<p>Another issue that administrators are addressing is increasing communication between faculty and students throughout the semester, so that when grades are posted, students fully understand where their grades are coming from.</p>
<p>DeTurck said that starting this week, the University will launch the Course Problem Notice, which will allow professors to alert students and their advisers of any academic concerns via the Internet. Its purpose, DeTurck said, is to help students bring up low grades as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it be nice if they notified the parents as well??? Seems that would be a good way of avoiding the problems we read about on this site from time to time.</p>
<p>Just like in the working world, “no surprises at evaluation time” is an excellent ideal. Regular communications are key, whether it’s prof-to-student or boss-to-employee.</p>
<p>But as we keep hearing over and over again, once students are 18, they are their own persons and are responsible for their own lives, in matters ranging from grades to health problems. Doesn’t matter who’s paying the bill. The official line is that it’s up to students to alert their parents to whatever they want their parents to know about.</p>
<p>I can argue on both sides of this divide, having one kid who was early maturing and self-motivated by age 14 and who willingly shares information I’d want to know, and another who is much more protective of personal details and isn’t anywhere close to maturing at age 16.5 (and who isn’t likely to instill confidence in me even when he’s 18). But I think this is a wave we won’t be able to hold back. Parents are not considered part of the picture after their children turn 18.</p>
<p>As you well know, if they are over 18 or haven’t signed a release, a college cannot under Federal law notify the parents. What is not mentioned here is that FERPA is the creation of one of the most conservative senators of the last part of the 20th century, James Buckley R-NY.</p>
<p>I doubt that the system is going to make much difference. What I found during 6 years as a college professor in which I spelled out grade requirements very clearly and returned papers/tests promptly, students can be given every indication that they are failing, but still may avoid admitting to themselves that they are in trouble.</p>
<p>I think that lots of this is due to immaturity or simple lack of realization that there are natural consequences to not going to class, not studying, etc.</p>
<p>I agree with colleges and the federal government that the students are 18 and parents needn’t be told my the colleges about grades. if parents --who typically are paying the bills – want that information, they have every right to demand that their offspring give them the grade information, including access to on-line notification, if that’s the parents’ desire.</p>
<p>When my older son was in college, my husband and I required him to let us know about his grades. However, that still didn’t prevent his flunking out despite being a very bright guy who could have easily done the work. It wasn’t the college’s fault that he flunked out nor was it ours. His grades were his responsibility and he simply didn’t do what was required.</p>
<p>Agree with Northstarmom’s post above about some students’ lack of responsibility/maturity of their own progress (or lack of).
I’ve had 1 student who even complained that it’s “so annoying” to get
such notices (Progress Reports, which are required by the college).</p>
<p>I’m with you. This is not like law school where the entire grade is determined by one exam at the end of the semester. Virtually every college course is going to have some kind of problem sets, papers, midterms, etc. whereby students will be informed of their progress. A kid who flunked a quiz knows he flunked a quiz. If the D’s and F’s don’t get the message through to him, then neither will a Course Problem Notice.</p>
<p>This sounds to me like a research university’s answer to the criticism that they are not like LACs - where the dean bakes you cookies, the professors tuck you you in at night, and everyone from the President to the janitors get Concerned if you aren’t working up to your potential. So to show you that they “care” just like LACs, a university can set up an automated flunking notification system.</p>
<p>i know at my school how the grades are done is clearly spelled out in every syllabus and everyone pretty much knows their status as the semester goes on… You don’t forget if you got a 34 percent on a test… nor do you if you got a 98. those types of things just stick in your head.</p>
<p>i never kept track of my grades on paper, yet i always knew what my grade was in each class by memory…</p>
<p>and coureur, i loved your post. the president of my college always would invite all students to his house for like soup and crackers. :)</p>
<p>Yep. I actually had the opposite problem once. As a psych major, I was used to courses where you needed an average of 95% or better to get an A. When I took a linguistics course, I was in a panic for weeks because my problem set grades were in the 50’s and 60’s. I was haunting office hours, sought a tutor, sweated over each set, etc. To my shock, I ended up with an A, because it turned out that no one in the class was scoring above the 60’s. But the upshot is, a conscientious student knows full well if she’s getting mediocre midterm grades and takes action to bring them up, even in a class with a friendly curve.</p>