I read the assignment, the paper, and the instructor comments. The instructor is correct to give this a failing grade, however a zero was probably too harsh.

The criteria were:

1. Is there a clear link back to the assigned article? Can the reader assess whether the student has read the assigned article? (10 points)
2. Does the paper provide a reaction/reflection/discussion of some aspect of the article, rather than a summary? (5 points)
3. Are the main ideas and thoughts organized into a coherent discussion? Is the writing clear enough to follow without multiple re-readings? (5 points)

These are not particularly tough criteria. It’s an easy assignment aimed at ensuring students read a particular article and think about its contents. Here’s how I think I’d grade it:

1. I skimmed the article myself. In 2020, I would have been pretty confident the student read it. In 2025, I can’t be sure an LLM didn’t summarize it for the student. I would expect more discussion of specific details from the article rather than a general overview of themes, especially now. 5/10.
2. The student definitely has plenty of her own reactions to the article in her paper, but all of them are based on religion rather than psychology. If she wrote that there’s substantial reason to believe certain gendered behaviors are based on biology and instinct, and that going against those instincts causes stress, that’s fine. In a more rigorous paper, she’d need to cite sources for that, but not here. She could even use the presence of gender norms in religious texts to argue that multiple cultures have discovered something similar to what she believes. She didn’t though. She talked about her religious beliefs regarding gender. 4/10.
3. It’s easy enough to follow her writing. 4/5.

13/25 (52%) is not usually a passing grade.