Newsbrief: Colleges faced with adopting pass/fail systems
by Alison Jankowski
edited by Paul Lambert
Students who have been impacted by the coronavirus have been pushing their institutions to set aside grades during the outbreak, according to the New York Times.
Colleges across the country have begun to respond to the student’s demands by adopting a variety of pass/fail or credit/no credit systems. Some universities have continued to offer the option of letter grades while others have dropped them altogether. Some students, however, have continued to argue for a “universal pass” where no student would fail a course, regardless of performance or course completion. Petitions supporting this idea have begun to pop up on scores of college campuses, including Yale University where they established a “@NOFAILYALE” Facebook page to support the policy.
On the other hand, there are students and institutions that have resisted proposals to award everyone equal marks. They have stressed that it is still possible to work hard and to continue to succeed even when the world has been turned upside down. The idea of the universal pass was a particular concern to those students who have relied on higher grade point averages for acceptances to law, medical, and business institutions of higher learning.
(Photo: Unsplash)
Many universities that have adopted the pass/fail system have also tried to maintain the option for letter grades in some way. Ohio State University, for example, adopted a pass/no pass option for elective courses, and has allowed the individual colleges to extend it to major required courses.
A Dartmouth College student’s proposal that everyone who passes a course would receive an A or A- was meant to preserve the academic standards for scholarships and financial aid. This was quickly dismissed by the university, feeling that it would undermine the value of an A. They instead opted to use a credit/no credit model.
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My name is Alison Jankowski. It’s definitely been an adjustment being home but I’ve been spending my time with my dog and zooming with friends.
