Should Freshmen Have First Term Grades Hidden on Transcripts?
Faculty members at various institutions debate the pros and cons of shielding freshmen from themselves.
Inside Higher Ed reports.
Should colleges shield freshmen from themselves by hiding first-term grades on their transcripts?
College is designed to be more rigorous than high school, but first-semester grades can still be a rude awakening for freshmen at competitive colleges — many of whom are accustomed to high marks. And some faculty members and administrators argue that worrying about grades can prevent these students from taking the kinds of intellectual risks they’re supposed to in college — or at least from focusing on real understanding over rote learning.
In response to such concerns, some colleges have adopted “shadow” or “covered” grades for freshmen, in which their first-semester grades are privately shared with students but don’t appear on their transcripts. At the same time — and much to the chagrin of undergraduate activists — one institution is moving away from this model, saying that more shared information is better when it comes to student success.
Should colleges shield freshmen from themselves by hiding first-term grades on their transcripts? (Inside Higher Ed | News)
Comments
All grades earned should show up. Those who don’t like grades don’t have to attend college. When these whiny students get into the workforce, do they want their work not to count? I think the employer might have a different opinion.
An interesting question. And, sometimes, an important one—the bigger colleges have enough data to correlate some of their grading polices to real-life problems … like suicide rates.
first-semester grades can still be a rude awakening for freshmen at competitive colleges
If you appreciate that education is preparation, not competition, then a bit less emphasis on grades at some times isn’t such a bad idea.
For a while, MIT was pass/fail freshman year. That doesn’t seem to have hurt the place any.
They changed it a few years ago to A,B,C, or No Record for the second term—apparently med schools don’t want to see a simple “Pass” for the early organic chemistry courses. But first term is still P/F.
Silly. Then, what about the 2nd year? If the load is heavy, respond with studying.
So students who get all A’s will not see any value in hard work?
All A’s means that somebody’s course load is too light.