Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19 • Hacker News Board

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#11

Post by duxup » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:15 AM UTC

>According to Eileen Huang ’22, requiring undergraduates — many burdened by sickness, hectic home lives or living thousands of miles away from the University — to devote the same level of attention and focus to their classes as they would in the Elm City seems unfair.

I think there is merit to this concern.

I don't know if passing automaticly is the right choice but experiences durring these events can be quite wide ranging.

Just for me I find that some my neighbors complain they are bored. Me, my kids are at home, I have to manage their schooling, I have to work, my wife needs to work...and the youngest needs constant attention. I've never had less time / sleep.

Now students might not have kids but they too might have a great variety of challenges other students / professors don't have.

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#12

Post by drdaeman » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:16 AM UTC

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #4

Good luck passing Calculus II if you were given a passing grade in Calculus I without actually learning the material. There are plenty of other courses that will run into the same problem if their prereqs aren't actually mastered.

This. Education is not about passing the exams, it's about learning things.

Although, I do get the rationale for wanting a free pass. Cynically speaking... An authentic Yale diploma must be worth a lot.

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#13

Post by duxup » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:18 AM UTC

downerending wrote: post #7

Hard to know what's right, under the circumstances. At the same time, it seems like their degrees should have an asterisk, to be fair to full graduates.

I'm not sure an asterisk really tells anyone about the critical thing....do they know this stuff? Can they do the job?

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#14

Post by dillonmckay » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:19 AM UTC

duxup wrote: post #11

>According to Eileen Huang ’22, requiring undergraduates — many burdened by sickness, hectic home lives or living thousands of miles away from the University — to devote the same level of attention and focus to their classes as they would in the Elm City seems unfair. I think there is merit to this concern. I don't know if passing automaticly is the right choice but experiences durring these events can be quite wide…

Some do.

Some would otherwise be homeless.

All walks of life attend college.

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#15

Post by duxup » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:21 AM UTC

dillonmckay wrote: post #10

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #4

Good luck passing Calculus II if you were given a passing grade in Calculus I without actually learning the material. There are plenty of other courses that will run into the same problem if their prereqs aren't actually mastered.

Exactly. Not to mention, any decent hiring manager that knows of this event, if it does occur, would be more suspect of any graduate of Yale (if they attended during the academic period in question) versus an equivalent Ivy. As the article mentioned, campus is the great equalizer for students of different backgrounds, so give each student a check for the full retail cost of a semester’s tuition and expenses, paid fro…

>if it does occur, would be more suspect of any graduate of Yale versus an equivalent Ivy

Would they?

Because this one thing might have happened one semester they would decide that individual is less qualified?

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#16

Post by philipov » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:22 AM UTC

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #4

Good luck passing Calculus II if you were given a passing grade in Calculus I without actually learning the material. There are plenty of other courses that will run into the same problem if their prereqs aren't actually mastered.

My little brother is currently attending RIT and what they did is allow anyone to take any course Pass-Fail. It's not an automatic pass, but it does mean it won't screw over your GPA if events have impacted your ability to perform.

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#17

Post by ebg13 » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:22 AM UTC

So how does this compare to Harvard, where students expect an automatic A even without Covid-19?

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#18

Post by dehrmann » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:23 AM UTC

duxup wrote: post #11

>According to Eileen Huang ’22, requiring undergraduates — many burdened by sickness, hectic home lives or living thousands of miles away from the University — to devote the same level of attention and focus to their classes as they would in the Elm City seems unfair. I think there is merit to this concern. I don't know if passing automaticly is the right choice but experiences durring these events can be quite wide…

An optional mulligan for classes seems most fair. You still have to earn it, but make it so it doesn't impact GPAs.

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#19

Post by jdavis703 » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:23 AM UTC

drdaeman wrote: post #12

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #4

Good luck passing Calculus II if you were given a passing grade in Calculus I without actually learning the material. There are plenty of other courses that will run into the same problem if their prereqs aren't actually mastered.

This. Education is not about passing the exams, it's about learning things. Although, I do get the rationale for wanting a free pass. Cynically speaking... An authentic Yale diploma must be worth a lot.

If education is about learning things (and not exams), then it follows the grade doesn’t matter. If a student feels confident they will have learned enough Calc I to take Calc II for the fall semester, then why not let them?

Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19

#20

Post by duxup » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 3:23 AM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #3

In contrast and great irony, my local community college has announced that they will go online and expect full completion as usual - and the students have accepted it, because of course the academic culture at a white label school for tradesmen and transfer students would be more rigorous, serious and refined than the one at a national pride.

At least in my experience community college students mostly went home at the end of the day anyway.

With colleges where the students live at school the process of trying to shift to doing the work at home in contrast to where they had more resources at school seems like it could be quite different.