gift and left it on the table for me. The timing, the way it was done and the relationship we have all insure that this is not an "I love my teacher" gift. (I get those too, but they are oh, so different.)
I also know that this is how things work in her culture. The students themselves often tell me in journal writings about the different cultures, that bribery is a typical part of business there. (Let's be honest, in subtle forms it is here too, but not in a such an open, accepted way.) But chica, we're in America and things don't work that way here. Especially not with me.
I'm not going to change her grade. I wasn't planning on it anyway and that definitely closed the possibility. But I'm not really sure what to do about two things: 1. What to do with the gift? and 2. Should I respond to her and explain that this is inappropriate in America--especially in academic settings?
Any thoughts? Really. I'd love to hear some feedback. On both of those. One of my roommates gave me her opinion but I'd love to hear what others think. I'm just not sure how I want to approach this.
2 comments:
I started to comment on this at least once, but never finished. Yucky situation. Probably resolved by now, but I'll comment anyhow.
I think it's a good idea to just give the gift away, just so there's no mistaking your understanding of the gift and your refusal of its intended purpose. Perhaps it's useful to let her know that's not acceptable in the U.S. also, but that's a tough call. Maybe you could find a story of someone who bribed a teacher at another university and just send her the link? :)
Give it back to her, in class. Then she'll hope her classmates don't ask. ;)
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