If college students don't do the work, a timely "F" can be useful feedback, writes Louis Haas, a history professor at Middle Tennessee University.
"Reforms" such as "no deadlines, multiple retakes of assignments, group answers, no penalties for excessive absences, ungrading and so forth" don't help students succeed, he argues in Inside Higher Ed. They need to know that they have to do the work.
Students were told to look at eight World War I propaganda posters to prepare for a class discussion. Asked to write briefly about which one they found most striking, most students cited the "We can do it" poster of Rosie the Riveter. It wasn't one of the eight, because it's from World War II. Looking at posters doesn't take much time, Haas points out. His students hadn't bothered.
Many of his students didn't buy a required book, even though he'd told them the first midterm would be a short essay based on the book. He assigned F's to those who failed the midterm. Some quit the class; the rest bought the book.
Students deserve honest grading, Haas writes.
Many students do not know they have not achieved minimal competency to advance to higher-level classes; an F tells them that. Many do not realize they have taken on too many hours in relation to outside pressures; an F can help pinpoint that overload. Many simply do not realize the amount of work necessary to succeed in college; an F can help indicate that. Many do not realize they are unsuited to their major; an F can help show that, thus allowing them to change majors early on. Many do not realize that college is not for them at a particular moment; an F can help convince them that this is so, thus saving them money in the long run. And the F is a good diagnostic grade for midterm grade reports, which can trigger changed behavior and adviser intervention.
Many students take grades seriously, Hass writes. They "grub for extra credit" and "argue vociferously for points." That concern should be focused on improving their academic effort and achievement.
What those who don't mind a little grade inflation, or assistance passing, et cetera, don't seem to realize is that removing poor grades from a student's record doesn't change the brute fact of competition. There ARE going to be distinctions drawn between the most successful students and the least successful. If there are no Fs, then those who get Ds will be treated as those who got Fs in the past. If there are no Ds, then those who get Cs will get the F consequences. If there are no Cs, then those who get Bs will be regarded like those who got Fs in the past.
In one sense, then, so what? Grade inflation doesn't change the distribution, an…
Of course we can have even more people graduating, even less failure, and an even higher graduation rate if every assignment is given a passing grade merely if it has the students name on it. The achievement gap would surely improve then, right? How low can we go? A return to higher expectations just might bring superior outcome.
In college, my profs considered it a kindness to fail students who couldn't do the work. Their take was that science was a brutal field - competition for med school or research grants was fierce - and if we couldn't manage the work it was better to find out and change to something different or change our study methods as quickly as possible.
In grad school 20+ years ago, we had to take a 'how to teach college students' class. The science people frustrated the instructor. When he asked 'what would you do if you saw 1/2 of the class falling behind?' the correct answer was supposed to be 'Slow down' but I had replied 'offer study sessions'. I th…
The problem is that teachers have to jump through 5000 hoops just to fail a kid. We have to give them 5 chances to redo an assignment; we cannot give them a zero; we only count assignments they did do. If we have too many fails, admin comes down on us.
It is much easier now for any kid and parent. They can check a kid's grade at any time. They can email a teacher at any time. At no time, should it be a shock for a parent to see a Fail. However, we have to coddle the kids so much.
Bring back the F only if the school boards and upper management are willing to tolerate a higher level of failures, of fewer people graduating, and of a greater achievement gap. There is always a cost to every policy.