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KEEPING FAITH,
Memoirs of a President
by Jimmy Carter
Keeping Faith gives my impressions of life
in the White House the crises that
confronted me. the people who worked
intimately with or against me. the advice I
received and accepted or rejected -the
drama of the Oval Office from my own
highly personal point of view
-Jimmy Carter
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Page 12
Stopping the grade spiral
Profs debate how to pop ballooning grade averages
This is the final part of a
two-part look at grade inflation
— why it is decreasing and how
it has prompted changes in
grading systems
The question that usually
arises in any discussion of
grade inflation is — what can be
done to stop it?
University faculty members
questioned had no hard-and
fast answers, but they do know
what doesn't work.
John Gage, director of
composition for the English
UCfJdi imci ii, oayo oumc u imma
imum percentage for each letter grade, but he
says this isn’t a solution
"The result is that everyone ignores it and it
makes them more adamant about their own
ideas,” Gage says.
Alan Kimball, honors college director, says
when he worked at Stanford University, the ad
ministration recommended professors give 15
percent A s, 35 percent B’s and 50 percent C's
and below He says these are good guidelines to
follow, but they do not take into account in
dividual cases where higher percentages are
justified
Some departments have experienced less
grade inflation because their standards are easier
to define. Theodore Palmer, head of the math
ematics department, says inflated grades in math
classes that are prerequisites for other classes
will hurt students in the long run.
"If you give a student in Math 201 a passing
grade when he doesn’t deserve it, you're not
doing him any favor because he won't be
prepared for 202,” says Palmer
It's easier to be objective in a math course
because there is seldom any question whether a
student has solved a problem correctly, he adds
Gage sees little grade inflation in the compo
sition department for similar reasons
really important graae
“I don't worry about the
difference between a B and a C.
I'm concerned with preserving
the integrity of the A,” says
James Klonoski, political
science professor. "The ques
tion I ask is — Is A work today
what A work was 20 years ago?'
— and I think it is.”
Davie criticizes the stan
dard curve allowing only the top
10 percent to achieve an A. "I
like to think an A is so special,
but not so special that there
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Kimball says there are two ways to grade on a
curve. One way is to do the grading and then
discover what the natural curve of the class is,
and the other way is to impose a curve by man
ipulating the class into a standard grade distribu
tion.
Professors can only justify imposing a curve
in a very large class where they have to grade
anonymously, says Kimball. Large classes lend
themselves to standard curve gradation, Orbell
adds.
One result of grade inflation is GPA's are no
longer taken seriously Gage says students
sometimes inflate their own grades by manipulat
ing their transcripts
Students sometimes only take courses they
know they can do well in to ensure their GPA will
be high.
Gage, who is a member of the committee for
Phi Beta Kappa, says GPA's are no longer a major
factor in selection for Phi Beta Kappa The com
mittee looks instead at the course roster for an
indication of depth and variety
Kimball agrees GPA's are not an accurate
tool for comparison of student achievement
"How do you compare the student who took
physics and got a C to the one who didn't take it?”
he asks
^UMifJUdiuuii mail uuiuio mcci uiouuoj
grading standards as part of their training, he
says These meetings are necessary to ensure
that sections in composition, a University-wide
requirement, reflect similiar standards
In the social sciences and humanities objec
tivity is more difficult, says William Davie phil
osophy professor
In a course like philosophy, ‘ you're not
really expected to get the stuff wrong
Instead, how well the material is
understood makes the differ
ence in which letter grade is
assigned
Some professors say they’re
confused about the whole
grading system
"I don't understand the
grading system, I never have I
only understand three kinds of
performance,” says Kimball He de
scribes these as superior, satisfac
tory and unacceptable or A-C-F in
letter grades
Some professors view the A as the only
the University ought to run on a
pass/no pass system, but
most professors still
believe grading
is an important
incentive for students
"If you want
excellence, you have to recognize it
and reward it,'' Orbell says
By Leslie Knight
The Incidental Fee Committee
approved a vote ot confidence
Thursday for committee chairer
IFC votes confidence in Hill
Bari Hill aitnougn ne ana vice
chairer Betzy Fry voted against
it
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i ne commmee aiso appruveu
an amendment to the con
lidence vote saying no commit
tee member can make a state
ment for the committee for
publication or broadcast with
out prior authorization from a
majority of the IFC Without
prior authorization. the
members must say their
remarks are their own opinion,
the amendment adds
The vote of confidence came
as a result of Hill's request to
fellow IFC member Jeff Nudel
man that a vote be held because
of reported dissension within
the committee
The committee approved the
vote of confidence 5-2 with Hill
and Fry dissenting
The amendment was passed
on a 4-3 vote, with Holmes,
Shrauger, Ritterband-Mason
and Braun supporting it
Friday, November 12,1982