Although implemented in the fall of 2000, the plus/minus grade scale is still meeting with some opposition on The University of Memphis campus.
The Student Government Association passed a bill in its last meeting of the semester to recommend that the current grade scale be abolished and replaced by the one formerly used, which utilized letter grades without pluses or minuses.
“The plus/minus scale is sort of unfair to people who make an A+, because you can’t make a 4.1 on your grade point average,” said Karen Golightly, an instructor in the English department. She also said she uses the old system of grading, which all professors have the option to use.
According to Philip Batty in The U of M Office of Institutional Research, 40 percent of the undergraduate course sections in fall 2001 were graded using the plus/minus system.
The grade distribution from last semester also showed that sections using the plus/minus scale awarded almost the same number of every letter grade to students as the sections that did not use it. For example, 32 percent of students in the classes using the plus/minus scale made A’s, A-’s, and A+’s, while 32 percent of students in classes using the old system made A’s.
If a course requires a grade of a C or a GPA of 2.0, a student who makes a C- will not make the GPA requirement because a C- is actually lower, at 1.67. For graduate students, a B- could also pull down their GPA below the acceptable range.
Noel Schwarz, U of M registrar, said that implementing the current system took two years and a complete analysis was conducted of how other schools across the country handled the plus/minus scale before it was brought to The U of M. Other schools adopting the program included The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, The University of Texas and The University of Pittsburgh.
Schwarz said one of the benefits of the system is that it allows professors to be more specific in their grading, while also helping students whose course requirements would accept a C-, but not a D.
However, she said that the university will continue to monitor the success or failure of the system.
“As long as I’ve been here, and that’s 25 years, the grading scale has always been a topic of discussion,” Schwarz said. “It will be discussed and an analysis will be conducted to see how effective this system is.”
For the grade scale to be restored to its previous format as the SGA recommends, a committee would have to be formed to gather information and make a recommendation to the U of M administration.
One student expressed mixed feelings about the usefulness of the plus/minus system.
“I think in some ways it’s a good thing, because it gives students in some majors a little bit of leeway,” junior biology major Lauren Rickman said. “But I don’t think it’s necessary in general education classes.”
A copy of the SGA’s bill was signed and sent to the administration of The U of M for consideration.
