Balance and the pass/fail system

This past week, we once again awoke in the early hours of the morning to stare at the lifeless blue screen of BannerWeb. Typing in those CRNs we made choices — we chose the shape of our spring semester, our possible majors and perhaps our future careers. Some of us registered for classes like The American Political Regime, while others have decided to pursue a passion in dance with a class like Movement & Intentionality. Some students have decided to explore the world of Quantum Physics or perhaps The Creative Process. And, as disconnected as these four classes may seem, maybe one lucky student has chosen to take them all this spring.

This is how it should be and one of the joys of attending a college like Middlebury. Our options are truly astounding. Yet, we all know that our course choices are not done on a whim. We weigh factors like course schedule, professor reputation and potential hours of work. And, while we are sure many people don’t like to admit it, we make choices based on grades. Maybe not directly, but we enroll in classes in which we know we can succeed. We look for balance in our schedules, and thus the thespian may steer clear of calculus, just as the computer scientist may avoid studio art. Middlebury promises a “liberal arts curriculum [that] will challenge [us] for the rest of [our lives].” Yet if we want to live up to the promise of our education, it needs to be okay to not be the best all the time. Pass/Fail classes could help make this possible.

Here’s what it might look like: classes counting towards major credits cannot be taken pass/fail, as well as classes taken during the first semester on campus, or if enrolled in only three courses. Winter term courses would also be exempt from pass/fail. Only one pass/fail credit would be allowed per semester and no more than four during a student’s tenure at Middlebury.

Such a plan would allow students to take classes outside of their comfort zone without risking penalization. We don’t take classes for grades, but we certainly think about them. The fear, of course, is that students would take advantage of such a system. The worst case scenario is that students don’t work as hard in a couple of classes as they might otherwise; however such risks are far outweighed by the possibility that students enrich their education in significant, life-altering ways. We could become better thinkers, taking responsibility for our education and escaping the obsessive world of grades.

Moreover, Middlebury is lagging behind its peer institutions. Colleges such as Bowdoin and Colby, for example, offer pass/fail courses. Williams College even goes so far as to allow its students to remove a limited number of unsatisfactory grades from their transcripts post-facto. While we do not endorse a program such as that at Williams, pass/fail courses are clearly a well-established and valuable part of a liberal arts education.

We hope that both the student body and Old Chapel take this plan seriously. We urge students to attend the weekly SGA meetings and to get in touch with their senators. We encourage you to attend this evening’s meeting at Old Stone Mill to discuss this important issue.

In short, what we propose is freedom: freedom to think, to explore and to learn.

Michael Polebaum ’12, Cook Commons Senator and Dan Shaw ’12 are both from Lexington, Mass.