Passing Grades--Always

"If the children are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences than it would have done in their correction by a good education."

   - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd U.S. president

Syndicated columnist Walter Williams has written an article titled "Believe It or Not" in which he harshly criticizes the academic policy of Benedict College in my home state of South Carolina. Williams says their liberality with regard to grading student performance "defies belief":

"Say I'm a freshman taking your class in biology. I learn little from your lectures, assigned readings and homework. I do attend class every day, take notes and manage to average 40 percent on the graded work for the semester.What grade might you give me? I'm betting that all but the academic elite would say, 'Sorry, Williams, but no cigar,' and I'd earn an F for the course. But if you're a professor at Benedict College and gave me that F, you'd be fired."

That's what happened to Benedict science professors Milwood Motley and Larry Williams who wouldn't go along with the school's Success Equals Effort (SEE) policy and assigned grades based solely on their students' academic performance. Benedict president Dr. David H. Swinton asked the professors to go back and recalculate the grades. They refused, so he canned both of them.

The SEE policy bases 60 percent of a freshman's grade on effort which ensures that only students who voluntarily drop out will fail to become sophomores. Requirements tighten up somewhat in the sophomore year. Then, 50 percent of a student's grade is based on effort. To its credit, in the junior and senior years Benedict assigns grades based on academic performance alone.

Williams thinks Dr. Swinton's SEE policy "borders on lunacy" and leaves its students woefully unprepared for future academic and career challenges:

"Imagine that a freshman gets an A for effort in his algebra class but has virtually no grasp of the material, earning him an F grade. Under the college's SEE policy, the student would be assigned a C for the course. What can we expect when the student takes Algebra II and later takes a course where algebra is a tool? He'll fall further and further behind because he hasn't grasped the material from the earlier courses. He'll graduate only if the fraudulent grading continues, and his job prospects will depend upon racial preferences."

The Success Equals Effort policy appears to be Dr. Swinton's baby, for it lacks support among members of the faculty. Dr. William Gunn is one of those. A professor at the college for the last 40 years, he recently voiced his displeasure about the policy in Columbia's The State newspaper. As I write this Dr. Gunn retains his position at Benedict, but the precedent set with Motley and Williams would indicate that he may have put his career in jeopardy for being so critical of the policy in a public forum.

Personally, I can't see how implementing standards like these could possibly be of value to the students, to those who might employ them after they graduate or to the always important scholastic reputation of the school.

I would think that Benedict students would want to feel that their diplomas represent real achievement, and that the knowledge and skill they gain as they earn them is on par with that of other institutions of higher learning. I would think they would want to know that their education enables them to be competitive with graduates from other colleges. I would think they would want their degrees to be held in the highest esteem by potential employers and the community at large.  I would think they'd want all these things, and more. 

I wonder, when they carry their diplomas off the stage at commencement, if they will feel satisfied that they're fully prepared to venture into the world and seek a livelihood? Given how they earned their degrees, I can't see how they would.