Reply #20: Advice from a professor: How to affect your grade to help yourself. [View All]

Personally, I think credit report ratings are totally bogus and arbitrary. They are used to keep consumers fearful of debt and to suck wealth out of the low-middle class. I've never checked mine and don't care what it is. I don't borrow money from companies.

So, being a former professor, I'd say: If you have a solid good grade with enough of a percentage of your final grade completed so that you need not worry about your grade, then you can hold the line because you're definitely in the right ethically and probably legally.

If most of your final grade has yet to be determined (i.e. final exam is 50% of grade), then you might try a neutral approach. Tell the professor of your concerns from a personal perspective. Use "I feel..." a lot. Then, offer reasonable alternatives (more than one, if you can) that you would "feel" more comfortable with doing.

If most of your grade is already determined and, well, it's not all that. And you really need a good grade, then the answer is easy. Empower the teacher. Send a note of private concern about the teacher's risk. Mention the school's risk as well. Be nice about it. Tell the teacher that you're sure he/she doesn't mean any harm, but your dad (or spouse) is a lawyer and says that this is a big "no-no" and you just really wanted to let the teacher know. Offer some reasonable alternatives. Include how you're sure that the teacher meant no harm. Include a LINK to the privacy policy page of a credit report agency. Be very supportive and tell how you are happy to do an alternative. But, don't ever offer to reveal your credit. This isn't a sure fire way of getting a good grade, but it's the least likely to hurt.

And, if you want to be nasty, add that your "lawyer dad" offered to let you use his credit report.

Ever see a teacher wet his pants?

Good luck! :toast: