Word: pass-fail
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Princeton, one of the first Ivy League colleges to adopt a pass-fail plan, is now seriously considering an even more radical departure from the traditional grading system...
...plan is a replacement and expansion of Princeton's pass-fail system, which is now in its second year and is widely regarded by the Harvard Faculty as a test case for the pass-fail concept. Under the current program, a student can take one of his five courses every year on an ungraded pass-fail basis. The new plan would reduce the Princeton course load to four in the first three years and three in the senior year...
Instead of pass-fail, the proposed system uses the term "audited courses." A student could do as much work as he chose for any number of extra courses, and if by the end of the term he felt that he was well prepared, he could take the final exam. If he passed the final, he would get a "pass" designation on his transcript without being responsible for any of the other course requirements. If he failed the final, or chose not to take it, no record of his connection with the course would be kept...
Beyond this simple innovation, of course, there are some exciting educational possibilities, such as introducing pass-fail grading into the four-course load, or abolishing grades entirely. These possibilities deserve more discussion, and the discussion will benefit from a trial run of the HPC plan...
...Faculty approval, is that its merits will be obscured by undue concern with the real, but certainly surmountable, problems of cost and administration. If many students should decide to take advantage of a free fifth course, Harvard might have to pay for additional staff and facilities, or turn pass-fail students away from courses already filled with "regular" students...