Wednesday, October 7, 2009

it's fall...and it's grading complaint...

Another week is almost over.  Where did the last 24 hours go? :)
We are too busy to think about other things surrounding us.  Sometimes it is what we want that acts as obstacle. I don't know how many times I've changed my mind in the last month about what I want to do.  At least, I tried out a couple thing and decided that it might not be the one.  Things come and go just like that.
Taking classes is not a hard job.  It is what you want from the class makes the class harder.  I always wonder... what happens when grade is not a factor in determining many things.  I want to take the grade components out of school.  Grades how matter you phrase them create competition.  Competition leads to uncivil disputes.  I might have been a pro-grade person in the past but it is long gone now.
It is so much more important to learn the material and know the material than being tested and given a letter grade.  From my experience, grades do not speak much.  There is no standardization between schools.  There is no standardization between classes, between instructors.  However can a person or a committee decide whom to accept and whom to deny? *I'm talking about professional and grad school grade, not undergrad grade*
I put much thoughts about it.... and I know schools will never change.  They won't eliminate grades... at least not now because there is no way to measure students against one another.  But then again...what does it say about the school?  A school who has a high percentage of B-C students...do not produce enough competent pharmacists?  Should it be even accredited then?

Professors even admit they want to distinguish A students from B students from C students.  I questioned their purposes.  What will the benefits be of distinguishing A from B from C?  Will the A student be more successful?  Will the C student be less successful and will have less chance of having a job or a residency?  Then you have to define what success is.  I wonder what happens when you ask an A student and a C student about what they think about their learning experience.  Will they tell you the same or different story?  Will an A student say he/she has learned a lot and will be able to apply the knowledge?  Will the C student say that they had not learned much?  So is it because of the student or the teaching?
Having an A doesn't guarantee success. Having a C doesn't guarantee failure.  I believe in professional school, students should take their coursework seriously... but then again if the school is good and believes that their students once graduate will be able to accept the challenge the world bestow upon... why grade matters?  I think one day it will happen...may be when the school is confident enough that they produce competent pharmacists...because I still don't understand how a person can interpret a low GPA from a pharmacy student...what this number really means?
According to the guideline C: average... learn enough material to pass.  B : above average... C : excellent understanding of the materials.  I question the mission of the school....there will always be a % of people who gets C...what will they say about.. producing competent practitioner...

I wonder if there is a system such as... everything is pass/fail... you won't make it easy to pass... the students need to demonstrate that he/she understands the material well enough to pass.

We should put the grade behind us and focus on training better practitioners who actually understand and know what they should do.

After all, the NAPLEX is pass/fail... and nobody would look at your grade before hiring you.

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