Word: gen
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Committee on General Education decided this week that it could not continue to count Nat Sci 36, "Biological Determinism," toward Gen Ed credit, although it plans to offer the course again next year...
Francis M. Pipkin, associate dean of the Faculty for the Colleges and chairman of the committee, says the committee found that because of the instructors' grading philosophies, Nat Sci 36 doesn't fit the Gen Ed requirement that courses be taken for a letter grade...
...says he and Lewontin would prefer to give the course entirely pass-fail. It would eliminate competition, he says, and allow students to study the material out of interest rather than a desire for a good grade. But since a pass-fail course could not be offered under the Gen Ed rubric, and because the University does not offer lecture courses on a strict pass-fail basis, Gould and Lewontin chose to assure students they had no need to worry about the minimum grade level...
...Gen Ed committee looked at the grade distribution in a number of large courses before deciding how to deal with Nat Sci 36, and Pipkin says they found Nat Sci 36's grading no easier than that of several other courses--in fact, he says, it is harder than some. The difference is that Gould and Lewontin remove the element of insecurity by telling students beforehand what they need to do for a B. In the other courses, he says, "It's not a question of grading philosophies," just practice...
...committee had examined the grade distribution in a number of Gen Ed courses, and found several courses with distributions similar to and higher than that...