Wednesday, December 14, 2005
The good news first
I finished my final final today around noon and shortly thereafter signed off on my last paper. A teammate should be turning it in this afternoon and I’ll officially be done for the semester. Now I just have to pack, clean the house, and enjoy a nice dinner out tonight.
On a less happy note, the administration officially announced today that grade disclosure is back. In a letter to students, Acting Dean Jay Light said that the prohibition on students releasing grades to recruiters will be lifted for the Class of 2008. The letter basically says that they feel the concerns raised by students (most of which mirror those in my letter) are valid yet can be minimized and GD won’t have the detrimental effects students think it will. Going forward, the administration wants to form student-faculty working groups to develop guidelines for the Class of 2008.
Personally, I’m disappointed by this move. I think it is rash to announce a potential change in October, provide scant details until November, and then make the change in December. That doesn’t even begin to address the fact that the decision was made by a temporary Dean who almost certainly won’t be in that position when the Class of 2008 arrives in September. This decision also says very negative things about how the administration values student feedback, and I have very low expectations for these “working groups.”
It will be interesting to see what the Student Association does in response and how students handle it. Perhaps I can’t see the forest for the trees, but I still think GD is a very blunt instrument to improve rigor in the classroom.
On a less happy note, the administration officially announced today that grade disclosure is back. In a letter to students, Acting Dean Jay Light said that the prohibition on students releasing grades to recruiters will be lifted for the Class of 2008. The letter basically says that they feel the concerns raised by students (most of which mirror those in my letter) are valid yet can be minimized and GD won’t have the detrimental effects students think it will. Going forward, the administration wants to form student-faculty working groups to develop guidelines for the Class of 2008.
Personally, I’m disappointed by this move. I think it is rash to announce a potential change in October, provide scant details until November, and then make the change in December. That doesn’t even begin to address the fact that the decision was made by a temporary Dean who almost certainly won’t be in that position when the Class of 2008 arrives in September. This decision also says very negative things about how the administration values student feedback, and I have very low expectations for these “working groups.”
It will be interesting to see what the Student Association does in response and how students handle it. Perhaps I can’t see the forest for the trees, but I still think GD is a very blunt instrument to improve rigor in the classroom.
