AFTER finals week, we all trash our notes, sells back book for a fraction of their value, and bid a sometimes literal farewell to each class. A week later we pick up our grades, the only remaining evidence that we were ever actually enrolled in that class.
And when that last grade comes up, we have no way of knowing what it will be. The majority of University courses include a final exam or paper that is due after the last meeting of that class. Thus by the time it is graded, students and professors have ceased to be in communication. This final assignment or exam can account for as much as 60 percent of the final grade of the course, often making it the most significant determinant. Yet despite the importance of these last assignments, we rarely see the grade we received, let alone the actual documents.
Sure, a syllabus can tell you what percent everything was worth. Thus clever students often can get a good idea how well they fared. But then again, letter grades are vague, having wide ranges, and sometimes another factor is subjective - participation. The final grade is ambiguous at best in determining how one did - and most algebraically challenged students may not even make the effort to figure it out.
Some professors have alleviated this particular problem by posting final grades on their course Web sites, putting up a physical list of finals results or offering to e-mail them to interested students. Conveying only the letter or number is simple. Both students and professors at least should make the effort to communicate that information.
This is a start. But even in the infrequent instances where we learn our numeric scores, we rarely see the actual final test or paper. This presents problems on several fronts. On the most superficial level, this means that grading mistakes go overlooked. Any student in a quantitative class knows to review a returned midterm or test to look for possible discrepancies. TAs have hundreds of exams to look at and errors are inevitable. But we let our finals slide through, when a five point change could have pushed a final grade from a "B+" to an "A-."
But more profoundly, we are unable to learn the mistakes we did make. Thus a last possible benefit of a University course is wasted. A professor will return comments on your first three papers to help you improve each successive paper. By your fourth history paper, your professor could probably care less if you remember what year the War of the Roses started, but they should be expecting improvement in your ability to craft a thesis, pull supporting evidence, write an effective sentence, etc. The fate of that last paper should matter for that precise reason. The final paper or exam is supposed to be a culmination of the course. Not just dates and figures, but skills that will matter in your next semester at the University, as well as your first month after leaving it.
Students in more quantitative classes could benefit from the chance to study their final exams as well. A student enrolled in macroeconomics in the fall would fare a lot better knowing the mistake they made in micro this past spring. Completion of a course is never the end of it. Most of us are on a major track now, where the next course we take is a continuation of some other class, whether specifically like in economics or a language, or more abstractly as in a writing class.
With the importance put on grades, it seems odd that one of the deciding factors is not even presented to many students. The end is available on ISIS a week later, while the means fades into the abyss (or more specifically the faculty lounge trash can).
The fault is on both ends. Students do not insist on hunting down their papers, and professors don't make them readily available. Many professors are not to blame as they, rightly, suspect that students are apathetic. Finals are occasionally left in stacks outside offices to be picked up, but end up sitting there for the summer. Professors need to do their utmost to make final grades available and students need to show an actual desire to receive them.
A history professor of mine proposed the best plan. On the last day of class, anyone who wanted his final paper back, self-addressed a large manila envelope. When he finished grading the papers, he popped them all in their respective envelopes and the history department took care of mailing them. Every student in the class, when offered the chance, opted to see their graded final papers. And when delivered to their home, they were willing to take the time to read over the returned papers. The professor was happy to make the added effort to mail them as well as include comments for the sake of future improvements.
When we graduate, it is not to say that we completed courses X, Y and Z, but that we perfected the art of writing a research paper or honed the collective skills needed to succeed in business school. Looking at our finals is the least we can do to take full advantage of the University courses and professors.
(Kimberly Liu is a Cavalier Daily columnist. She can be reached at kliu@cavalierdaily.com.)
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