April Fools’ Opinion: Gettysburg Should Move to a Pass/Pass Grading System
Emily Dalgleish
By Emily Dalgleish, Opinions Editor
Following a student petition for a pass/fail grading option for this semester, Gettysburg changed its grading policy so students could elect for a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade option after receiving their letter grades. A grade of a D- or above would be considered satisfactory. However, I believe the bar is still too high: anything below a D- should also be considered a pass in the first-ever Pass/Pass system.
If a student stress naps through their Zoom class, or watches all of the Pandemic series on Netflix instead of writing a paper, or goes on seven family walks a day and gets behind on reading, who are we to criticize them? Who has the heart to fail a student during a global pandemic?
Though I cannot speak for all students, I would estimate that of my brainpower, 70% is consumed by coronavirus news, 10% is FaceTiming friends, 10% is Tiktoks, 5% is wondering what the squirrels outside my window are discussing, 3% is Tiger King on Netflix, and the remaining 2% is left for my classwork. Under these conditions, a D- would be a miracle.
While academic rigor is a Gettysburg value and learning is often a key part of getting an education, at this moment, a Pass/Pass grading system would be the fairest option for the students of Zoom University.
