Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Altern to gra Although the present gra< be desired, we cannot, n< mediately and try to go on viable alternative. There are many alter evaluations, the contract sy, system. No single one woulc combination of all could be Written evaluations woulb the student, and would force student as a person instea number. However, this sys work for the professors v records office, it is not ent could be used effectively i storage problems are certai would also introduce a mu jectivity in student evaluati The contract system is be limited basis in at least onei the contract system, the stu< agree that a certain amoun will earn a certain grade. entirely outside the classroo foot into one lecture. Howe success is entirely on the si should design his own cont would agree (or disagree.) specific as needed to reduce student an opportunity meaningful to him, and thus, a learning experience. The I is to be highly commended f less structured modes of edi its lead. Quickly. Finally, the pass-fail syste should be expanded to incluc most departments allow. It system. At the beginning of professor agree to the amou the course. One of the gr4 system is that it eliminates p: It also creates a freer lel students feel better about di, and enables a student to ey way. It also almost entirely for the few who are in dange with a pass-fail system also h an "E" to connote "excellent authority-pleasers would stil purpose of pass-fail would b These are not the last wc proving the grading system. NC is a perverted form of pa enough. Serious consideratioi to other methods as soon a~ minds have been strangled GAME The Gamecock is published twice during the fall and spring semestei holidays and exam periods. Change of address forms, subscri should be sent to The Gamecock, 29208. Subscription rate is $3 per received $38,000 from the student a dents to asubscription. Offices of Tl 319 in Russell House on the universii and 777-4249, news, and 777-3888, paid at Columbia, S.C. Although The Gamecock is a publi sity of South Carolina, it is not an of The opinions expressed herein do the university, the student body, or s Editor ................ atives des ling system leaves much to >r should we scrap it im as before. There must be a natives including written ;tem, and a blanket pass-fail work best here. Perhaps a tried. I be much more helpful to the professor to think of the d of as a social obscurity tem would be much more ith large classes and the irely practical. Perhaps it n small classes. And data inly not insurmountable. It ch greater degree of sub Dn-the last thing we need. ing used at USC now on a lepartment-Geology. With lent.and professor mutually t, quality and type of work the student's work can be rn, and he need not even set ver, the responsibility for udent. Ideally, the student ract to which the teacher The contract should be as arbitrariness. It gives the to do work personally no doubt, becomes more of rSC Department of Geology )r its experimentation with ication. May others follow m, also in limited use now, e many more courses than is a form of the contract a course, the student and nt of work needed to pass 3atest advantages of this -essure for specific grades. irning atmosphere where agreeing with the teacher, :plore the subject his own eliminates cheating except of flunking. Some schools ave another letter, perhaps ." This is inavisable. Some 1 grub for grades and the e defeated. rd in suggestions for im Indeed, the present ABC is-fail. But it doesn't go far i and study should be given ; possible. Enough bright dready. LOCK weekly on Monday and Thursday -s with the exception of university stion requests and other mail items Drawer A, USC, Columbia, S. C., emester. The Gamecock this year ctivity fund entitling full-time stu e Gamecock are rooms 317, 318,and :y campus. Telephones are 777-8178 advertising. Second class postage cation of the students of the Univer ficial publication of the university. mot necessarily represent those of II staff members of The Gamecock. ... .. .........Charles Fellenbanm ;1. I DEA AGE 01C Letters policy Voice of the People welcomes letters expressing all points of view. All letters are subject to condensation, and must include the writers signature and full address. Names will be withheld only in unusual circumstances, when the editors judge the reason sufficient. Down with grades LETTER TO EDITOR: Though my regard for a "student newspaper" subject to the cen sorship of Sol Blatt, John Foard, and the Board of Trustees is necessarily low, I find it necessary to counteract the narrow educational theory defended by John McGuire in the Gamecock's September 21 issue. Basically underlying his support of the present competitive system is his incorrect belief in the ob jectivity of grading. The apparent worthlessness of so-called "ob jective" trivial