Clarion 1986-11-21 Vol. 62 No. 08

              Clarion.
Vol. 62 No. 8
Bethel College 3900 Bethel Dr., St. Paul, MN
21 November 1986
Registrar proposes 'NC to 'F grade policy change
by Laurie Port
On November 18, an open
hearing was held to discuss the
grading policy changes proposed by Registrar Chet Duck.
Duck has recommended the
change of policy, "as consistent
with high academic standards,
ease of administration, and
widespread national practice,"
according to the most recent
statement on the new policy.
One of the. major issues at
hand was the reinstatement of
the F grade in place of the present use of NC for the incomple-
tion of a course.
Under the new grading system, students who do not complete course requirements will
receive an F rather than an NC
for their performance. In the
present system, an NC does not
contribute credits toward graduation, but neither is it detrimental to students' grade point
averages (GPS). With the reinstatement of the F, a 0.0 will be
averaged into the number of
attempted course credit hours
for each F received, as a 4.0 is
for an A or a 3.3 for a B+. An F
performance in a course will
contribute no courses toward
graduation, but it will be used
in the GPA calculation.
The policy change was recom-
mended to the APC (Academic
Policy Committee) by Duck,
who said that he had heard
"enough comments from the
faculty in favor of the F" to
implement the change.
Although the F will lower
GPAs, the new policy will
allow for the retaking of any
course, regardless of the grade.
Only the last attempt will be
put into a student's GPA, although the previous grade will
also remain on the transcript.
John Bower, Director of Social Work, said that one drawback to this policy is that if a
course is not offered again, the
retake policy is of no real value.
In citing reasons for the
change, Duck said, "The NC
has had tremendous negative
effects on some of our graduates. In the clearing house of
law and medical schools, all
grades are converted to one
standard in order to be consistent. Bethel's NC is undefine-
able outside our community; if
it were given for a reason other
than a straight filure, they
(those outside Bethel] would
still count it as a failure."
"If they count it as an F anyway," Duck continued, "we
might as well be honest and
say it's an F. Not to include a
failing grade is misleading."
Duck asserted that Bethel
adheres to a standard measure
ment for credit hours, and that
it would be "dangerous to be
unique in currency [not having
an F count as 0.0 in a GPA]."
When asked if he thought the
F grade might be too harsh,
Duck replied, "It's not punitive;
it just reflects reality."
Not all the faculty agree with
him,
G.W. Carlson, associate professor of history, is "strongLy
against" the switch from NC to
F for several reasons. Carlson
suggests that1 the reinstatement of the F will be very damaging to students who are academically dismissed who ever
want to try again at Bethel.
"Some students will have a
difficult first year," he said.
"They just aren't ready for the
discipline of college, but then
they turn around. If we bring
the F in and count zeros in
GPAs, the best advice we can
give to these people is 'don't
come back."'
Because, the GPA is cumulative, returning students can't
start their GPAs over, according to Carlson. "This makes it
almost impossible to get it
GPA] up in time for graduation," he said. "I've been on
Student Progress Committees
where, because of the F, students didn't make it back."
"An NC is a sufficient statement of the incompletion of a
course," said Carlson. "Students know they have failed,
and it is on their record."
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Don Postema finds a
"curious inconsistency" in that
failed course credits don't count
toward graduation, but are used
against students in their GPAs.
"It seems like double dealing to
me," he said.
"We need grace built into the
grading system," said Postema.
"The NC has been that grace.
There are times when you can't
measure up to other's standards. It's not that students are
failures as people — it just
means they don't fit into the
system."
The purpose of the new policy is to tighten academic
standards. Assistant professor
of Art Wayne Roosa said, "We
should leave the mercy on the
failing end by leaving the NC
as an option to redeem oneself,
while tightening up the criteria
for A's and B's in terms of preserving academic excellence."
Roosa continued, "This
should be the institution's
spirit—to light the fire under
the motivated students by
showing them what an A really
is."
Les Arasmith, Associate Professor of Economics, spoke in
favor of the F as a grading
alternative. Arasmith said that
there is widespread misuse of
the NC. Students will opt for
an NC over a D so that it will
not be detrimental to their
GPAs. "Those who do failing
work deserve a failing grade,"
he said.
Arasmith responded that
along with the reinstatement of
the F will be a generous amount
of time to drop a class without
failing. Up to the tenth week,
under the proposed policy,
students may drop a course at
no penalty to their record or to
their GPA.
Should the policy be accepted, it will go into effect
next year. A final faculty vote
will be held on December 2.
Guest speaker Ballard tries to piece "Hunger Puzzle
99
by Kenneth Wiering
"I have come in a critical
lime in the history of the
world," announced Jerry Ballard who took the podium for
last Friday's Convocation chapel. With a promise that he
wouldn't preach a typical chapel message, he proceeded to
give "The Hunger Puzzle,"
twelve pieces of sometimes
confusing facts.
Ballard is chief executive for
World Relief, an organization
affiliated with the National
Association of Evangelicals.
Like World Vision, Compassion International and Food for
Hunger, World Relief supplies
food and develops programs
for food production. Their slogan for the 1986 Thanksgiving
campaign is, "There is enough
if we care enough." Ballard said
the most crucial problem facing World Relief is money.
World Relief used $5 million in
donations this year.
He spoke to students who
would be "turned loose on the
world outside." He asked, "Will
the world be a better place
because of your presence in the
world or will you simply be
another drain on the world's
dwindling  resources?"  With
simplicity  he  presented   12
points to untangle.
One piece of the puzzle concerns Martha's perfume. In this
biblical story, why isn't the
money going to the poor?
Another piece describes 18 million starvation related deaths
each year. And while Scripture
claims that there will be plenty
if one plans carefully, it also
instructs not to plan and "take
no thought for tomorrow." Ballard also described the war and
famine prediction as a puzzle
piece. The concluding piece
explained that kindness shown
to the poor is an act of worship.
After the audience had stood
for a moment of silent prayer,
Ballard lhanked God "that in
Him we have the answer."
Ballard also visited Dr. Robert Kistler's "Environment
and Humanity" class, and Dr.
Paul Wilson's "International
Economics." In Dr. Kistler's
class he presented Ending
Hunger, a pictoral and statistical source concluding that the
problem of hunger could be
eradicated within twenty
years. "I'm not optimistic but
neither am I fatalistic," said
Ballard. Questions from the
students prompted him to say
that World Relief seeks long
term solutions and that technology is critical to that goal.
During a question and answer period in "International
Economics," Dr. Wilson asked
about the predominance of
political questions. Ballard
then described how World Relief functions best at a micro-
level, alleviating pockets of
poverty. But the political situation in Ethiopia he described
as binding. "Why can't highly
intelligent PhD types understand that  this  (collectiviza-
Ballard to p. 3