[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Nineteenth Century grading system



James Stimpert wrote:

> Why they saw the need to differentiate between 'failed' and 'very bad'
> I'm not sure, but this was before grade inflation, when a C meant
> 'average,' not, "I won't get into med school/law school."  Maybe
> 'failed' meant, "at least he tried," while 'very bad' meant, "he never
> even darkened the door of my classroom.'

Perhaps I can speak to that. At my junior-senior high school in the 1960s, the grading system was
A-B-C-D-E-X-Y. A through E were all passing grades, A being excellent, C being average, and E being
just barely passing. X meant failure and Y meant very low failure, the difference being that if one
tried and failed, one was rewarded with an X, but if one did not expend any effort in the course
whatsoever, one was stigmatized with a Y. Needless to say, we students thought the seven-point
grading system was a joke. It's now A-B-C-D-F there.

Cheers!

Eric

--

Eric v.d. Luft, Ph.D., M.L.S.
Curator of Historical Collections, Health Sciences Library
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210
<http://web.upstate.edu/lufte/> -- 315-464-4585
Listowner: ALHHS-L <http://web.upstate.edu/lufte/alhhs-l.html>
For e-mail pertaining to libraries, librarianship, or the history of
 medicine, please use <lufte@mail.upstate.edu> not <lufte@upstate.edu>
For all other e-mail, please use <gegensatz@alumni.bowdoin.edu>

"Be always sure you're right, then go ahead."
                                          -- Davy Crockett
                                [Autobiography, 1834, title page]

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>