Grading system gets an F
Ailee Slater,
Oregon Daily Emerald,
Dec 09, 2004
The author of this article is catching a lot of criticism, most of it unfair. It is the sort of criticism to be expected, though, when a writer cuts straight to the heart of a contradiction in the established order. Yes, the argument is not new, and sadly, neither are the caricatures of the student journalist as lazy, skipping on her classes, or deserving an 'F'. As a former student journalist, I went through enough of this sort of condescending nonsense myself. Here is my take. As the price of an education increases, there is an increasing desire to see this money purchase a professor who is unambiguously on my side, not a glare of disapprobation should I somehow fail to measure up. If there does need to be testing, it should be done by a neutral third party, and at the student's discretion. Professors who support weak teaching with fuzzy grading would be easily exposed under such a system, and the student would be more easiy able to seek out value for what is, after all, a considerable investment over and above tuition. More discussion here and here.
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