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From: gds@joyce.istc.sri.com (Greg Skinner)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,soc.college
Subject: Re: Student and Course Integrity
Summary: what are grades for?
Message-ID: <15456@joyce.istc.sri.com>
Date: 14 Dec 88 17:12:43 GMT
References: <1131@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <1887@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> <4378@Portia.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 34

In article <4378@Portia.Stanford.EDU>, zimm@Portia.Stanford.EDU (Dylan Yolles) writes:
> In article <859@quintus.UUCP> ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
> >I still don't understand this.  WHY would it be despicable?
> 
> Certainly the A students would not object, but those who received C's
> or D's could be seriously hurt: they may think (probably falsely) that
> their colleagues are laughing at their "stupidity."

I got an A, but I still disagreed with the practice on ethical
grounds.

> Professors, administrators and parents may have a need to access a
> student's grades--ie. grades are not confidential in the strictest
> sense--but there is no point in needlessly hurting people's feelings
> by subjecting them to what they may regard as public humiliation.

Perhaps another question to be answered about our current educational
system is what are grades meant for, vs. what they are used for.
Presumably, you are in school to learn, and your grade should be used
by you as a yardstick to measure your aptitude of the subject.
However, grades are used also to distinguish between members of a
community competing for various positions, such as entry into the job
market or graduate school.  Those who have the highest grades (in
general) are rewarded by acceptance to these positions, and those who
do not (in general) are rewarded to a lesser degree.

I would like to hear other people's opinion of what grades should or
should not be used for.  I have no objection to the fact that grades
are used as a method of qualification for advanced work, but I feel
that there is a certain "dishonor" conveyed on those whose grades are
less than the requirements.  Furthermore, students are not necessarily
encouraged to work harder to improve themselves; they are told "switch
majors to something easier", "transfer into an easier school", etc.

--gregbo