UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, May 3, 1994
11B
Debates continue on plus/minus debate
GPAs helped harmed by grading system
By Ashley Miller Special to the Kansar*
Linsay Clemons, Iowa City, Iowa freshman, didn't plan to get a 4.0 grade point average her first semester of college. It just happened.
"It's nice to have," Clemons said. "But it's not the most important thing."
Studying something interesting is more important, she said.
Five of the nine schools that make up KU's Lawrence campus use a plus/minus grading system. The schools of Social Welfare, Fine Arts, Architecture and Urban Design, Education and Journalism have used the system for years. Those schools that haven't adopted the system don't plan to do so.
That means, like it or not, students will have to put up with pluses and minuses.
The system is more fair to students, said Dana Leibengood, associate dean of the School of Journalism, and
it eases grading for faculty. He also said the plus or minus left the faculty and student more flexibility with grades.
"If you didn't have a plus/minus system, you'd have some people not in this school," he said.
Tom Dulac, Overland Park sophomore, said the journalism school's use of a plus/minus system hurt him in his Elements of Advertising class.
The class and the professor were great, he said, but the plus and minus on assignments lowered his grade in the class.
"I really don't see the point," Dulac said. "I didn't even know they did that in college."
The School of Architecture and Urban Design made the switch to the plus/minus system because the faculty wanted an opportunity to grade students more carefully, Dennis Domer, associate dean of the school, said.
Domer said he thought the plus/minus grading system was an advantage to students.
"It gives them a more precise understanding of their capabilities in relation to peers," he said.
Sally Frost-Mason, associate dean of the college, said the issue was discussed a few years ago, but it never gained support from any group.
The largest school on campus, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, does not have a plus/minus grading system.
Frost-Mason said she thought one reason the college hadn't adopted a plus/minus system was for comparison with students at other univ.rsities.
She said that transfer students especially needed universities to use similar scales.
"There's something to be said for uniformity," she said.
A plus/minus grading system also can be confusing. Frost-Mason said.
"Is the A- an A or a B?" she asked.
The School of Pharmacy also does not have a plus/minus grading system. Jeremy Matchett, associate dean of the school, said there were no plans to adopt the system in the near future.
"The A-B-C-D-F system is completely adequate for grading our students," he said.
Joe Reitz, director of undergraduate programs for the School of Business, agreed. He said neither the students nor the faculty had the need for a plus/minus grading system. Faculty had no problem making a distinction between C work and B work. he said.
Students had mixed feelings toward the plus/minus grading system.
"When I get an A, it still feels like a B," Gaby Uriona, La Paz, Bolivia, senior, said.
Jeff Schneider, Chicago freshman, felt differently.
"They shouldn't have it because it's irrelevant," he said. "An A is an A, a B is a B, and a C is a C."
However, the plus or minus would be less irritating if the class wasn't in his major sequence, Dulac said.
Because a plus/minus grading system affects students' GPAs, their future can be affected as well.
Several deans said a plus or minus wasn't a big deal to employers. Samples of work had more bearing, including intern experience, clips of articles and slide portfolios, Leibengood said.
Matchetch said that what students brought in the way of professional experience, enthusiasm and ability to relate to people were more important.
Deans had mixed reactions to the plus/minus grading system's affect on admission to graduate school.
Domer said he thought a plus or minus, because of their effect on GPAs, made a difference for acceptance to graduate school, which requires a 3.0 minimum GPA.
"Our average GPA has been a 2.75
for the past 25 years," he said. "3.25 is a real hot dog."
It's not because the students are bad, he said, but because so many of the teachers use the system.
Frost-Mason disagreed and said that overall performance was more important, stressing the significance of the student's mind, not the GPA.
"The one-on-one interview means a lot. It backs up what you've learned on paper." Frost-Mason said.
A distinction can be made between a fine-tuned brain and one that has memorized a bunch of information, she said.
However, Frost-Mason thought a plus or minus on a grade could make a big difference to medical school acceptance.
"The competition is tough," she said.
Janet Riley, assistant vice chancellor, is also the secretary and treasurer of Phi Beta Kappa, a national scholar honorary organization, whose members have a high level of academic achievement in a liberal arts curriculum.
Riley said a plus or minus on a grade could slightly influence a student's acceptance to such an honorary organization because of its effect on GPAs.
"We have a committee for the analyv
sis of transcripts that looks at the depth and breadth of CLAS courses," she said.
Students near the group's GPA minimum, a possible result of pluses and minuses, are looked at for compensating factors, like tackling more difficult classes at the junior-senior level, she said.
A wide range of classes outside a student's major also is impressive and may diminish GPA importance, she said.
Tim Bengtson, a faculty advisor for Mortar Board, another honorary organization, disagreed. He said that because GPA was not the only factor of importance to Mortar Board, pluses and minuses weren't influential to acceptance.
