ENGLISH STUDENT DESCRIBES
British colleges have no grades
By David Finch
The American university system was based originally on the British system, but today there is a major difference in the way academic ability is assessed. Britain has no grades.
In Britain the final examinations count for everything. The academic year is divided into three terms, and the finals are held at the end of the third (summer term). Class exams are held at the end of the other two terms, but they are used as a check on progress rather than as a deciding factor on that part of the course.
NOT ALL STUDENTS get to take the finals. If a student does very badly in the class exams, i.e., averages less than 30 percent, does very badly in the term projects and attends hardly any classes or tutorials, he will not get his class certificate, which is his passport to the finals.
But this occurrence is very rare. It would indicate that the student had not done any work and that he would be incapable of passing the final. He would have to repeat the course the following year, or drop it.
The system is somewhat different in English and Scottish universities. In England the student has to choose whether he will take an honors or a general course, and his major field of study, before he goes to the uni-
Rusk invites Anderson to Washington
Kenneth E. Anderson, dean of the School of Education, has been invited by Dean Rusk, Secretary of State, to attend a national foreign policy conference for educators to be held in Washington, D.C. in mid-June.
Speakers will be Mr. Rusk, Walt W. Rostow and Douglass Cater, special assistants to the President; William P. Bundy and Dr. Charles Frankel, assistant secretaries of State; and Francis Keppel, assistant secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.
Twenty-eight join Sachem
Six seniors and 22 juniors have been elected into membership in Sachem Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, honor society for senior men.
Major criteria for selection is scholarship and leadership.
society and Delbert O. Moore,
Topea; Terry L. Oldham, Bethel;
Richard B. Solum, Leawed;
George H. Pro, Leawed; Larry R.
Salmon, Winfield, and David L.
Tilford, Wichita.
Juniors are Paul L. Bock, Dodge City; Michael S. Cann, Russell; John L. Casady, Wichita; Thomas F. Edgar, Bartlesville, Okla.; William W. Emmott, Independence.
Gary E. Gregg, Coldwater; Edmond Q. Haggart, Salina; David K. Hall, Coffeyville; Rick A. Harrington, Terre Haute, Ind.; Alan B. Hitt, Lawrence.
Martin R. Holmer, Wichita;
Robert J. McAdoo, Larned; Larry G. Meeker, Garden City; Shelly B. Pearce Jr., Topeka: James D.
Perkins, Prairie Village; Will Gordon Price III, Wichita; John B. Stinson, Topeka; Carl W.
Struby, Leawood; Richard B. Warner, Lawrence; Bruce N. Warren, Emporia; David J. Waxse, Oswego, and James A. Whitaker, Nortonville.
versity. In Scotland he does not have to choose till the end of his first year. The Scottish system gives the student a chance to try new subjects before having to choose his major field.
ANOTHER DIFFERENCE between the two is that most courses in England, even honors, last only three years. In Scotland they take at least four years, often five or more, and three to five years are permitted for a general degree.
degree.
In the finals of the general degree a student is never told his mark. He either passes or fails. If he fails he can retake the exam at any subsequent sitting if it falls within the maximum period allowed to get the degree.
there is an oral exam with an external examiner.
Honors finals are different. The student has no degree exams in his junior year, but at the end of his senior year he must take ten or more exams, and his thesis is taken into consideration. Then
IT MIGHT APPEAR that this system of degree exams is haphazard and places too much value on the final exam. Thus, a lazy student may pass the final on a few days concentrated work, whereas the diligent student who has worked hard all year and produced good classwork may fail.
There is this possibility, but in practice the system works well. The students who work hardest and who do well in the class exams usually get high honors degrees, whereas lazy students fare worse.
In practice this system takes a lot of mental strain off students by not having classwork count in
the final classification. This encourages students to follow up original paths of thought and do research. This has shaped the lecture system in Britain where instruction is merely a guide and not a necessity for marks.
FOLLOWING FROM this, not even lectures are compulsory in Britain. But tutorials are. Tutorials are meetings of small groups of students, or individual students, with their lecturer. They are held once a week or a fortnight, usually for about an hour. The students are able to discuss problems, academic or social, with the lecturer, and receive advice on a line of thought they may be pursuing.
Daily Kansan 5
Wednesday, May 25, 1966
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