Marking a new era, Hopkins drops grades

Apparently Johns Hopkins medical school thinks that giving grades is no good anymore. Now they give "honors, high pass, pass or fail" instead of letter grades.

The article says that the school thought that regular letter grades were "fostering an unhealthy competitive climate".

The article says that "the new grading policy, instituted schoolwide beginning this semester, is designed in part to help change the mindset of those obsessed with getting an A."

It also says that other medical schools like Harvard, Yale, Duke and Stanford also use a pass-fail grading system.

I think all of this is ridiculous.

What is wrong with competition among students, and what is wrong with striving to get an A?

These students are working as hard as they can to be as good as they can. Why punish them with a non-standard grading system? According to the article, some students are concerned that the non-conventional grading system may hinder their ability to secure a good residency.

I think this switch possibly has something to do with self esteem. I think this is another example of dumbing-down our schools so the folks that aren't that bright don't feel bad.

We've all heard of "redistribution of wealth". I think this is "redistribution of education". If one person gets a C- and someone else gets a B+, and they are both given a "Pass", the difference in their knowledge is not clear. But since they both got a "Pass" from Fancy-pants University, they must have equal abilities.

What are your thoughts?

Mike

MEDICAL SCHOOL? This is scary. These people are to be entrusted with possibly slicing me open or medicating me someday?

Did you catch this quotation in the article by Walter Cheng, 26, a third-year Hopkins medical student in response to the new grading system, "...it kind of reassures them that it really isn't as cut-throat as its reputation may seem," Not as cut throat? It very well should be if these people someday may ACTUALLY be cutting throats.

I suppose they felt that striving for perfect grades will get in the way of REAL learning. I've seen it happen. I don't want the doctor with the best GPA, I want the best doctor

This kind of reminds me of that old/bad joke:

Q: What do you a call a person who graduated LAST in medical school?
A: Doctor

here's a question.......

when you picked out the doctor you went to for your cold or when you had the flu, or even when you broke you leg or what ever.....

how many of you asked or researched how your doctor did in school??

or did you just assume that he has a piece of paper from a medical school that says he graduated and he is a doctor that he can take care of you.

Jamie's joke is a good one that actually makes alot of sense.

it doesn't matter if you got straight A's in school or if you just barely got by with D's.

it's still "Doctor"

tslave, that is a good question.

The only research I've ever done on a doctor stops at whether or not he was acceptable to my insurance provider.

But I have asked family and friends for referrals to a good doctor.

This shows(for me at least) that it is not only the doctor's intelligence that matters. To me communication is the number one concern. I also like doctors who are friendly, will talk to you for a minute, and have a good sense of humor.

But, I really don't see anything wrong with the current grading system. It's fed to us all of our lives. We know it.

I think being grade-driven and being competitive can be a bad thing for some people, but I also think it can help others reach their full potential.

Just my thoughts, though.

Mike

I don't know, maybe it is just me but here goes. They want to do away with a letter grade and give a honors, high pass, pass, or fail. Now let me see what I don't get. tell me if I am wrong. Anyone I would think who knows anything about grades can kind of figure this out I would think. Honors=A High pass=B pass =C or D and fail I would think is the big F letter.Now whether they get a letter grade or a word grade still boils down to the same thing. Where is the competition being eliminated? And further more don't you think the student who gets the grade of say pass or fail doesn't know they are not at the top of their class???? I think this is an insult to any students intelligence. I also think competition especially in the medical field would be a wonderful thing. Just my thought, but I might just get a pass or fail on this.

The white and Asian students in virtually every American medical school have almost a zero% failure rate because they are ridiculously overqualified. Virtually all the failures in most American medical schools are Black and Hispanic students who are there only because of affirmative action and quotas, and who themselves are dramatically less well qualified than many whites and Asians who cannot get in. Otherwise, this issue really is of no moment. Undoubtedly, this is being done not to harm the tender feelings of Black and Hispanic students, who without quotas would only get into medical school as cadavers.

Yet that's the way things are in Affirmative Action America.

Interesting take on this, corgi. Got any statistics to back that up?

I have an uncle a John's Hopkins, he's a black medical professional. You may wish to watch the generalizations corgi

And here's some more questions...

Do you know the GPA of your doctor? Do you care?

Would you NOT go to a doctor simply because he graduated from a med school in the Bahamas?

Do you know where he/she went to residency?

Seems to me that grades/schools/GPA/residency are hardly even considered by the majority of the public.

So, by not offering grades, it makes little to no difference.

I think the debate started about not giving a letter grade to students to eliminate competition. They will still get a grade just not a letter grade. But to me the bottom line is that they have not eliminated anything. The competition will still be there when the student who gets an Honors grade while the student who got a Pass of Fail grade still knows what the grade represents. Be it a letter grade or not. I think we should grade John Hopkins Medical School's Professors or Doctors on this one.

For student teachers P/F is used because it allows students room to make errors, to experiment with stuff - to learn through a trial and error process rather than from a testing ground.

But, medical science learned through trial and error sound disastrous.


jjirout