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Professors allow students to pick their own grade

Renae

Renae

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[FONT=&quot]A literature class at Davidson College this fall will use “contract grading,” allowing students to pick ahead of time their grade for the class and the workload they need to complete to earn it.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The offer is posed by Professor Melissa Gonzalez for her Introduction to Spanish Literatures and Cultures course, SPA 270, at the private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]She is one of several professors across the nation who allow this pick-your-own grade method, billed as a way to eliminate the student-professor power differential and give students control of their education. But critics contend it is just another example of how colleges coddle students from the harsh realities of the real world, which includes competition and goal expectations.[/FONT]
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https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/47730/

This, is absurd.
 
LowDown said:
Teaching methods don't matter. All that matters is whether or not students are held accountable for learning the material. As long as this professor is doing that I'm cool with her method.
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Assuming the quality of what’s being turned in matters, I agree.
 
X Factor said:
If students could just pick a grade and then never show up or do the work, that would be absurd. Doesn’t seem to be the case here, though.
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Shhh! Don't ruin it for her! She needs that outrage high for the day. Let her believe it for a day and ruin it tomorrow.
 
I do not agree with the idea at all, and do agree with the critics that this is another example of college courses not preparing students for the reality of being in the real world needing to produce and to expectations rarely if ever set by themselves.

It is not common nor can it be expected for business goals and/or corporate management to tell their teams to decide what level of effort they want to put towards that. Deciding in advance on a level of effort for a potential grade degrades the course, and degrades the result.

This quote from the OP article is spot on.. "Colleges are increasingly viewing themselves as a support system rather than an institution of learning. Learning is not supposed to be easy, or comfortable. Excellence requires that you step out of your comfort zone and compete. Colleges are becoming shelters, which is not what this country nor what this generation needs."
 
Spartacus FPV said:
They already had to earn it. Who is going to pick a C or a D, realistically?
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A lot of people, especially if it is a required course completely unrelated to their end goal.
 
From Gonzalez's faculty webpage:

On the one hand, my experiences in the classroom have deeply informed my thinking about academic theories of power and subject formation, and, on the other hand, my research into the workings of race, gender, and ethnicity has impacted how I teach. As a result, I aim to foster classroom environments that are radically democratic and empower intellectual risk-taking. Over the years, I have enjoyed working with students on several interdisciplinary research projects, and mentoring students from diverse backgrounds and with wide-ranging intellectual interests is one of my greatest joys.

My current research focuses on the sexual politics of globalization in the contemporary American hemisphere and studies how the new acceptability of some transgressive sexualities creates alternative frontiers of exclusion. For example, the inclusion of predominantly white or criollo, upper-middle class, and fashionable gay men within the imagined communities of the large metropolises of South and North America is represented as an advancement of human rights but excludes and silences those queer subjects less assimilated into a bourgeois lifestyle, including some trans and gender non-normative people, ethnic minorities, immigrants, and the poor. At present, I am working on a book project, "Queer Ambivalence: Latino American Sexual Politics in the Age of Gay Marriage," as well as related articles. https://www.davidson.edu/academics/hispanic-studies/faculty-and-staff/melissa-gonzalez
 
OrphanSlug said:
I do not agree with the idea at all, and do agree with the critics that this is another example of college courses not preparing students for the reality of being in the real world needing to produce and to expectations rarely if ever set by themselves.

It is not common nor can it be expected for business goals and/or corporate management to tell their teams to decide what level of effort they want to put towards that. Deciding in advance on a level of effort for a potential grade degrades the course, and degrades the result.

This quote from the OP article is spot on.. "Colleges are increasingly viewing themselves as a support system rather than an institution of learning. Learning is not supposed to be easy, or comfortable. Excellence requires that you step out of your comfort zone and compete. Colleges are becoming shelters, which is not what this country nor what this generation needs."
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I would say it is far more of a problem in private liberal arts colleges like the one mentioned in the article, or in certain subject areas like gender studies.
 
Carjosse said:
I would say it is far more of a problem in private liberal arts colleges like the one mentioned in the article, or in certain subject areas like gender studies.
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Probably, which speaks volumes about what we are facing with higher education these days.
 
OrphanSlug said:
I do not agree with the idea at all, and do agree with the critics that this is another example of college courses not preparing students for the reality of being in the real world needing to produce and to expectations rarely if ever set by themselves.

It is not common nor can it be expected for business goals and/or corporate management to tell their teams to decide what level of effort they want to put towards that. Deciding in advance on a level of effort for a potential grade degrades the course, and degrades the result.

This quote from the OP article is spot on.. "Colleges are increasingly viewing themselves as a support system rather than an institution of learning. Learning is not supposed to be easy, or comfortable. Excellence requires that you step out of your comfort zone and compete. Colleges are becoming shelters, which is not what this country nor what this generation needs."
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I actually like this idea. The student takes on a contract to satisfactorily fulfill the requirements to receive a specific grade. To my mind, that's what they will do in real life as well. I don't see this as sheltering the student at all. It teaches them to demand and fulfill clear expectations for an agreed upon payment. That makes sense to me.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Probably, which speaks volumes about what we are facing with higher education these days.
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If they are attending what is probably a very expensive liberal arts college or studying gender studies they were not that grounded in reality to begin with.
 
bearpoker said:
I actually like this idea. The student takes on a contract to satisfactorily fulfill the requirements to receive a specific grade. To my mind, that's what they will do in real life as well. I don't see this as sheltering the student at all. It teaches them to demand and fulfill clear expectations for an agreed upon payment. That makes sense to me.
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What are the consequences in real life of failing to fulfill clear expectations? And what alphabet letter would that failure represent?
 
bearpoker said:
I actually like this idea. The student takes on a contract to satisfactorily fulfill the requirements to receive a specific grade. To my mind, that's what they will do in real life as well. I don't see this as sheltering the student at all. It teaches them to demand and fulfill clear expectations for an agreed upon payment. That makes sense to me.
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But that is not what happens in the real world professional and corporate world.

