Grades Shouldn’t Matter This Semester
Whether it’s due to natural disaster or a pandemic, it’s time for universities to sever ties with standards
Trauma is not a competition, but I’m pretty sure my students and teaching colleagues have had more than a “fair” share this semester. I think it’s high time we lower our standards, for everyone, everywhere.
Thanks to this pandemic, universities around the world have switched entirely to online learning. This fact alone has caused massive stress among faculty, because converting courses meant to be delivered in person to an online format is time-consuming and, at times, impractical. I know — I am one of those professors. I teach philosophy at Arkansas State University. Administrators told us in early March that we should prepare for potential online instruction. The plan was to do a two-day “trial run” the following week before we eventually resumed our regular in-person classes. Three days later, we were told there would be no trial run. We needed to convert our classes to online instruction — immediately.
It takes time to record lectures, learn to use unfamiliar technology, devise new ways to hold office hours, revamp how you assess student progress, and alter your expectations about what successful attendance and participation look like. This is…
