South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 5, Ed. 1, February, 1995 Page: 1 of 12
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February 1995
SOUTH TEXAS
COLLEGE OF LAW
Page 1
ANNOTATIONS
Students and faculty
give passing marks to
letter-grading system
By ARTHUR GRIMALDO
Although they are not quite
used to it yet, STCL students and
faculty gave generally passing scores
to the A-B-C grade system, which
was launched with the posting of fall
exam results.
Part-time student Gary
Linthicum said letter grades are a
good idea overall, but inflates the
grading system for students who are
caught in the transition.
"It was a little difficult to ad-
just to at first," Professor Jean Powers
said. "I graded the exams the same
way (as in past semesters) to get the
raw score, but I had to spend more
time on where the division between
the grades would be." However, she
said she believes the letter-grade
system will prove to be the better
method in the long run.
So it seemed to the students
who huddled around the grade boards,
noticing the unexpectedly high num-
ber of As and Bs and apparent dearth
ofDsandFs. However, Powers said
that if appearances indicate that most
professors gave higher grades this
semester, it may be only that students
are not interpreting the numbers cor-
rectly. For instance, a B- in the new
system looks like an 80 or 81, but
actually would have been a 78 a
semester earlier.
"It's been different," Profes-
sor Gary Rosin said of the new sys-
tem. Rosin, a member of the Spring
1995 Grades and Calendar Commit-
tee, said adapting to the letter grade
system required some faculty mem-
bers to make a major shift in deter-
mining which labels (grades) apply
to students. He said that students may
interpret the semester's grades as
higher than usual because, "They are
seeing the 'B' and not the minus." A
minus is actually closer to the whole
grade below: A C- translates to a
1.667; a C is a 2.0 to 2.332.
Rosin noted that it was diffi-
cult in some circumstances to deter-
mine dividing lines between one
grade and the next, because under
the old grading system, professors
had 40 categories (95 through 55)
from which to choose, while the new
system only has 13 (A+ through F).
The difference is not lost on
student Cathy Mason, who does not
care for the new system which, she
said, does not let professors "differ-
entiate." For instance, she said, an
exam which would have scored an
80 or 83 under the numerical system
would probably each get a "B" under
the new system; under the numerical
system, however, there is room for
students to stand out.
continued on page 8
board. We
>:• mm •••• •••••• •■•••••
How can someone so cute grow up to
give such a wicked final?
M,
Can you guess which member of the STCL faculty is pictured here? To
enter Annotations' latest contest, and to see some of your instructors when
they were somewhat less intimidating, turn to pages 6-7.
It's a school, people,
not a Superjund site
By KATHLEEN CARNEY
Annotations Assistant Business Manager
In case you haven't noticed,
YOUR MOM DOESN'T WORK
HERE! In case you haven't noticed,
there are large trash receptacles in
every classroom and in every hall-
way. In case you haven't noticed, the
student lounge area is not a Superfund
site and does not come with govern-
ment clean-up.
Most professors do not mind
students snacking or sipping on a drink
during class. However, most students
do mind having to clean up someone
else's snack trash!
Today, as I hurry into my oil &
gas classroom, I survey my seating
area; before I can sit, I have to re-
move someone else's wadded-up
paper napkins. How disgusting! I
notice more trash on the floor as I
leave the classroom; someone has
conveniently discarded the wrapping
to a new cassette. Just when I think
this has to be a trash coincidence, I
walk by the registrar's office to check
grades and see a large, white styrofoam
drink cup discarded on top of the
glass cabinet.
People, where is your sense
of pride? This institution of higher
learning — which you pay significant
amounts of dollars to attend - de-
serves at least the same respect as
our state highways. So, I propose a
motto to live by while you're here:
"Don't Mess with South Texas!"
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Piller, Ruth. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 5, Ed. 1, February, 1995, newspaper, February 1995; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144504/m1/1/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.