I have a student who has been consistently rude and confrontational since the beginning of the course. They claim to have read the syllabus but consistently ignore the rules and guidelines within the syllabus. (not citing correctly, using casual or inappropriate language in their assignments, not following the schedule.) I've given helpful feed back as to why their assignments are not receiving better grades and have told them three times at this point to cite in the correct format (on top of simple things such as indent your paragraphs, etc.). Their emails are overtly rude and aggressive, rife with entitlement. It's a fairly small class and this is the only student to have any complaint. Up to this point, I've responded with clear references to the syllabus but their gradual failure seems to fuel their aggression.

The first aggressive email I received was an epic on how this class was "nothing like all the other online classes" they had taken and that they were confused. Everyone seemed to understand the format of the class but them but this student argued at me on how the class was set up wrong (it wasn't).

The last email I have received was beyond rude. One of their essays was exceptionally bad, riddled with grammar mistakes, no correct manner of citation was used, and they seemed to be purposefully placed (their other assignments were decent) and I ended up giving them a failing grade on the assignment. After this, the student stopped doing their assignments and sent an email saying...

"Critical thinking is an important factor in my college experience...I am not being asked to do this in this class. I am being asked to write summary's and mind my grammar. I signed up for this class thinking that theories and interpretations would be discussed with students and intelligent discussion would be had. I was wrong."

This is a summary and edited version of the email but you can see where the aggression lies. I have a strong feeling this student has been bullying their professors for As. They told me early on that they want to go to grad school and that they need a good GPA which I was very considerate to in the beginning. With the poor quality of their work, lack of understanding and attention to guidelines, I have a hard time understanding how this student has the GPA they have.

What is this and how do I respond? I'm tempted to ignore the entire matter because I've warned them numerous times of their errors and they are pressuring me to their idea of the class. The class is entirely online, no lectures, and is extremely simple. There are no extreme expectations to fulfill because it is a lower level course that requires certain basic checkpoints (which they are mowing over completely).

Any advise is wonderful. Thanks