Us Russells have to stick together.
I’ve been doing a lot of extracurricular stuff in college, but I haven’t been doing as well (grade-wise) in my classes. I’m doing fine, but it’s not the straight-A thing I had going on in high school. Why am I going about college this way?
One of the goals of the Portfolio Server is to provide future employers access to actual student work instead of just numeric grades. In my honest opinion, the worth of a student should be judged not only on how they do on tests but what they produce for the class. I’d actually really like to see a project-based curriculum in all of my classes with a certain amount of creativity and student interest involved. If a student is interested in a topic, they’ll learn more and do better. I know it wouldn’t work for everyone, but I know that’s how I learn and feel.
Anyway, the Halloween edition of the Maine Campus included an op-ed column by senior journalism major Eric Russell. In a pretty casual way, he echoed almost all of my opinions about the current grading system used by colleges and employers. Be sure to read his article at mainecampus.com. (Note: If you want to register for the e-mail newsletter, go ahead; if you don’t, just use Justin.Russell@umit.maine.edu as the e-mail address.)