Leadership on campus and extracurricular activities are just as important, he said.
"The point of Mortar Board is to honor seniors who have done well in and out of class," Bengtson said.
Deans agree that, in the end, everything balances out regardless of the system's influence.
Animal traps aid in data collection
"Grades don't index the ability to serve society," Domer said. After all, he said, "John Kennedy was a C student."
By Mary Beth Kurzak Special to the Kansas
Special to the Kansan
Tromping through tall grass and mud on a plot of land northeast of Lawrence, Norman Slade stopped to check an animal trap. Slade then radioed a data collector about what he bad found.
"I've got a volle, are you ready," said Slade, a professor of systematics and ecology and the author of about 50 ecological research papers.
"Lots or people do the kind of work that I do," he said. "But no other data sets span over 20 years."
Slade said cotton rat and prairie vole trappings have been a monthly practice for him since 1973.
Slade works with three graduate students and one undergraduate student at the Nelson Environmental Study Area, a plot of 22,500 square meters of land located northeast of Lawrence. The land is owned by the KU Endowment Association.
The group went to the area to study the different aspects of the interactions of cotton rats and prairie voles in their environments, Slade said. Researchers tracked individual survivors and studied their growth rates, movement patterns and reproductive histories. The information is used in studies of everything from ecology to dangerous diseases, Slade said.
He said that many of the students who worked on the project had graduated and were working
on applications of his trap data. One graduate's work included researching the hantavirus, a virus carried by rodents that was discovered last year after it caused the deaths of more than 30 people in the United States.
Maria Eifler, Lawrence graduate student, said she also was using Slade's research as a base for her own research. She has been studying the effects of weather on the animals' growth rates, Eifler said.
"It is hard to get these answers, and it takes an incredible amount of research," Eifler said.
Slade said the group studied species, weight, sex and reproduction of voles and rats during his research to provide a base for the main study.
"I am interested in the fluctuation of the numbers in populations through time and what is responsible for that," he said.
Eifler said to conduct the research, the group set 198 metal traps all over the study area to catch the animals.
"The researchers run the traps once a month," she said. "They usually set traps on a Thursday evening and then check them in the morning and afternoon on Friday and Saturday and in the morning on Sunday. After the last morning, we close the traps so animals won't get caught in them during the month."
Slade said that when the group caught rats and voles, it attached a numbered tag to the animals
and released them. Using this method, Slade and his students can track the animals and collect data on their interactions with the environment and other animals.
The field provided many different habitats for the animals, Slade said. Parts of the field contain heavy foliage with trees and thickets. Other parts are grassy.
Slade said the research provided the students with many opportunities to gain experience.
"One reason this work should exist at KU is because it provides training for the students," Slade said.
Bryan Tylander, Alexandria Va., junior, said he began working on the project this semester.
"I wanted to get experience in biology work outside the classroom," he said.
Tylander helps collect data and said he eventually hopes to do research of his own. He said learning the dynamics of a species was helpful because it allowed researchers to predict what effect changes in the environment would have on the species.
Eifler said the research on the prairie vole and the cotton rat provided a snapshot of what was going on in the field at any particular moment.
"It is really neat to all these different animals," she said. "It is interesting to look at the patterns in their populations."
Student teachers opt for urban experience
By Charles Menifee Special to the Kansan
When Kelly Fuits told her father of her plans to student teach in Topeka this fall, he was worried about her safety.
"My father did not want me to teach in the inner-city," said Fults, St. Louis senior. "He did not think I could handle the pressure."
Fults is one of 39 student teachers who will work in either Kansas City, Kan., or Topeka this fall. A total of 155 education students will begin student teaching in area schools this August.
But Fults said her concern was with the children she would be helping. She said she decided to do her student teaching in an urban area when she was a volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.
"The children there had no role models, and when people gave them attention they got excited and were interested in their work," she said.
Mark Durr, Lawrence senior who plans to student teach in a Kansas City, Kan., school this fall, said his decision was not affected by fear of violence.
"Some students are discouraged
"Several students have indicated that they would like to teach at a place where they could make a difference, but they are worried about their safety," she said. "This is ironic because crime happens everywhere."
Fults said that she hoped to provide her students with a sense of security.
Breck said that some students decided not to teach in urban schools because they thought the pay would be higher in suburban schools. But in most cases, the pay is equal, she said.
Susan Breck, a graduate teaching assistant in the school of education, said that she encouraged students to student teach in cities.
"More that anything, I want to know that I made a difference in these children's lives," she said. "When they wake up in the morning I want them to know that they will have someplace to go that is safe and that someone cares about them."
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from urban teaching because of the violence portrayed by the media," he said. "I have a little anxiety but no real fear of teaching in an urban area. I figured it would be a place where my education could help make a difference and help those who really need it."
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