A's for everyone!

Dear Students,

Via the Blog Pharyngula (unlinked as the blog is occasionally NSFS), although here is the original Globe & Mail article.

University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt is in a spot of trouble. To quote:

“Grades poison the educational environment,” he insists. “We're training students to be obedient, and to try to read our minds, rather than being a catalyst for learning.”

More to the point, he's given all his students an A+. At the beginning of the course. And not in some sort of soft course like art appreciation, but physics! The university is naturally peeved, and at one point had him escorted off campus in handcuffs. Leaving aside the issues of academic freedom, the story does illustrate rather well the love/hate relationship teachers have with grades.

There is the obvious point, in that I don't want to be operated on by a doctor that hasn't had his skills measured or verified in some way. Grades, however, can certainly be an impediment to learning. Students can focus on the mark, trying to figure out how to raise their score, ignoring the broader context of what the course is about. Students who can name the structures of the lung, but cannot answer why the body needs oxygen would be an example. As a teacher it can also be used as a stick, forcing students to complete work not because they find it useful to learn the material, but because I think the task is required for understanding. There is no question some students would stop trying if an 'A+' was already granted. There is also no question that some students stop trying because the grades they get are discouraging. And really, is someone who got an 'A' on a course but can't remember any different? I find the hard-working student in Chemistry 11, whether they got a 'C+' or an 'A', is usually more prepared for Chemistry 12 than the naturally brilliant 'A' student. Universities and professional programs often just expect you have the knowledge and (once accepted) don't really care what you previous grades were. You just better know it.

I don't have an answer to this. As much as I admire the professor's chutzpah, and disapprove of the university's tactics (if you can't try cutting edge teaching experiments in university, where are they going to be tried?), I suspect some form of evaluation will always be with us. At some point, at some point, the engineer or the doctor is going to have to prove they know what they need to know.

But what do you think? Would you work in a course in which you already had the highest mark possible? Has the grades you've received ever stopped you from making your best effort?

Cheers,

Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School

(Update : Some further reading here.)