We often follow controversies at universities and there is an interesting one brewing in New York. Students at The New School are demanding A’s in all of their classes after a successful strike in support of adjunct faculty members. After faculty received higher wages and better health care, students are demanding that they should be given As regardless of attendance after participating in the protests.
In their letter of demands, the students “demand that every student receives a final course grade of A as well as the removal of I/Z grades for the Fall 2022 semester.” They added that “attendance shall have no bearing on course grade.” They are also demanding refunds and tuition freezes. They also want the resignations of the school’s president, provost, vice president and the disbandment of the Board of Trustees.
There are a couple of disconnects in these demands. First, it appears that the strike for part-time faculty only started roughly a week or two ago — after much of the term was completed. (Some accounts say that the strike lasted three weeks). The first day of the Fall 2022 term at The New School began on August 29th. Faculty can offer additional time to make up for that disruption, but it is not clear why it should effectively negate the entire term.
Second, a more common response to long disruptions in courses is to offer students the option of securing pass/fail grades — not the awarding of A’s to everyone.
There is a reasonable demand for accommodation given the loss of classes and delay in the term. However, A’s are given as a measure of academic success. It would create the appearance that the students excelled in classes rather than simply registered for the class during a disrupted term.
In the end, for the school to yield to such a demand would shred any semblance of academic integrity. This is not like everyone gets a trophy in middle school soccer games. If the school treats grades as fungible and meaningless, it could find the same view attaches to its degrees.
The usual left-wing trolls are curiously absent from this thread.
They saw the news about a strike and went picketing 😉
I got one,
How about you show me your work proving you deserve an A?
How do students go on strike? How does a cost center to society get that much clout??
Also, there’s a curious lack of outraged parenting here. This CHAOS is what happens when Uncle Sam pays for everything instead of parents. Don’t admit too many government-loan types. Some surely don’t want to study. They want to rule.
Chaos also comes when businesses get steeped in wokery. “Get woke, go broke.” My advice when it comes to lefties: DON’T HIRE MORE THAN YOU CAN FIRE–because they will get you fired if they can. Jack Dorsey, poor soul, found that out too late. Stalin basically controlled the Bolshevik HR department. That’s how he got rid of Trotsky, no?
My final observation: the military is getting weird. Milley is doing to the Pentagon what Dorsey did to Twitter. It’s one thing when they censor you. It’s another when they bomb you. Just sayin’.
democrats the party of “stupid” look at what they have done to inner cities for the last 60 years!
No, dems are party of evil, Republicans are party of stupid . . . in so many ways. For example, with crises at the border, in high-crime cities, in ideology-laden public schools, in inflation-cursed economy, in nuclear-war-endangered Europe and the world, what were Republicans prioritizing? Working with Democrats to legalize gay marriage which was already legal. Thanks for nothing.
A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, and a PhD along with every birth certificate.
Huey Long could play these woke losers like a Stradivarius.
These kids sound like politicians. Give me enough money and I will support or vote for anything. A corollary is Joe Biden saying “fire that Ukrainian prosecutor and I will give you $1 billion”. Pretty much the same mind set from my point of view.
It’s not only youngsters and students who are irresponsible. The adults who run the Albuquerque NM Public School System are considering a new system of NON-grading of students. Media coverage about APS eliminating number/letter grades report that those in control of the government schools don’t believe it is right or proper to consider such factors as poor attendance, failure to complete assignments and passing tests is giving students number/letter grades. So much for those running the largest government school system in NM — once again last in the USA in education.
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Why not just sell of the various letters after the name to the highest bidder, or better yet, to the ones with the most social greivance scores? Education is now, after all, first a commercial enterprise since the concept of wisdom and learning has gone by the boards in favor of social justice and whatever new fad the prog/left has attached itself to.
Colleges should just adopt the same rules we use for voting: everyone gets a mail-in grade, no other requirements needed.
I only took a few college courses, which I did very well at. How much would it cost me to get a Masters in Business Administration just mailed to me? (lol) I don’t see the point of taking more classes. I had been out of school for 20 yrs when I took a math class and ran circles around the young kids. I got 1 wrong on my final. That was an 8 a.m. class, from which I went to my full time job at 9 a.m. I would then take classes at 6 p.m.,
To the students who were signed up for the class and did not participate in the protest, they should be given a pass and refunded the tuition for that course. For the students who were part of the protest, they should be treated exactly as though they did not come to class and did not take exams that were scheduled during that time. They should learn the lessons of life. Protests are part of the process but sometimes come with personal expense.
The university should already have in place policy for such matters.
“[The student protestors] should be given As regardless of attendance after participating in the protests.”
This is a critically important story because it illustrates a cultural pathology: Those who desire choices without consequences.
I don’t see why they even need to finish the courses. In fact, they should all just be awarded their diplomas immediately.
Yes; and Uh, “could I have a hamburger today and pay you Tuesday?”
Sale price on meals today. Two burgers, FF, Coke and a diploma, $5.
“Wimpy”, would lose his appetite . . and go the way of “Mrs. Kalabash” ‘wherever they are.”
A trophy for showing up. A trophy should be given for excellence.
Excellence? That word will soon be purged from our vocabularies. Entitlement is the new excellence.
Sure, cheapen the grade for everyone for the semester so future employers don’t know if you learned anything or not. Are they trying to negatively affect their enployment prospects?
if you vote Democrat…you are Voting for Fascism.
Time to END all Federal Aid and loans to colleges.
Time for any non-profit who gives anyone $100k to PAY taxes
If A’s are given, two injustices will occur:
(1) Those students who actually worked for their grades will be penalized versus those who didn’t study; and
(2) The school will gain a reputation for poor academic measurement, hurting all previous students.
Waiting to see if the administration has balls.
“There is a reasonable demand for accommodation given the loss of classes and delay in the term.”
I don’t disagree with the professor often, but this is stupid. The loss of classes and failure to attend to their studies were entirely of their own doing. Give them the grades that their work deserves.
If not taught by parents, the first lesson each university should teach is that for every action . . . there are consequences!
Yes. For every action, there is a REaction–can be good or can be bad, depending on the action.
And, multiply by 3, to help, to illustrate: final grade achievement, per anchored Deficit—-
3 × 0 = 0
Are, “students” by definition in school to learn how to create things, design things or run something? When did they acquire the knowledge to run a school?
Isn’t this just an example of the a proverbial saying: The Inmates have taken over the Asylum
Admittedly, I’ll have to look up what the hell “I/Z grades” are,
but if it means Idiot/Zombie grades I’m all for that.
Perhaps the first lesson these students should have learned was the practical impact of the word, “NO!”