No company comes along and says we are acquiring another company in 90 days, but it is okay if you sign an agreement to help us and get it done in 120 days for a lesser grade. As such no company comes along and says we have the intention to switch inventory management systems in 6 months because our existing system license expires, but it is okay if those involved get it done in 9 months for a lesser grade and we'll eat the cost of additional license time because the team felt like putting in lesser effort.

This professor trying to lessen "anxiety" of obtaining a grade does nothing to help the student deal with the reality of adhering to company goals. It shelters the student to the point of an unrealistic expectation once working for someone else.

Even at the lowest income quintile, McDonald's does not come along and say it is okay if you shoot for 80% quality of work... we'll pay you for the B- you achieved.
 
OrphanSlug said:
Probably, which speaks volumes about what we are facing with higher education these days.
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This squishy approach to standards reminds me very much of the open-classroom fad of the 1970's.

"In both Britain and the United States, open classrooms contained no whole-class lessons, no standardized tests, and no detailed curriculum. The best of the open classrooms had planned settings where children came in contact with things, books, and one another at “interest centers” and learned at their own pace with the help of the teacher. Teachers structured the classroom and activities for individual students and small work groups. They helped students negotiate each of the reading, math, science, art, and other interest centers on the principle that children learn best when they are interested and see the importance of what they are doing." https://www.educationnext.org/theopenclassroom/

The word that matters is "best" in the second sentence. The ideal was only very infrequently the reality.
 
nota bene said:
What are the consequences in real life of failing to fulfill clear expectations? And what alphabet letter would that failure represent?
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If the contract isn't fulfilled, I would expect a lower grade. I don't know the details in this case, but if I were the teacher, I would only issue contracts for grades A thru C, but describe the criteria for D and F. Failure to fulfill the contract would lower the grade either to the level of achievement specified in the lower grades.
 
OrphanSlug said:
But that is not what happens in the real world professional and corporate world.

No company comes along and says we are acquiring another company in 90 days, but it is okay if you sign an agreement to help us and get it done in 120 days for a lesser grade. As such no company comes along and says we have the intention to switch inventory management systems in 6 months because our existing system license expires, but it is okay if those involved get it done in 9 months for a lesser grade and we'll eat the cost of additional license time because the team felt like putting in lesser effort.

This professor trying to lessen "anxiety" of obtaining a grade does nothing to help the student deal with the reality of adhering to company goals. It shelters the student to the point of an unrealistic expectation once working for someone else.

Even at the lowest income quintile, McDonald's does not come along and say it is okay if you shoot for 80% quality of work... we'll pay you for the B- you achieved.
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No, but they do say, "we expect this, this and this. If you fulfill our expectations, you stay. If you don't, you're down the road".
 
roughdraft274 said:
Shhh! Don't ruin it for her! She needs that outrage high for the day. Let her believe it for a day and ruin it tomorrow.
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Yeah, that's what I am, outraged...

See, I see this is a a bad education move, if you bothered to read the article it's articulated why this is a bad idea.

But you can't do that, because it's a Progressvie idea, by a female minority, and you are INCAPABLE of being critical or even giving thought to questioning someone like that because you don't wanna seem racist.

But here, I'll give you a snippet of education that might maybe crack through to you...

ut not all students are convinced it’s a good idea, including Davidson College senior Kenny Xu, who is majoring in mathematics.

“It degrades trust in your achievement by outside authorities, including employers, grad schools, scholarships etc.,” he told The College Fix. “Imagine if an employer saw that you got an A not because you were truly one of the best in the class but because you fulfilled some requirement YOU personally set. Would he really trust that A? I think not.”

“Colleges are increasingly viewing themselves as a support system rather than an institution of learning,” Xu added. “Learning is not supposed to be easy, or comfortable. Excellence requires that you step out of your comfort zone and compete. Colleges are becoming shelters, which is not what this country nor what this generation needs.”
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https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/47730/


See, this guy has the right of it, and the rest of you are in a fog of non-thought trying to attack me.
 
Other than maintaining the minimum GPA to stay in school, if you aren’t going to graduate school do the grades even really matter? I busted my butt in college and no employer ever asked about my grades.

I am an advocate of higher education but unless you are going into academia or into a hard STEM field, these little details really don’t matter in the long run, IMO.
 
bearpoker said:
No, but they do say, "we expect this, this and this. If you fulfill our expectations, you stay. If you don't, you're down the road".
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How does that help your case?
 
Renae said:
But you can't do that, because it's a Progressvie idea, by a female minority, and you are INCAPABLE of being critical or even giving thought to questioning someone like that because you don't wanna seem racist.
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Lordy lordy. In one thread today I'm being accused of being a transphobic hater because I disagree with progressive views and in another I'm being accused of being unable to criticize anything related to the progressive movement.

It's a good day. If the easily offended and unthoughtful partisans on either side have a problem with me I'll consider that a good thing.
 
roughdraft274 said:
Lordy lordy. In one thread today I'm being accused of being a transphobic hater because I disagree with progressive views and in another I'm being accused of being unable to criticize anything related to the progressive movement.

It's a good day. If the easily offended and unthoughtful partisans on either side have a problem with me I'll consider that a good thing.
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I see you chose to ignore the important part, so you could play victim card and whine. It's okay, it's just your way of waving the "White flag of surrender", often raised by those incapable of discussing the matter at hand, and diverting into relevant issues to mask their lack of intellectual chops.
 
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