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RE: Long! Now that the grades are in...



Hi all-
Keith's posting raises a number of different issues. I want
to respond to two of them:
1. Slacking off on the final.
I discovered this phenomena early in my community college teaching.
A student who had done A-grade work through most of the quarter, stopped
showing up for class and missed the final. The cumulative grade warranted
a B, which I had to give, although the student was innocent of any knowledge
of the last topic of the course.
Since that time my grading standard has contained the following
caveat: "However, a minimum grade of 20% on the final exam is required
in order to receive a passing grade for the course."
Sure enough, there was one "pass the quiz and forget the material"
student in my calculus class last semester. She left most of the final
exam blank and got a finals score of 10%. I had no qualms about giving
her a failing grade for the course although her overall average was in
the C range.
2. Intimidation
This is a serious problem at every level. It can amount to a
blatant violation of a teacher's first amendment rights, but what hardy
soul wants to sue? (I would rather have a loathsome disease than be
invlolved in litigation -Judge Learned Hand).
The sad fact is that we have colleagues who will certify almost
all of their students as A or B students without regard to their actual
understanding of the subject matter. We suffer from the presence of
students who were certified as A or B students by their math teachers,
although they may be mathematically illiterate.
The first step in remedying this situation must come from an
organization such as the AAPT. That organization must impose minimum
standards (sorry, "could impose") minimum objective standards for various
kinds of physics courses. Such standards could then be recognized by
accrediting bodies (which at present are debilitated sheep in sheep's
clothing), thereby putting pressure on the administrators to respect
teachers' standards. It could also put pressure on teachers with low
respect for their own credibility to maintain reasonable minimum standards.
Regards,
Jack