Students voice opinion on plus/minus grades

Just listening to students chatting around campus about the proposed plus/minus grading system, strong student opinion regarding the proposal is evident.

To re-cap, the proposal could lead to the use of plus/minus grade distinctions that would appear on student transcripts and/or affect GPAs.

For example, a B+ grade would give a student a 3.3 towards their GPA, but a B- would count as a 2.7.

The fact that GPAs could be lowered by such a grading system seems especially upsetting to students.

“It’s a bad idea and it could hurt the middle grades…I think it’s to make students work harder and reward good work ethic…it would help distinguish people that have all A’s, but absolutely no one works for a 100,” said Nick Silver, a first-year Computer Science major.

“It’s not going to help students…what’s the difference between a minus or a plus? It will lower GPA for most people,” said Sheg Agbato, a fourth-year Chemical Engineering major.

“I had it in high school but it didn’t make a difference…that’s ridiculous; it shouldn’t be tied to your GPA,” said Michelle Gayer, a first-year Chemical Engineering major.

“It would be nice if you got an 89 but I wouldn’t like getting points off [for minus grades]. It’s more accurate but at the same time grading can be subjective,” said Lisa Stuber, a first-year Aerospace Engineering major.

“It’s unfair to the students. It’s only going to penalize us, and it would affect HOPE,” said Stevie Baer, a first-year Aerospace Engineering major.

Interestingly, upperclassmen opinions did not vary much from those of freshmen.

“I don’t really like it at all. I guess I see it from the professor’s point of view…It would make us concentrate more on grades and trying to please professors,” said Kim Hand, a fourth-year Chemical Engineering major.

“Some [professors] wouldn’t care but some would like to distinguish students,” she said.

“I think if they’re going to do plus or minus they should start with the next freshman class,” said John Ring, a third-year Electrical Engineering major.

“Professors already account for the plus or minus in their own grading system,” said Tim Gallagher, a second-year Aerospace Engineering major.

According to Gallagher, professors often bump students to a different grade letter based on their on observations.

“Older students probably wouldn’t like it, but newer students might like the A+ or A-. Younger students are more used to that kind of a system,” said Gareth Shepherd, a fourth-year Chemical Engineering major.

Though many other major universities have similar systems (such as Virginia Tech, Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford), this did not seem to affect students’ opinions of the proposal.

“If the boat’s going down why jump in? Why follow everyone else?” Shepherd said.

However, some students were willing to make a compromise. The Board of Regents asked Tech to implement the plus/minus grading system for three years and provided the option of making the pluses or minuses appear only on student transcripts and not effect GPA.

“It would be good in the transcript but not to affect actual GPA,” Baer said.

“That could be cool if it didn’t affect GPA,” Agbato said.

Though most students are decidedly against the proposal as a whole, there are those who believe it would be a positive change despite any effects on GPAs.

“I think it’s a good idea. You obviously worked harder and that should be reflected somehow,” said Chris Danielson, a first-year Biology major.

“It would more accurately reflect your work…it would probably make my GPA go down about a tenth of a point,” he said.

Though the conclusion to this academic drama has yet to be revealed, students are clearly opinionated and vocal on the issue.