The line between teaching and learning grew more blurry this week.
On Monday, I read a story in the National Post about the University of Ottawa firing a controversial professor. The report recounted the stormy relationship between advanced physics instructor Denis Rancourt and the U. of O. Board of Governors.
The two sides had collided over Prof. Rancourt’s controversial grading system. Instead of evaluating each student’s work individually, he chose to award all of them an A+. He said by giving them all an A+, his fourth-year students would stop worrying about grades and concentrate on learning the concepts of advanced physics.
During a discussion of the day’s news in a college reporting class, this week, I put the question to my first-year journalism students.
“If I gave everybody an A+ would that inspire you to greater learning?” I asked.
The discussion that ensued I found both disturbing and edifying. The answers divided the class nearly in half. Those who nodded, that yes, getting a free A+ would give them a reason to perform better, admitted they sometimes bend and break under the pressure to achieve higher grades during the 15-week semester. They claimed an automatic A+ would improve their attendance.
“I’d be here all the time if all I had to do was concentrate on content,” one student said.
On the other side, students shook their heads. They said they needed the challenge of knowing where they stood – with either a passing or a failing evaluation – on every single assignment. They felt that a more direct response to their reporting and writing helped them build on their strengths and deal with their weaknesses.
“How would we know if we’re doing it right, if we always got an A?” the student said.
I tried not to let my relief at that remark show. Instead, I went on to quote the National Post story further, by explaining Prof. Rancourt’s position. He contended that his objective with the universal A+ grading would drive his students to more critical and independent thinking. He criticized the carrot-and-stick method, contending that students tend to concentrate more on regurgitating the information, than on using their freedom from grades to encourage learning.
“Well, that’s more important in a course like advanced physics,” said one of my students who supported the free A+ scheme.
“For sure,” added another. “It’s really important if you’re working in science.”
“Of course,” I said. “And in our line of work, all we have to cope with is discovering and reporting the truth.”
Coincidentally, this week, another group of educators released a study of its own. The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations had conducted an online survey of about 2,000 professors and librarians. Its assessment of frosh students pointed to a lack of maturity and a nearly universal expectation of “success without the requisite effort.”
The study found first-year students (not unlike my own) addicted to Wikipedia and feeling as if they had the right to pass their courses without breaking a sweat. It seemed to me the study was further evidence of a generation of learners that feels it’s owed most everything – fingertip access, instant gratification and universal success – a generation of entitlement.
Who’s to blame? Those who abolished Grade 13, sending 17-year-old high school grads into post-secondary institutions. Those who have handed over adolescent supervision to the boob-tube and cyberspace. Those who have eliminated constructive competition from life and work. Those who have told young people “the future is yours” no matter what.
In other words, all of us are to blame – parents, peers, supervisors, spiritual leaders, mentors and educators. As a mea culpa, I should also point out that of the registered 32 students in that news reporting class where I raised the automatic A+ issue, I have regularly instructed about 20 or 25. Had I given the other half-dozen or so an A+, might they have come to my classes more regularly? Hard to say.
However, I do take some salvation in this. The story about Prof. Rancourt, originally published in the <span style=”font-style: italic;”>National Post</span> last Monday … It was written by a senior Centennial College student, one I’ve had the privilege of teaching. Currently on placement at the Post, Michael McKiernan will graduate this spring. As a student and as a working journalist, he is an achiever. Quiet, attentive, self-motivated and creative, he has delighted his supervisors on placement at the Post with his work ethic. I suspect he’ll complete our course with an A.
One achieved not by attendance, but by action.