🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Apr10.110321.17757@galileo.cc.rochester.edu>
djiv_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (David Iverson) writes:
>I would suggest that the first year curriculum be strengthened  (I'm sick of
>hearing professors complain about the decline in student knowledge when my
>first year classes were a high-school re-cap).

     David makes an interesting point here.  Most universities I've
heard of have policies with respect to the averages and fraction of
students expected to pass a course.  Instructors who disregard these
guidelines do so at their own peril, hence the bell curves and other
such devices.
     The problem seems to be that universities are afraid of failing
marginal students.  This does incalculable harm.  First, it devalues
university degrees to the point where they seem to be expected, even in
sectors of the economy where they are hardly needed.  Secondly, and more
insidiously, it allows high schools to do an inadequate job of preparing
their students for university.  This of course just feeds into the cycle
of mediocrity which has repercussions at least to the end of second
year.
     My personal opinion is that Canada has far too many universities.
(Americans can comment on their own situation; I really don't know enough to
say.)  I have some sympathy for the argument that some students are late
bloomers and that an early cut disadvantages students who only reach
full intellectual maturity in that first year or two of their
undergraduate studies.  We should not deal with this by offering easy
courses but by offering many alternative entry paths.  Give students
ample opportunity to prove their ability in early studies but do not
admit them to advanced courses unless you think that they will be a
credit to their institution.  The only way to do this is to offer first-year
courses where there is a real possibility of failure, even for students
who would currently settle in the middle of the class.  To echo the
sentiment of other posters to this thread, perhaps we could simplify the
grading system to pass/fail.  If the courses were sufficiently hard that
a pass really meant something, a more sophisticated system would not be
useful.

				Marc R. Roussel
                                mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca