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Volume CXXXII, Number 13 |
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Plus/minus problems
Given the student reaction to the widely unpopular implementation of the plus/minus grading system, one would think that the Office of Student Records, the designated handlers of student transcripts, would have been more cautious in the adoption of the new system. Advocates of the plus/minus scale placated student concerns regarding the confusing qualities of transcripts bearing two different grading scales. Unfortunately, a simple clerical oversight resulted in the distribution of 500 transcripts without explanations of Bowdoin's decision to allow greater specificity in grading.
The fact that it took a student to recognize the erroneous mailing highlights the gravity of this oversight. Students might have been more understanding of the situation had the Office of Student Records notified the affected individuals. Given students' reaction to the faculty's decision to add pluses and minuses to the grading system and student concern regarding the clarity of subsequent transcripts, it is unfortunate that it took the meticulous eye of one student to discover the shortcomings of an entire administrative office
Despite widespread opposition to the plus/minus system, the student body has come to accept the new grading scale. Student concern was quelled by promises of additions to transcripts, and the failure to follow through on this promise is a veritable slap in the face to the student body.
Though the Office of Student Records has taken efforts to rectify the 500 potentially confusing situations that they have caused, and given their attempts to remain environmentally and economically conscious in their distribution of old transcript forms, their shortcoming reflects a lack of regard for students' concerns for the new grading system.
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