Yale Students Demand Automatic 'Pass' Due to Covid-19
yaledailynews.com
yaledailynews.com
Not to mention, any decent hiring manager that knows of this event, if it does occur, would be more suspect of any graduate of Yale (if they attended during the academic period in question) versus an equivalent Ivy.
As the article mentioned, campus is the great equalizer for students of different backgrounds, so give each student a check for the full retail cost of a semester’s tuition and expenses, paid from the school’s endowment, and remove the class from their transcript.
[update] edited for clarity
Would they?
Because this one thing might have happened one semester they would decide that individual is less qualified?
You think there will be alot of folks to choose from?
I would rather hire the person that graduated from Yale a few years ago versus the one hopefully graduating next year, even for a fully remote position.
Although, I do get the rationale for wanting a free pass. Cynically speaking... An authentic Yale diploma must be worth a lot.
Limited seats and the Dunning-Krueger effect [1].
I've seen plenty of 18 year olds in graduate classes, and I've seen highly talented students simply read the books for the prerequisite math classes and do quite well.
One of the downsides is that from the teacher's perspective, we are not allowed to know who is electing to take this option. So if 90% of our class is taking pass fail and aiming for a C, we still have to grade as usual and wonder: are these kids just not trying or are they not getting the material.
They'll be forced to relearn the material or continuously fail.
If someone did get an auto pass...do they know the material any more or less?
What percentage would have failed anyway and will struggle in the next class because they should have failed?
With colleges where the students live at school the process of trying to shift to doing the work at home in contrast to where they had more resources at school seems like it could be quite different.
I am not getting what I paid for initially, and I owe a debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.
Do the students get a partial refund since they are no longer paying for the facilities?
I actually ended up buying a hoodie from the college book store in the end and it’s pretty important to me, I don’t feel the same way about the university I graduated from (although I definitely had more fun there.)
I think there is merit to this concern.
I don't know if passing automaticly is the right choice but experiences durring these events can be quite wide ranging.
Just for me I find that some my neighbors complain they are bored. Me, my kids are at home, I have to manage their schooling, I have to work, my wife needs to work...and the youngest needs constant attention. I've never had less time / sleep.
Now students might not have kids but they too might have a great variety of challenges other students / professors don't have.
Some would otherwise be homeless.
All walks of life attend college.
Now, what happens if this extends for multiple semesters?
Are all the Ivy schools going to PASS/FAIL online until graduation?
> the reality is, they are.
But Yale admins/faculty have the power to change that. Whether the change is worth it (and what the best course of action is) is a matter for debate. But I wouldn't say that the best course of action is to sit back and say "that's just the reality of the situation" when we have a capability to effect change.
> Now, what happens if this extends for multiple semesters?
> Are all the Ivy schools going to PASS/FAIL online until graduation?
That's certainly not an ideal course of action, but (in my view) it may be what the Ivies are forced to do.
Sure there are some impacted, treat them individually (that's one of the things you pay Ivy league rates for, right?). Wheeling out a sob story of a handful of students in order to grant benefits to everyone just doesn't make sense. The school should be rigorous and push students as best it can.
That's how I viewed school, though, and I realize it is a minority opinion.
DS is not equivalent to an A. DS is insanely hard to get. The professor can only give like 1 or 2 students in the entire class DS so you basically have to be top gun to consistently get DS.
That is the problem.
If they believe that the quality of education has reduced they should demand a refund, or they can drop the courses they can't handle so that they don't impact their GPA, and retake them once it's easier again.
For those who don't know, both are top-level schools in Switzerland and Canada.
Undergraduates were forced off campus a few weeks ago.
Imagine yourself in the shoes of an international student who left New Haven in a hurry. You're now required to attend online lectures at 3:00AM local time. Five nights a week.
You don't have a reliable internet connection in your country. You lost your job when you left campus. You're missing out on office hours. You can't collaborate with classmates in the United States. You need to take care of at-risk relatives at home. You're in a state of heightened anxiety during a lock-down. Don't even think about taking a nap! Your next discussion seminar (with mandatory attendance) is in fifteen minutes... at 4:30AM!
Now, is it really so unreasonable to ask the administration to relieve some of this pressure? We should empower students to seek knowledge without sacrificing their health and family obligations.
If low-funded Italian universities can do it, I wonder what's stopping the best universities like Yale with enormous quantity of money to do the same.
How accurate is the information that non-expert can fetch?
It'll be harder for them than others but they can demonstrate an ability to overcome and achieve during hard times. That'll be a huge personal confidence booster for future hard times.
2. What students actually need IMHO is no tuition for this semester, and the opportunity for a do-over next semester (if the crisis is over by then). But that's more difficult to demand, so these people go for an easier, and lamer, alternative.
Pass or not it really makes no difference. College degrees are losing prestigiousness so who cares.
In five years post graduation it really means little. You don't go to college to learn you go there for the degree to get into that first door.