The Travails of Exam Grading

For the past week or so I have lived, eaten and breathed law school exams and research papers. The old adage is that professors teach for free but get paid to grade. At the end of every semester, I reaffirm my belief in that wise cliche. Grading seems to take forever, and it can be absolutely mind-numbing (no offense, students--just imagine reading the same answer over and over and over and over). But you can't mess it up or take shortcuts because it's very, very important.

But now I'm kinda, sorta done. I've got to go back and check things on my exams and papers again, and I have to make sure my calculations are right. But the hard slogging is done. Hurray! On to summer research projects.

There's a post on The Little Professor blog that captures the grading experience quite well. The blogger in question is an English professor grading undergraduate papers, but she captures the spirit of the higher education grading process quite well. Also check out the comments. They are delightfully vicious.