fill-in-the-blank tests has virtually eliminated this form from the eampus; con sequently, essay tests with no possibility for a decimal grade percentage must be quite sub jectively reviewed and evaluated by the teacher. Thus the judgment of a student's ability is necessarily related to the diverse characters of his professors. Secondly, his characterization of members of the Gamecock staff as "lazy" students is an amusing absurdity. While giving no recognition to the positive educational experience of creating a newspaper (apparently, his conception of education is limited to classes, lectures, and texts), he apparently does not realize that the present educational system is one of the easiest escape hatches for laziness, irresponsibility, and wanton simple-mindedness. A student in the present scholastic system is NOT enabled to analyze and interpret events in a sub jectively creative manner, but simply to "parrot" the teacher book's antiquated facts and ideas. Is ambition necessarily related to success in school? It is apparent, Mr. McGuire, that ambitious students do not necessarily fare well in school (refer to the ex cellent examples of Einstein and Robert Frost). Also, your r SIMS IS HERE TO ci c 'HENE LEVEL IN YOUR SOAP... e of the pe4 reference to the alleged need for a grading system as an indication of "effort put into the course" is on a dubious base. Though persons of different aptitudes can put the same degree of effort into a course, the one with greater ability often emerges with a higher grade; consequently, equality of EFFORT does not mean equality of grades. Finally, I can find absolute agreement with you on one point disgust with the time wasted on foolish and trivially immature aspects of university life such as beer excapism, but more im portant, educationally irrespon sible escapism through the silly memorization and repetition of rote facts. Education can be defined as a reinvigoration of historic facts and ideas through a synthesis primarily involving relevant, subjective experience and thought. The individual must be stressed. For an introduction to the theories of modern progressive education, I recommend Students Without Teachers by Harold Taylor and Teaching As A Subversive Activity by Postman and Weingartner. Down with the absurd com petitive grading system! TIM BEALL EDITOR'S NOTE: The Gamecock endorses Mr. Beall's recommendation of "Teaching As A Subversive Activity" and also suggests Postmang and Weingart ner's latest book on education, "The Soft Revolution." Also, The Gamecock is not subject to censorship from anybody, especially John Foard. Editoria! 100% crap TO TIlE EDiTOR: I am writing in response to your stimulating editorial "Why grades?" I, to be perfectly candid, think that your editorial was 100 per cent crap from start to finish. To begin with, your topic is a genuine dead horse. The grading system at U. S. C. has been suf ficiently revamped such that it is now quite liberal, more than fair to the students, and at the same time provides a means by which those businesses, industries, law schools, graduate schools, etc., etc., who, though they are obviously in the vast minority (as witnesse b.. te rr. staggering amount of statistics which you cited to reinforce your statement that "...in practice, business realizes that grades are extremely unreliable performance indicators."), might just wish to get an indication of the per formance of some "cripple" who has obviously been "conditioned by J the system". Of course, I know that they would take into account that these "grades" are mere "sub versions of real learning", that they have "fostered memorization, the antithesis of education", and that they "continue to make recall the highest form of intellectual achievement". And, oh yes, let us not forget these oppressive "in secure professors" who feed their own egos by bullying defenseless students into submitting to their ' wills. (By the way, I'm sure it slipped your mind but there is a court here on campus where any student who feels that he has been treated unfairly by a professor may actually have the case tried. Of course, those sitting on the court realize that, should they decide in favor of the student, they will immediately be sold to McDonald's byte autyadstf. stagege amoent ofexisticst Knolegen that "...ing pratce bsiness reate."zes, a grdear iCars, a migh bes.t ist get an indiatio on te per fornce none se, scipple"in hasvobviusydee, "cntained byi t"esychste".Of course, in that thwouldese iompaisont thnk thatste "gas"nt are youre "sub-ia vaersos of prfetly learg" that, thy haeustereud' memoasureou, thuck anihsso dcto" n rqtdthat thy"cninet mae el thihest frm fineter,latual not fgaet teseoppessate in-h secue poesorsy,h named tirb wils.l onBy he wa,numsure cir cuslippes.umn buThere is aob courtuhereao cmpusteeane"y Ofcurudin ths sittgr, thucourt