2008 Woodie Awards
The fate of our GPAs
Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: Opinion
Grade Point Average can be extremely important to students. It can determine what type of job one gets upon graduation, what graduate school students are accepted to or whether students can participate in certain activities.
When the Student Government Association voted on the +/- way of assessing GPA, students' interests were piqued. The SGA feels this would hurt the student body and voted 19-1-1 against the implementation of the system, despite it already being approved two years ago by the Faculty Senate.
While SGA was acting in the interest of the students, we at the WC believe a +/- grading system's advantages outweigh its disadvantages.
First of all, we think the system's scale - which grants more weight to a higher grade and less to a lower - will represent a student's work better than the current method. Currently, if two students are in the same class and one receives an 89 while the other earns an 80, they both are given a 3.0. In the new system, the student who had a higher grade will get a 3.33 while the student with the lower grade will get a 2.67.
This way of distributing points helps to separate superior work from lesser. The student with the higher grade deserves to be rewarded more than someone with a lower grade, and that is exactly what the new system allows.
Additionally, the +/- GPA system helps to curve grade inflation. Some professors might be tempted to bump an 89 up to a 90 because they believe, and rightfully so, the student deserves more than a 3.0. But this bump raises them an entire point for work they did not achieve. With the new system, professors will not have to worry about this because the system is designed to give students the grade they deserve.
We believe if this is implemented, it could grant Western Illinois University more academic credibility among potential college students in the state. When people who are earnest about their schooling see Western will give them credit where credit is due, maybe they will consider it over another university.
On Tuesday, SGA will vote on a resolution asking Western President Al Goldfarb to not install the new system. We respect the decision that will come out of the meeting and know SGA will be voting in what it feels is the students' interest. However, whatever way the members vote, we hope the +/- system is implemented as soon as possible so students' GPAs represent the grade they actually earned.
When the Student Government Association voted on the +/- way of assessing GPA, students' interests were piqued. The SGA feels this would hurt the student body and voted 19-1-1 against the implementation of the system, despite it already being approved two years ago by the Faculty Senate.
While SGA was acting in the interest of the students, we at the WC believe a +/- grading system's advantages outweigh its disadvantages.
First of all, we think the system's scale - which grants more weight to a higher grade and less to a lower - will represent a student's work better than the current method. Currently, if two students are in the same class and one receives an 89 while the other earns an 80, they both are given a 3.0. In the new system, the student who had a higher grade will get a 3.33 while the student with the lower grade will get a 2.67.
This way of distributing points helps to separate superior work from lesser. The student with the higher grade deserves to be rewarded more than someone with a lower grade, and that is exactly what the new system allows.
Additionally, the +/- GPA system helps to curve grade inflation. Some professors might be tempted to bump an 89 up to a 90 because they believe, and rightfully so, the student deserves more than a 3.0. But this bump raises them an entire point for work they did not achieve. With the new system, professors will not have to worry about this because the system is designed to give students the grade they deserve.
We believe if this is implemented, it could grant Western Illinois University more academic credibility among potential college students in the state. When people who are earnest about their schooling see Western will give them credit where credit is due, maybe they will consider it over another university.
On Tuesday, SGA will vote on a resolution asking Western President Al Goldfarb to not install the new system. We respect the decision that will come out of the meeting and know SGA will be voting in what it feels is the students' interest. However, whatever way the members vote, we hope the +/- system is implemented as soon as possible so students' GPAs represent the grade they actually earned.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Troglodyte
Kris
posted 3/24/08 @ 10:52 AM CST
It looks like the only people who are against the new +/- system are the ones that could get hurt by it. I saw a post somewhere else that said if people were worried that they couldn't keep a 2. (Continued…)
Just a thought..
posted 3/24/08 @ 6:27 PM CST
It is not just the people who could be directly impacted in a negative way that are against the +/- system. This could have a negative impact on a whole for the university. (Continued…)
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