4.0 Is Only Good

Beginning with the Class of 1956 which enters next fall, the 4.0 man will lose his dazzling reputation and will be replaced by the 5.0 man as the super-student. This change has been brought about by the Faculty's adoption of a new marking scale that splits C into C+ and C— and creates five passing grades instead of four.

For some time the Faculty has found the single grade of C unsatisfactory for rating the work of the large middle group of "gentlemen students." The Faculty Council appointed a special committee, headed by Prof. F. Cudworth Flint of the English Department, to bring in proposals for a new grading system, and after the Faculty Council had approved the committee's recommendations the Faculty as a whole also voted to adopt them. The new grades will go into effect in the fall for all students, but because of present degree requirements the new point system will not apply to 1953, 1954 and 1955. For these three classes C+ and C— will both count as 2.0. For freshmen, straight A's will be represented by 5.0, B's by 4.0, C+'s by 3.0, C-'s by 2.0, and D's by 1.0.

While changing the grading system the Faculty also voted new requirements for graduation and "good standing" for 1956 and following classes. At present, to obtain his degree the student must secure credit for 122 semester hours and attain an average of at least 1.8 for the entire college course. For the men of 1956 this has been changed to 122 semester hours, at least 50 hours of which must be of C+ quality or better. Of greatest interest among the revised requirements for good academic standing is the new "sophomore hurdle" which now reads: "In order to continue in college beyond his fourth semester, a student shall have a minimum of 54 hours credit, of which at least 27 hours must be passed with a grade of C— or better; and of these 27 hours, at least 18 must be passed during the student's third and fourth semesters."

While the great majority of the Faculty were willing to settle for the new distinction between low-C and high-C work, there were some advocates of more radical changes. One proposal was to have only three grades of honors, credit, and failure. Another was a numerical system of nine grades from 8 to 0, and a third, advocating very precise distinctions, was for 21 grades from 20 to 0. The present grading system has been in effect since 1915, and after a long and careful study by the Faculty Council's committee it was decided that with a bit of tinkering it would continue to serve reasonably well.