Columbia University Prof Suggests Giving Everyone an ‘A’ for Spring 2020 Semester
“grading as we know it is already over for the semester”
Another alternative would be to just write off this semester completely.
Campus Reform reports:
Ivy League prof: Just give everyone an A
As colleges across the country are finding ways to ease the academic burden on students amid the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, one Ivy League professor has a simple solution: “Just give every college student an automatic A.”
In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Columbia University professor Jenny Davidson called on fellow professors to give all students As for the spring 2020 term.
Davidson that this is necessary because the move to online learning is simply impractical and presents “inequities in the ways that this will all play out for different students,” adding that “grading as we know it is already over for the semester.”
“It’s time to abandon our preconceived ideas about what needs to happen in a college class for a student to get credit for it,” says Davidson.
Davidson urges professors to “strip down work expectations to the bare minimum.” She insists that colleges should “introduce a mandatory pass-fail at the very least,” and seriously consider giving all students “A grades as a default.”
In fact, Davidson says schools and professors should go ahead and “wrap classes up as quickly as possible” so that “students can turn their full attention to other pressing matters.”
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Taking grade inflation to a new level.
This is stupid. The reason ivy students and faculty want this is because their degree holds more value than their transcript…speaking of inequities.
This is taking the easiest way out, and ignoring one’s professional and ethical responsibilities. It presupposes that students don’t really need to learn the material, and none of them will complain if they all get A’s. It abdicates an instructor’s responsibility to educate the students and give them value for their tuition and time invested in the course.
My comments only apply to courses that have some educational or academic value. If the course is a required Grievance Studies course such as Gender Studies, Diversity Studies, etc., then I totally agree that the best plan is to cut and run and give everyone A’s.