Why I Prefer Self-Publication
Before you read any further, let me be very clear: I like the Tunxis SUN. I’m one of Tunxis Community College’s biggest fans. A lot of students come to Tunxis, drag their feet, and bitch about how much it “sucks” here. I’m not one of those students. I’m happy at Tunxis and wish I didn’t have to leave (though I’m excited about the possibilities that the future holds). I believe that the concerns I raise below are valid, but aren’t really a big deal, and pertain only to the publication of my written words. Overall the Tunxis SUN is an outstanding product, and I consider the paper to be an asset to the school. OK? Cool.
Last semester, the final assignment in my Journalism class was to write an editorial. I wrote one. I submitted it to the school newspaper, the Tunxis SUN for publication. This was in December.
Sometime between December and going to press (the SUN was distributed today, March 8th) a well-meaning editor rephrased a couple of my sentences. The meaning of what I wrote wasn’t changed, but the rephrasing was half done.
For one example, I wrote:
Clearly, there’s an inconsistency amongst faculty as to what percentage of effort and achievement is worthy of an A versus an A-.
Which was changed to:
Clearly, there’s an inconsistency among faculty regarding the as to percentage of effort and achievement that is worthy of an A as opposed to an A-.
For another example, I wrote:
This kind of flexibility is good for most everyone, but for the limits it imposes on an instructor grading a student who may have earned an A+.
Which was changed to:
This kind of flexibility is good for most everyone except when a limited is imposed on an instructor grading a student who may have earned an A+.
Various minor changes were made as well. Sometimes a comma was inserted, and quotes were inserted around “plus” and “minus” grades (where I’d originally just written plus grade or minus grade). I can live with those changes because they don’t make me look like an idiot.
So I have some advice for anyone who wants to write an editorial that basically complains about not being able to get an A+ even if you earned it: publish it yourself. Hit up the extended text of this entry to read my editorial (which earned me an A by the way) exactly as I submitted it for publication and for grading. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but at least the errors you find in the copy below are mine–and hopefully they don’t make me look like an idiot.
When is an A not an A?
The grading scale at Tunxis Community College is tipped. The school uses a system commonly called plus/minus grading that assigns up to three different grade point values to a single letter grade. Back in the day, a B was a B–and it was worth three grade points. Under the system of plus/minus grading, a B+ is worth 3.3 grade points, a B worth 3, and a B- worth 2.7. Students who routinely finish their courses with strong Bs should rejoice.
Under the plus/minus grading system, a student could get an equal number of B+ grades and B- grades and graduate with a round and respectable GPA of 3.0. In this way, the system is quite fair to students who are good at English but not as good at math, for example, because a plus grade in Composition would offset a minus grade in Intermediate Algebra. That said, the same student would get the same GPA under the traditional system.
There are two exceptions in the plus/minus system as it’s implemented at Tunxis. The first is the exclusion of a plus and minus distinction for F grades. The second is the exclusion of a plus distinction for A grades. To the first, I have no objection.
I do have a problem with the lack of a plus distinction for students who earn a high A in any given course. It suggests that there is no significant difference between the efforts of a student who earns a grade of 98% or better and a student who earns a grade of 95%. In the B grade range however, a distinction is made between students who earn 88% and 85%, and it grants the student who earns 88% a full third of a grade point. More than three grade points for a B? What a country!
A major gripe I have about the lack of a plus distinction for an A grade is the arbitrary cut-off percentage used to distinguish between an A and an A-. Of the four classes in which I’m enrolled for Fall 2006, these are the percentages required to earn an A: 95% or better in one class, 94% or better in another, and 93% or better in the remaining two. Clearly, there’s an inconsistency amongst faculty as to what percentage of effort and achievement is worthy of an A versus an A-.
Still, I can see the appeal of the plus/minus system. From an instructor’s perspective, it allows for more nuances in the assignment of final grades. This kind of flexibility is good for most everyone, but for the limits it imposes on an instructor grading a student who may have earned an A+.
Earning a degree in General Studies requires aptitude in a wide variety of courses. Should a student who is particularly apt in English be denied an A+ grade, if earned? Should the same student, less apt in art, be given an A- that will tarnish his otherwise perfect record? The same way that a B+ in one course would offset a B- in another, the A+ option would allow A students to compensate for their minus grades in weaker subjects.
Overall, the grading system is pretty good, but I see room for improvement. Perhaps a standardization of the percentage cut-points for grading is in order? Or an addition of an A+ to the mix? I give the plus/minus system at Tunxis an A-.
On behalf of all of us at The Tunxis Sun I want to apologize for the below standard editing of your article. It’s frustrating enough when editors change around your words for purely subjective reasons. It is even worse when your work is changed to reflect a writing level of which you clearly surpass. Again, I apologize.
Apology accepted!
Hmm. Are all the courses at Tunxis evaluated with multiple choice tests? If not, how can you speak with such confidence about these 1 and 2% distinctions? If one submits a paper (or an editorial, say, like yours), what makes it a”93%” or a “95%”? Seems a bit odd, doesn’t it, that an instructor can magically summon such a precise numerical measurement. You seem far too comfortable with the posed “objectivity” of these standards.
And you’re missing the real scandal of grading at the college level. Many (and in some places most) faculty at Tunxis, at Central, at UConn are part-timers, who make only $3K per course (roughly) and depend on good course evaluations. There is usually very little (or no) contact with faculty about standards, methods, grading, etc. EXCEPT when problems come to the surface. The adminstrations may bluster about excellence, but our CT colleges are extremely laissez faire about the “real conditions” of the classroom.
Oh, you’re gonna catch it now. Using Colin’s photo like that!!!
We wish you could have joined us on air yesterday…
Please post. I owe it to the staff of The SUN.
I don’t know whether you’ll catch up with this one since so much time has passed since your original post.
In any event, I must bear some (perhaps most) of the responsibility for your mangled copy. I’m the person who taught the Journalism course, and I’m advisor to the Tunxis SUN, which means that I’m doubly involved here.
At the end of the semester, I had the hard copy of your editorial. Because I thought it should reach a larger audience, I had it typeset to be sent forward. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have asked you to email the original version to me–or, perhaps, to one of the editors. I suspect that would have eliminated those frustrating grammatical errors.
The fewer hands that prepare the food, the better the meal. It’s a message every editor learned long ago, and one that I forgot.
Have you heard yet from Wesleyan?