ON GRADES AND GRADING
by James T. P. Yao for his students and interested colleagues
The grade in a given course is a measure of the student's performance
in that endeavor. The overall grade point averages are indeed important
considerations for all students. When I was a student at the University
of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, I did care about my grades at that
time. However, I never complained about any of my grades though,
at times, I felt that the grade I received in a particular course
may not be fair. The fact is, on the average, the overall grade
point average did reflect the knowledge gained and the effort that
I put into my college education. There were courses for which I
thought that I deserved a better grade than the one on my record.
On the other hand, I also had grades which were better than what
I expected and/or deserved. In the long run, they all averaged out
at the end of my college career.
Most importantly, I learned from each professor and from each course
that I had. A few years after I graduated, I forgot all my grades.
To date, however, I have kept all the basic knowledge gained from
my college education.
If the students aim at learning as much as they can from each course
and each professor, the good grades (on the average) will come as
a result of their diligent work. On the other hand, if the students
waste their time arguing about their grades, they will lose time
for studying new lessons and thus hurt their future grades.
As a teacher, I try very hard to be fair and consistent in grading
student papers. The student will get a perfect score if he/she gives
a correct answer. If the answer is not correct, the teacher is the
one who judges how serious the error is and assigns a partial score
accordingly. As a student, I had several professors who did not
give partial scores. The reason was that, the engineering system
could fail with the wrong answer, no matter how close the answer
is to the correct one (e.g., exactly the same number but with a
wrong sign). I do not agree with that policy but respect their judgement
in those courses. In any event, partial scores are subjective depending
on the experience and viewpoints of the individual teachers. It
is counter-productive to argue about it.
Please be careful in doing your homework, tests, and other assignments.
People's lives and properties will depend on your work someday.
Try to learn as much as you can while you are in school. Communicate
with your teachers and classmates frequently, and concentrate on
the learning process. With knowledge, you will become a successful
and proud engineer soon. HAVE KNOWLEDGE, WILL SUCCEED!
JY940128 (revised: 1/14/97 with advice from Paul Roschke)
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