Chinanews.com, Beijing, January 8 (Zhang Yuhui, Yuan Xiuyue) Recently, the School of Life Sciences of Peking University launched a pilot reform, giving up grade points (GPA) and implementing a grading system, which caused heated discussions on the Internet.
In recent years, college students' excessive grade points have been one of the topics that have attracted much attention in the field of higher education. In response to this reform, Wang Shiqiang, former deputy dean of the School of Life Sciences of Peking University, also said that competition itself is not a bad thing, and the key is whether it is necessary or unnecessary. If you can score more than 85 points in a course, you are good enough in terms of knowledge, and there is no need to spend a lot of effort to achieve more than 95 points.
Not only Peking University, but also many domestic universities have been trying to reform the grading system in recent years. To what extent can the abolition of grade points alleviate the anxiety caused by "grade points are king"? What should be paid attention to in the implementation process?
Data map: Students read books in the library and Xi. Photo by China News Service reporter Qu Honglun
One question:
Is it okay not to roll up grades?
In China, Peking University is not the first to explore the hierarchical system. In recent years, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, East China Normal University, Tongji University and many other universities have begun to explore the evaluation method of the grading system.
Wang Lu, who majored in vehicle engineering at Tongji University, told Chinanews that when he entered the university four years ago, Tongji University was already implementing a 5-point grading system, that is, for the five score segments of 95-100, 85-95, 75-85, 65-75, and 0-65, the students' grades were divided into five grades: excellent, good, medium, pass, and fail, and the feedback that students received from a certain course was 5, 4, 3, 2, and 0 points, and they would not be informed of more specific scores.
Unlike the School of Life Sciences of Peking University, which replaces GPA with an excellent rate and an excellent rate, the 5-point grading system implemented by Tongji University will still convert the grade scores of all courses into a comprehensive grade point, but compared with the 100-point system, the accuracy of the number is lower, but it does not mean that the grade point disappears.
"I think that for students who don't want to roll so much, the hierarchy system will indeed play a role in reducing the burden, and there is no need to go to the paper to fight for every point, which can alleviate academic anxiety to a certain extent. Wang Lu said.
However, she also admits that "if there are no numbers, anxiety will naturally disappear, but as long as there are numbers and quantification, there will be competitive pressure."
Data map: Colleges and universities carry out characteristic physical education teaching. Photo by Wang Dongming
Second question:
The direction of the volume has changed?
Wang Shiqiang said that the purpose of the School of Life Sciences of Peking University to implement a grading system for undergraduates and give up GPA is to leave more time for students to improve their quality, such as listening to some famous lectures, taking some humanities courses, participating in scientific research and social practice, and so on.
In this regard, Liu Yan, a student studying in a provincial normal college, told Chinanews that schools that adopt the GPA system generally spread the idea of "GPA is king", and the choices made by students - whether to join a club, participate in a certain activity, or run for a certain cadre revolve around whether they can add more credits, rather than interest and ability, and many students' universities have become "senior high" and "senior high".
In his view, the reform of the GPA system will promote the improvement of this phenomenon, "the reform of the GPA system can change the utilitarian thinking orientation of current college students to a certain extent, promote the diversified development of students, and give students more opportunities to cultivate interests and hobbies and improve their comprehensive ability."
There are also students who have a different view. Wang Lu believes that from the grade point system to the grade system, although the competitive pressure will be less, and there is no need to count the scores, but the grade points will be transformed into items that can add points outside the paper competition and exam.
In this regard, Song Yu, an international student who studied in a domestic university with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Singapore, told Chinanews that students still attach too much importance to course grades and comprehensive evaluation. He has served as a judge for the school's scholarship comprehensive evaluation, and has seen some students either "go through the relationship" or submit all kinds of indiscriminate materials, which makes the comprehensive score very high. In his opinion, this is another kind of utilitarianism and involution.
Chen Ming, a college student, believes that a simple grade point system can actually fairly reflect the degree of effort of students in a certain major course. She is not opposed to the inclusion of volunteer hours and social practice in the bonus points or evaluation of the research institute, which is intended to motivate students, but she opposes the unfairness in the evaluation process, such as the unearned gain of name.
Liu Yan also mentioned in the interview that he hopes that the rules and regulations of the hierarchical reform can be more transparent and fair, and ensure healthy and fair competition.
Data map: College students participate in visit-based social practice activities. Photo by Yan Xu
Three questions:
What to do with the "King of Volumes"?
After the implementation of the hierarchical system, it will also have an impact on the research and going abroad. Some students pointed out that many foreign departments did not recognize the grade system and excellent rate when they were in graduate school, and foreign universities only accepted GPA.
Wang Shiqiang responded that the School of Life Sciences of Peking University will provide a certificate for students who need to study abroad, and explain the evaluation method of the grading system to foreign schools.
Regarding the impact of the grading system and the GPA system on studying abroad, Wang Lu mentioned to Chinanews that due to the implementation of the grading system at Tongji University, the full score is only 95 points, which is a disadvantage for students who plan to apply for studying abroad, especially those who want to go to top foreign universities. But if the GPA system is implemented, they can work towards the highest score little by little.
"From this point of view, the GPA system is relatively friendly to the 'King of Rolls'. Wang Lu said.
In addition, Wang Lu also mentioned that under the grading system, students cannot know the specific grades of a course, as well as the specific composition of their usual grades and final grades, resulting in some students not knowing their next Xi direction, and do not know how to work hard and where to go.
Data map: The scene of the job fair for college graduates
Experts: The student evaluation mechanism needs to be further explored
It will take some time to get used to the hierarchy
Regarding the reform of the GPA system, Li Changan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, told Chinanews that in his daily teaching practice, he found that students have excessive pursuit of GPA, "and it is not an isolated phenomenon". Especially for students who want to study abroad, the requirements for grade points are relatively high. This problem arises because the school has certain controls on the excellent rate of grade points, such as requiring it to be controlled at 20% or less than 25%, which creates a certain gap with the needs of students.
Li Changan said that the original intention of reforming the grade point system and implementing the grade point system in colleges and universities is to prevent the emergence of micro-credit theory and micro-grade point theory, and the purpose is to establish a comprehensive evaluation mechanism, so that students no longer study Xi for the sake of simply pursuing one point or two points and obtaining a higher grade point, so as to promote the balanced development of students.
At the same time, Li Changan also pointed out that when applying for foreign graduate students, most schools will have grade point requirements, and how to integrate with international standards is a problem. In addition, for employers, how to judge the gap between different grades and comprehensively measure the quality of students is also a problem.
This is similar to the evaluation of college teachers, if it is not simply to read academic papers, how to evaluate their academic ability? The same is true for the evaluation of students, if it is not simply measured by scores, what kind of evaluation mechanism should be adopted, it is necessary to further explore. Li Changan said.
Li Changan believes that in view of the current domestic school and employment environment, it will take some time to adapt to the hierarchical system. Especially for some employers and students with special requirements, the requirements for credits are relatively high.
Xiong Bingqi, president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, pointed out that simply abolishing grade points cannot truly solve existing problems such as educational utilitarianism, and the establishment of a scientific and pluralistic overall evaluation system is the real "good prescription". (Some names have been changed) (ENDS)
(Sino-Singapore Education)
Source: China News Network
Statement: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author, if there is a source error or infringement of your legitimate rights and interests, you can contact us, we will deal with it in time.