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Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!enea!kth!draken!bjornl
From: bjornl@nada.kth.se (Bj|rn Lisper)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Posting grades (Was Re: Student and Course Integrity)
Message-ID: <697@draken.nada.kth.se>
Date: 15 Dec 88 17:19:22 GMT
References: <1140@tank.uchicago.edu> <852@quintus.UUCP>
Reply-To: bjornl@nada.kth.se (Bj|rn Lisper)
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 27

In article <852@quintus.UUCP> ok@quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
>In article <1140@tank.uchicago.edu> thisted@galton.UUCP (Ronald A. Thisted)
>writes:
>>It may not be unethical, but it is both unprofessional and *illegal*.
>>The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 prohibits
>>disclosure of such information as grades without the written consent of
>>the student (with a few exceptions which do not apply to posting or
>>publishing grades).
>
>I'm curious about this.  I come from NZ, and as I recall it, quite a lot
>of the classes I attended had marks published.....The results of the
>scholarship exams at the end of high school were published in the national
>newspapers. ....

I also find it strange. I'm from Sweden, where most schools are public. Here
I think examination results are available to anyone who asks, due to the
so-called principle of publicity. This is a law that applies to most
information stored by public services and requires them to disclose this
information to anyone who requests. (Natural exemptions are military
information and medical records.) Thus, our legislation is exactly the
opposite of the American!

This does not imply, however, that examination results in Sweden are always
posted with grades and name. Sometimes they are, sometimes they ain't. But if
anyone asks about any result I think the school is obliged to disclose it.

Bjorn Lisper