Lest you mistake me for a totally ignorant fool based off of Part I, I will now briefly play the devil’s advocate and provide some reasons for the behavior which I previously marked as being indicative of an insecure professor:
Economic Factors - Simply put, some Professors make a fair amount of change from writing textbooks, and in order to continue to earn money from this, they will require these textbooks be purchased for their class, perhaps assigning homework from the book in order to encourage the students to purchase the text.
Institutional Factors - Departments have standards and requirements which may compel Professors to have assignments and coursework which they wouldn’t have otherwise. Whether the status quo of the institutional requirements is itself the product of fear and insecurity is a subject for another article.
Statistical Factors - Tests, particularly multiple choice examinations, have a margin of error in terms of accurately assessing how well a student has mastered the course material and as a result may, on their own, be inadequate for the task of determining whether a student has acquired the knowledge requisite for passing a course in the eyes of its instructor. As a general rule, however, the longer and more exhaustive the examination, the more accurate it becomes in determining the depth of a student’s knowledge regarding the subject(s) covered on the examination.
It is up to each individual to consider how large a role each of these factors may be playing in a professor’s grading style…