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Volume CXXXII, Number 6 |
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Give back our grading system
To the Editors:
It took a few years, but I finally discovered why I liked Bowdoin so much. For a school that has earned itself a fantastic academic reputation, pretension simply has not infiltrated our campus. Without a doubt, every student here is intelligent and academically successful, yet talking to other students, I don't often get the feeling that they have dedicated their lives to reading and studying. We make time for friends and activities and we don't worry about scowling eyes judging us based on however high or low we set our academic bar. It's easy and it's fun to be smart on your own terms.
But now, when people ask what's so great about Bowdoin, I don't know what to say.
I don't like raising my hand and repeating uninteresting facts to prove that I've done my reading. I don't like putting my hand down because I know my professor won't agree with my point of view. I have no interest in scrapping for extra points in class, or forgetting my friends, or forgetting my life for the sake of seeing a "+" in the mail in January. I don't care if my 89 is indistinguishable from Frank's 80 or Louise's 85. I would rather spend time with Frank on Wednesday night at my house than look for him in the library among the abyss of other souls in the ECR. I'd rather take Louise to Portland for dinner than have her speed by me on the quad, hurrying to meet with Professor Whitherspoon to "just prove she cares."
There is no doubt in my mind that this new system has affected the essence of Bowdoin College, and reading last week's editorial, I realized just how little the Faculty care. Let's understand something; college is for us-the students-to use as we please. Last spring, an overwhelming majority of the student body screamed into the deaf ears of the college administration. Somehow, we were outvoted by 45 professors who hoped to dictate our level of effort.
Maybe I'll start telling people that about Bowdoin. I'll say that if I'd wanted a plus/minus system, I would have gone to a school that had a plus/minus system. Perhaps I'll subtly imply that others, whether they be students or professors, take the same advice; if they want a plus/minus grading system, they ought to go somewhere where their opinions will be respected, rather than imposed in a totalitarian-or at least high school-regime
The grading system is ours. Give it back.
Sincerely,
Eric Abrams '03
To the Editors:
These are sad days at Bowdoin College. This week, as I walked by what appeared to be a mausoleum constructed of plywood, I mourned the death of the glorious era where grading at Bowdoin was free of the insidious plusses and minuses the faculty voted to implement at the end of last semester. In the days when we were not plagued by the tyrannical plus/minus system, Bowdoin was a kinder, gentler place, where having an 80 was just as good as having an 89, and writing a fifteen page research paper only took me ten hours as opposed to the twenty I must spend this semester.
If pluses and minuses had really turned students into grade-obsessed saboteurs of their fellow classmates, I might share some of the outrage expressed in numerous and redundant editorials appearing in The Orient and on campus. However, I have not seen anyone "lining up to get an extra edge," and I'm tired of hearing the same complaints before anyone has even received a transcript with pluses and minuses on it. I am not in favor of the new system, yet it disturbs me that in a time of impending war and extremely close and important political races, the most notable, or at least visible student activism on our campus concerns grades.
The number of editorials and demonstrations regarding plus/minus tells me that our priorities as a student body warrant more scrutiny than does the new grading system. The latest editorial in the Orient reads, "the decision to change the grading system without waiting for at least the Class of '03 to graduate is evidence of a self-interested choice." I am curious as to how one can accuse the Faculty of acting in self-interest while perceiving a decimal change in their GPA as a huge injustice.
Perhaps all of this stems from (dare I say) too much self-esteem among Bowdoin's student body. I fear that at Bowdoin, our pursuit of success and appetite for praise has dulled our sense of duty to the common good, the one that extends beyond grades.
The ultimate power to shape the atmosphere at Bowdoin lies in its students, not its grading system. I would urge the critics of the plus/minus system to reconsider the atmosphere they are striving to create and the means by which they hope to create it.
Sincerely,
David Aron '05
Faculty's call on grading unfair
To the Editors:
I agree with last week's editorial concerning the change in grading system. What is most discouraging to me is not that the system has changed, but that faculty seemed to give so little consideration to student opinion on an issue that affects students more than anyone else. Some faculty members claimed that too small a percentage of students voted in the internet poll for it to be taken seriously.
It is ironic that an even smaller percentage of faculty voted in the first meeting on the issue. It is claimed that the new system will involve improved accuracy. However, grades are neccessarily subjective, and it is simply not possible to accurately distinguish student ability as precisely as this system implies. The Faculty has also said that the system will encourage students to work harder because they will not be able to slack off, working just hard enough to secure a B.
While some students did take that approach to academics in the past, most Bowdoin students are obviously driven and motivated and have achieved academic excellence in the past.
There is no reason to assume that we need a stringent grading system to motivate us, but it is quite possible that such a system will increase stress and competition, thus detracting from Bowdoin's academic atmosphere. Students invest a lot of time, energy, and money in this place we call home for four years. (I am not implying that faculty don't invest time and energy in Bowdoin College-they do).
It was inconsiderate and closed-minded of the faculty to make such a decision without extensive consultation with the student body. I hope that in the future, issues will be discussed in a more open manner that fosters exchange and considerations of various points of view.
Sincerely,
Lauren Poppone '03