By LISA BROWN
October 27, 2006

You may have heard rumors about Belmont Abbey College possibly adopting a plus/minus system of grading for course grades. The faculty and staff are currently debating whether this change would serve as an advantage to our college community. At a recent open forum during a Student Government meeting, Dr. Natalie Coté spoke about the advantages of this grading system. Although several excellent points were given, many students at the meeting felt the disadvantages of this system outweighed the advantages.

For students who may not have heard about this debate, the plus/minus system would change the way course grades are assigned in the future. (If the change is approved, this system would not affect previous grades.) What this system entails is that instead of only earning whole letter grades (A, B, C, etc.), students would have the opportunity to earn grades with pluses and minuses (A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, etc.). There would be no A+ grade in the new system.

At first I thought this was a great idea. However, by adding the pluses and minuses, you are also potentially lowering the GPA value of a course grade. For example, if a student finishes a course with, say, an average of 92, in our present grading system that student will receive an A (worth 4.0). However, in the plus/minus system of grading, that student would most likely be considered as having earned an A- (worth 3.7).

Advocates for the plus/minus grading system state that it is more accurate than our present one. I can agree with the fact that a person who has a 78 average has done better than a person with an average of 70. By using this system more students certainly will be motivated to strive for the plus (and to avoid the minus).

However, while the new system might reward a C student with a C+, an A student wouldn’t be able to make an A+. With our school’s focus on “Excellence and Virtue,” why would we want to adopt a system that would unfairly punish our best students?

Another question that has often come up is how this grading system would affect both academic and athletic scholarships. Professors, please take this factor into consideration as you debate the change. The majority of students on campus work very hard to maintain their GPAs. Altering the grading system might put some students at risk of losing their scholarships. Doing so could also increase the number of students given academic probation and dismissal.

Before you decide what would be best for the student body, I would suggest discussing the plus/minus system with your classes. We, the students, deserve a say.