It is too bad that this (now former) professor's politics obscures the critical educational question he poses: Would students work harder on their courses if there were no grades (i.e., if knowledge was the ONLY thing they could hope to take away from a course)? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090206.wprof06/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
It sounds to me like an empirical question. My prediction is that, initially, some would work more, some less, and some the same but that, after a (not very long) while, most would realize that there is not much point in investing the time to attend dozens of hours of lectures unless you actually learn something from them (especially if there is no grade forthcoming to serve as a proxy for what you learned). On the other hand, attending a series of lectures, even if you do not intend to become an expert in the topic, can be an interesting experience, so perhaps many students would continue to attend but not work hard. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
