System wonāt make grade

When a student whose class average is 89 percent gets the same grade as a student whose average is 80 percent, the student with the 89 percent might question the process. Well, Metro wants to change all of that ÷ sort of.

The Faculty Senate wants to add pluses or minuses to studentsā grades. This means that students who have grade averages of 87 to 89 percent would get a B+ grade instead of a B and would get an extra .3 points toward their GPAs.

The same would apply for students whose class averages are 80 percent, only the sign would be a minus and .3 points would be subtracted from the 3 points a B grade is worth. Hereās the breakdown: 80-83 percent is a B-, 84-86 is a B, and 87-89 would be a B+.

Simple, right?

But if the plan is implemented as it is now, it would apply only in classes where the professor agreed to use the new system. If the professor likes the current system of awarding flat grades without pluses or minuses, that professor is welcome to stick with that system.

Monys Hagen, Faculty Senate president and a Metro history professor, said the important thing to remember is freedom of choice.

ćI think itās important to realize it gives the faculty options, and thatās a very critical component of an academic environment,ä Hagen said.

Proponents of the plus/minus system tout its fairness and accuracy. They say that a student who squeaks by with a 79.5 average and is awarded a B, because a professor thinks itās too close to warrant a C, doesnāt deserve the same grade as the student with an 89 percent average.

Fair enough.

But how can a voluntary grading system be deemed fair? If professors are allowed to make the call on plus/minus, there will be an even bigger problem to deal with.

Some students will proudly tack a report card bearing a B+ on the refrigerator, while the same discrepancies will occur in other classes, where students with 79.5 percent averages earn Bs.

The problem they are trying to fix would be further complicated.

Professors who donāt like the system might just give straight Bs, claiming no one in the class deserved a plus or minus. But the only way the new system can work is for a standard point system to be applied and enforced.

Studentsā GPAs would be more inaccurate than ever, and those who donāt like the current system would be hard pressed to find comfort in a new system with no accountability.