Students, faculty sound off on new grading scale

By Amanda Lee Anderson

Students, faculty sound off on new grading scale

The University of Louisville’s plus-minus grading scale, a new development for the 2002-2003 school year, has taken many students aback and aroused ire in students and professors alike. The scale weights quality grade points so that students are rewarded for plusses and penalized for minuses. This system, which was approved in February 2002 at the Faculty Senate meeting, is based on the system used in U of L’s graduate school: an A+ receives 4.0 quality points; an A, 4.0; an A-, 3.7; a B+, 3.3; a B, 3.0; and so on.

An overwhelming majority of students interviewed are miffed that although a B+ earns an extra .3 quality points, giving the recipient a 3.3 for the course rather than a 3.0, an A+ earns none–so the student would earn 4.0 points with both an A and an A+. Sophomore business management major Justin Morehead said he felt it automatically gave students a disadvantage. “I think that an A+ should be over four points, because that’s how it is for the rest of the scale.”

Jason Justice, a graduate student in political science, agreed. “This system seems to give opportunity for professors to reward the students who earn a B+, but no extra reward for earning an A+. If a student gets a C-, he can balance it with a C+ and bring up his grades, but if you get an A-, there is no way to balance it by bringing it up with an A+. That’s inconsistent.”

Dr. Phil Laemmle, a professor and an advisor in the political science department, suggested that the administration may have had doubts about weighting the A+ grades, because it would cause some students to graduate with a cumulative grade-point average above 4.0. “I don’t see the problem. What’s wrong with graduating with, say, a 4.2 average if you’ve earned those kinds of grades?”

In addition, many students are displeased at the sudden change, and feel that gradual implementation would have been fairer. Tara O’Bannon, a senior studying marketing and management, said, “I think it would have been a lot better if they had phased it in, rather than starting it at one point for everyone. It doesn’t make sense that I’m a senior graduating in December and I’ve never had weighted grades, but I have them in this semester.”

In the same way, Aaron Brown, a sophomore sociology major, felt that the sudden change would make for an unrealistic portrayal of academic performance. “If I get an A, it should be an A, whether I earned a ninety-three percent or a ninety. What used to be an A isn’t really an A anymore, it’s an A-minus.”

Laemmle had similar views. “If someone starts on the unweighted system where you can only get an A, B, C, D, or F, it’s unfair to change to the plus-minus system.”

However, Lara Trimpe, a junior music therapy major, disagreed. “I think it definitely has its pros and cons. I think, though, that overall, it will motivate people to work harder, because they know that a 90 percent average in a class isn’t the same as a 94.”

Junior Tim Smith, a CIS major, agreed. “I’m working towards getting a 4.0 for the semester, and I know that with the new scale, I’m going to have to put forth a lot more effort and time to do so. It’s a little overwhelming.” Several students and administrators interviewed felt the same way, citing that the penalty for making, for example, a B- rather than a B, may serve to prompt students to improve attendance and study skills because it can directly affect their grade-point average and lead to a student not achieving Dean’s List or Dean’s Scholar status, or, in a more extreme situation, loss of scholarship or academic probation.

Political science professor Rodger Payne saw the positives as well. “I think that it’s good in that it rewards students who just barely miss getting a higher grade; and in the same way, it penalizes students who just barely earned the grade they got. This way, someone with an 88 average doesn’t have the same grade as someone with an 81 average.”

Economics professor Barry Haworth felt that the system was taxing for professors to implement in their courses. “I see the benefits to this system. But it seems like the cost for the administration and the professors to implement it is going to exceed the benefits to the students and the university. Now I have to figure out a grading scale for an A, an A-, a B+, and so on, where I used to just do one for each letter grade.”

Laemmle, also, saw the time costs to execute the weighted system. “I’m not going to use it. It requires too much fiddling with the grading scale.”

Although many students feel that this is an astonishing blow by U of L’s administration, the effects as of yet are uncertain. Justin Morehead said, “Most of my professors are choosing not to use the plus-minus scale, so it won’t affect me much this semester.”