Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Oregon University Eliminates Failing Grades
Hotair ^ | 02/06/2024 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 02/06/2024 8:41:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Some colleges and universities in the United States have been struggling with student performance, particularly since they began spending more time protesting Israel or the police than on the classes they signed up for. And the DEI push concerning who does or doesn't get admitted isn't helping either. But no school wants to go public and say that they are graduating a bunch of sub-par students, right? Western Oregon University has joined the ranks of those who are finding creative solutions to these challenges. They will simply no longer issue failing grades to anyone such as "D-" or "F." They will simply assign "no credit" to those who fail to complete the work in the hope that they will be less likely to drop out. Brilliant! (Fox News)

An Oregon university announced they will abandon failing letter grades, citing a "GPA fixation" that negatively impacts students.

Western Oregon University issued a news release earlier this month that revealed the school would be replacing "D-" and "F" grades with "no credit" to discourage undergrads from dropping out.

Students who do not earn a passing grade in their course will be required to repeat the course and demonstrate proficiency.

The university's press release specified that there is a difference between receiving a failing grade and receiving a "no credit" grade. The NC grade will "not negatively impact student GPAs." In other words, any course that students fail will be ignored and their GPA will only include the scores received in classes where they did well. So if you were taking seven courses this semester and you failed six of them but received a "B" in Transgender Women's Philosophy (I haven't checked, but I would wager they offer it), then you will be recorded as a "B student."

Let's stop and ask ourselves who is really being served by a policy like this. Are the parents who pay the hefty tuition costs for this school getting their money's worth? Are the employers who might hire that "B student" after graduation getting all the information they need to determine the best candidates? Are the students themselves being served by being led to believe they've received a top-notch education when they have actually failed to learn the basics they will require in their chosen field of study?

Fox News reports that in the previous semester, 65% of the students who dropped out had received at least one "F" in their studies. Students who drop out stop paying tuition. This seems to be the problem that Western Oregon University was focusing on. But if students are earning an "F" in their coursework, might that not be suggestive of other, more serious problems? Perhaps their professors are not delivering the required information in an effective manner. Maybe the student wasn't well enough prepared in high school to tackle this sort of work. Whatever the underlying cause, surely we can do better than simply passing them along as if everything was fine and launching them out into the professional world without the required skills to succeed.

One administrator told reporters that "GPA will now become a "true reflection" of "student success and course mastery" and failing grades will "no longer mask" their "demonstrated abilities." What does that even mean? The entire idea of "course mastery" is that a student has mastered the underlying material offered in the course. You "demonstrate" those "abilities" through testing. What other metric do we have beyond job performance in their chosen field? And if you received an "F" in your class, it's unlikely that the performance in question will lead to any new patent awards.

This is just more woke nonsense from the country's collegiate system. Given the amount of money these schools charge for tuition, they should be providing something of value in return. And the only measure of that value is how well-prepared the students are to head out and thrive in the adult world. Nothing short of that should be acceptable. 



TOPICS: Education; Society
KEYWORDS: grades; oregon; university

1 posted on 02/06/2024 8:41:47 PM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

This is being done to screw blacks over. At some point, we are going to stop the nonsense and a whole lot of uneducated people are going to be locked out of the workforce.


2 posted on 02/06/2024 8:45:43 PM PST by Jonty30 (In a nuclear holocaust, there is always a point in time where the meat is cooked to perfection. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

In related news: Western Oregon University eliminates the value of any degree from their institution.


3 posted on 02/06/2024 8:45:50 PM PST by LegendHasIt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

They can’t collect the student loan dollars of students who flunk out.


4 posted on 02/06/2024 8:47:16 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████████ b █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

And that my FRiends is how colleges today are graduating students with a 6th grade education.


5 posted on 02/06/2024 9:34:34 PM PST by Boomer (The Long Winter is coming...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

A degree for anyone willing to sit there for 4 years. If you don’t fail, it doesn’t matter. Just get your loans and get your degree. How sick.


6 posted on 02/06/2024 10:03:22 PM PST by vpintheak (Pinko misanthrope)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Based on the U of O grads that I have known...


7 posted on 02/06/2024 11:27:17 PM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

My instincts tell me that more than ever, college students are learning how to develop sophisticated scams, fraud and cheating in general. If it is their chance to “shine”, they’ll have to do it behind closed doors.


8 posted on 02/07/2024 2:45:44 AM PST by equaviator (If 60 is the new 40 then 35 must be the new 15.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Many colleges have already effectively eliminated failing grades. If students don’t show up or do the work, they are given pretty much to the end of the term to “withdraw” without the grade appearing on their transcript.

All that’s left now is to give students credit for those classes they didn’t attend and the work they didn’t do anyway.


9 posted on 02/07/2024 2:49:23 AM PST by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Descending from merit into mediocrity. “Not very good” soon becomes “doomed to fail”.

A failing grade is a very good indicator that either the trainee is not suited to getting any recognizable expertise in that particular field of study, or that the information is being poorly presented.

Take away the incentive for striving to avoid failure, and slovenly study habits take its place. Everybody ends up less competent.


10 posted on 02/07/2024 4:58:01 AM PST by alloysteel (Most people slog through life without ever knowing the wonders of true insanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

If you can’t fail, then “success” has no meaning...


11 posted on 02/07/2024 5:44:11 AM PST by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: trebb

So the students just keep taking the same class over and over until they pass. The University makes money selling the same product over and over; while the students bank on biden to eliminate their student loans.


12 posted on 02/07/2024 6:59:42 AM PST by CoastWatcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Just the place for Peppermint Patty to go to college. She’s always getting D- grades in grade school.


13 posted on 02/07/2024 8:27:52 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservative_cyclist; ten18; Twotone; VeryFRank; Clinging Bitterly; Rio; aimhigh; Hieronymus; ...
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
14 posted on 02/07/2024 1:48:17 PM PST by Twotone (We have to stop punishing ourselves for considering things that once seemed crazy. - B. Weinstein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson