In our department, I have tried for years to make "C" the required grade in
statistics. Part of my reasoning has been that many other majors on campus
require that their students take our statistics course, and they require a
"C." The ONLY students that can pass PSYCHOLOGICAL statistics with a "D" are
PSYCHOLOGY majors! They can then go on to struggle with upper-division
quantitative courses such as Experimental, Lab, and Tests & Measurements.
Every time I bring this up, some very good counterarguments are given -
Why do we have university grade requirements?
If we don't believe that a "D" represents sufficient preparation for later
courses, should "Fs" be given instead?
Will increasing the requirement eventually lead to "C" having the status
that a "D" has now? (Or, will increasing the requirement lead to grade
inflation?)
I must admit that these are pretty good arguments for not following the lead of
other departments.
- Mike
Gerald Henkel-Johnson wrote:
> We require a "C" grade in all required lower division courses (general and
> developmental). Haven't heard any complaints. It also reduces that amount
> of people coming to psych because they've "nowhere else to go." It also
> makes logical sense i.e. if you can't pull off a "C" in these courses, you
> can't expect to pass the tougher, upper division courses needed to
> graduate.
**********************************************************************
* Mike Scoles * [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Department of Psychology * voice: (501) 450-5418 *
* University of Central Arkansas * fax: (501) 450-5424 *
* Conway, AR 72035-0001 * *
************ http://www.coe.uca.edu/psych/mscoles.htm ****************
