I have a teacher who seems to be the one teacher in the engineering department who has a since of humor.

He laughs at himself and jokes with the class. Often, he will interrupt his own lecture to talk about something completely random.

Incidentally, his relationship with the class has been very open.

Students don’t mind bringing up issues that they have with him right in the middle of a lecture.

I think this kind of openness in a classroom is really great, but listening to what the students grumble about is a little frustrating.

In one of the first weeks I had with this professor, he admitted that on some of his evaluations students had commented that his tests were “tricky.”

That was a mistake.

Since then, classes have been completely halted by students complaining about the content of his tests — saying that they are, heaven forbid, tricky.

Our professor defends himself by saying he doesn’t care if we can robotically work through problems on tests that are taken from the homework.

He wants us to understand the material backwards and forwards.

He jokes that in the real world, our bosses won’t ask us to “solve for x.”

I couldn’t agree more. But this issue shines light on a bigger controversy: the current expectations of students.

Times have really changed in how we view grades.

There was a time when the B, and even the C, was considered average, while the A was reserved for the kids who really had an exceptional understanding of the material.

Now, though, this is not true.

Everyone expects an A, from students to their parents.

Teachers feel pressured to give out As because, to some degree, how they are paid and viewed by the department depends on how well their students do in the class and how highly the students evaluate them.

We feel compelled as a generation to feel that if we aren’t bringing home a 3.5 or close to it, we are failing.

But arguing that tests are “tricky” won’t accomplish anything.

What we need to understand is that if we want an A, we have to be willing to work for it.

In this class in particular, I think we are receiving the grades we deserve.

We are at this university to learn, not to make As.

Sometimes we forget that. There is coming a time when we will no longer be doing homework or taking tests.

And when that time comes, it won’t matter if we got an A, B or C.

What will matter is whether or not we learned the material and if we retained any real knowledge.

It is the responsibility of our teachers to make sure that goal is accomplished.

They need to make it their main concern for us to leave this university with an education.

If that comes at the expense of a few letter grades and some harsh evaluations, so be it.

I am proud of the professors who challenge us.

I have had several great teachers since coming to OU, and the common trait among them is that they wanted me to learn, not necessarily make a good grade.

Jordan Rogers is an industrial engineering junior. His column appeared every other Wednesday.