Students at my college did this too. Just about half of the student body signed the petition. Ultimately the faculty board that makes decisions about grading modes refused to enact this.
Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
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Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#42Good 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.
Is that the case?
If someone did get an auto pass...do they know the material any more or less?
What percentage would have failed anyway and will struggle in the next class because they should have failed?
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#43>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.
To me that's the most compelling argument: equity. Some students come from a background with very few resources and an unstable home environment, or no home to speak of. These students shouldn't be at an academic disadvantage because of a global pandemic.
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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?
Yes. You think there will be alot of folks to choose from?
I'm not following, are you saying in this scenario there are a lot of ivy applications?
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#45For context, MIT, Harvard and Stanford have all instituted mandatory pass-fail grading policies (in practice, this amounts virtually amounts to a guaranteed pass as well).
Columbia, UC Berkeley and Dartmouth too. I think this move is gaining traction.
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
MIT made all classes this semester effectively pass/fail. Makes sense to me. It has been wrenching, with different impact depending on each student's situation.
Is that how freshman year is graded, regardless?
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#47In 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.
I loved my community college, I wasn’t there for long, only a couple semesters, but after I took calculus I felt like I had put in a lot of work and my life was going in a totally different direction.
I actually ended up buying a hoodie from the college book store in the end and it’s pretty important to me, I don’t feel the same way about the university I graduated from (although I definitely had more fun there.)
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#48They paid for a service and did not receive it. Many have even been kicked out of housing. Sounds like one party broke the contract regarding tuition.
Pass or not it really makes no difference. College degrees are losing prestigiousness so who cares.
In five years post graduation it really means little. You don't go to college to learn you go there for the degree to get into that first door.
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#49This will prepare them well for reality. Working adults, I am sure, will have their demands for the continuation of their livelihoods fully met by their employers, their landlords, and their mortgage providers.
Except a lot of governments have indeed enacted policies that protect tenants and employees during this period.
Re: Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some do. Some would otherwise be homeless. All walks of life attend college.
To me that's the most compelling argument: equity. Some students come from a background with very few resources and an unstable home environment, or no home to speak of. These students shouldn't be at an academic disadvantage because of a global pandemic.
I mean, I agree, they shouldn’t, but the reality is, they are.
Now, what happens if this extends for multiple semesters?
Are all the Ivy schools going to PASS/FAIL online until graduation?