5
Friday, February 4, 1983
Daily Nebraskan
Grades unfaw refiecSoini of knowledge
Today marks the end of the fourth week ol the semes
ter; 1 1 to go. By the time you read this column. 1 will be
sweating through my fourth hour exam of the week.
And with those hour exams come dreaded letters called
grades, which accumulate to form grade reports.
There are several tilings that I despise about the grad
ing process here. Hie first is the fact that they send the
report cards to my parents instead of me. That's a cheap
shot. 1 then end up racing the mailman hundreds of miles
home to the mailbox before Mom or Dad get the first
(r, ) Brian
( Stonecipher
, ,
i .
peek. 1 am very disappointed in UNL for not trusting in
me to truthfully report my grades to my parents. I really
would tell them.
The other procedure that bothers me is the grade
point itself. I feel so cheap when they identify me as a
3.143. That's just not my idea of a complimentary adjec
tive. So what am I getting at? The present grading system
is worthless. It puts unnecessary stress on the student.
It seems that learning is no longer the primary reason
for taking a class; earning a high grade is. It just doesn't
make sense to worry and develop an A- or B-complex
in some course like nutrition when that grade doesn't
reflect your knowledge.
Grades haven't always been worthless. Remember
the good old days in kindergarten? Miss Wood (kin
dergarten teachers - are always single and always have
one-syllable last names) would write, "Brian is doing
very well, colors beautifully, and mixes well with the
other children!!!" Short, sweet, and positive comments
with three exclamation points and two smile faces.
There was no D-plus for coloring outside the lines, no
F's for failing to sleep during naps and no big outcry
over spilled milk. That's the way grades are supposed to
be reported.
To solve some of these problems, I've developed a
new grade report for college students. It consists of
two parts; a report to the student and a separate report
to the parents. No letter grades or numbers are used in
either report. The report to the student calls it like it
is. without messing around. It is sent straight to the stu
dent and is either a Pass or a No Pass. What makes it
unique is that it allows the instructor to check off one
of 15 comments that most appropriately explains the
grade. For example, my grade report for last semester
would have the following comments:
- You were lucky. No one guesses that many ans
wers right.
-Congratulations! Your sweet talking and groveling
worked.
-The only reason you passed this course was so that
you could graduate and leave us alone. Now go graduate
and leave us alone.
The report to the parents is sent out much later. Like
the other report, it has just Pass or No Pass options. But
here the student gets to fill out the comments column.
Most students have to come up with reasons (not ex
cuses; there is a difference) for their parents anyway, so
putting comments on the grade reports saves everyone
time and hassles. Some of these comments are:
- All of the brains were in my section - they destroyed
the curve.
-I didn't need the class to graduate anyway.
-Most of the grade was from a group project - and
the people in my group were the dumbest . . .
-Grades really don't matter.
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