Recently, the school newspaper of Peking University published an article "Giving Up Grade Points - Grade Evaluation Reform in "Biology"" to investigate the implementation of the school's performance evaluation reform, which has aroused widespread heated discussions.
The article shows that under the pressure of high-intensity academic assessment, countless students fall into the quagmire of unnecessary involution in order to improve their overall scores by one or two points. In order to change this situation, the School of Life Sciences of Peking University has launched a pilot reform, abandoning GPA rankings and implementing a "grading" assessment method.
GPA (Grade Point Average) is the key indicator for domestic universities to evaluate students.
GPA calculations multiply the grade points for each course by the number of credits, add them up and divide them by the total number of credits to arrive at the average score, so the weights of courses in the GPA vary depending on the credits. (Note: There are differences in the calculation methods of GPA in different schools, please refer to the official websites of each university)
Because GPA plays an important role in the selection of scholarships, the selection of guaranteed student qualifications, and the application to foreign universities, it has become the "lifeline" of many students. Many colleges and universities have pointed out in the work measures for accepting and recommending students to study for master's degree without examination that the application condition is that the professional performance ranking is "among the best".
Photo/Chinese Renmin University 2024 Acceptance of Outstanding Fresh Undergraduate Graduates Exemption from Examination for Master's Degree Work Measures
In the process of graduation and job hunting, grade points are also an indispensable "admission ticket" to some extent.
Photo/China Southern Power Grid Power Dispatching and Control Center 2024 Campus Recruitment Announcement
In the article "Giving Up Grade Points: The Reform of Grade Evaluation in "Biology", it is mentioned that under the pressure of grade points, many students begin to plan when selecting courses, and are more inclined to choose courses based on the teacher's score in previous years, rather than based on their understanding or interest in the course itself.
A number of colleges and universities have tried to eliminate grade points
According to the WeChat official account "Capital Education", in recent years, some colleges and universities have begun to try to cancel grade points and implement the grade evaluation reform of the grading system, that is, using letters A, B, C, D, F and other letters to indicate students' performance level, instead of using the 100-point system or grade point system.
In 2015, Tsinghua University announced a comprehensive overhaul of the existing academic evaluation system, starting from the 2015 undergraduate and graduate students, with 12 grades such as A, B, C, D, and F to record students' grades, instead of a 100-point system.
On May 20, 2019, Tsinghua University released a GPA reform plan, which proposes that "the evaluation of students' academic level is the academic right of teachers, and the academic affairs department respects the academic judgment of teachers and does not set instructive excellent rate indicators in the evaluation of grades". At the same time, there will no longer be a "reciprocal percentile" for undergraduate students admitted in 2019 and later.
The School of Life Sciences of Peking University has adopted a "grading" assessment method since the 2020 class. The plan clearly shows that the GPA will no longer be calculated, and all students will replace the GPA with the excellent rate (A%) and the excellent rate (AB%), and the students' grades will be divided into five grades: A, B, C, D, and F.
For the GPA required by students applying to study abroad, the college will provide a certificate stating that the evaluation method is based on a hierarchical system.
In addition to Peking University and Tsinghua University, universities such as East China Normal University and ShanghaiTech University have also adopted a hierarchical evaluation system, but at the same time, they have also retained a 100-point system to facilitate the conversion and archiving of grades.
Can college students not need to "roll"?
Before the implementation of the grading system, the School of Life Sciences of Peking University conducted three questionnaire surveys with students, and the results showed that 88% of them supported the trial of the grading system.
Wang Shiqiang, deputy dean of the School of Life Sciences at Peking University, said, "If a course can score more than 85 points, we think that the knowledge mastery is good enough, and there is no need to spend a lot of effort to achieve more than 95 points." "The purpose of the School of Life Sciences to implement a grading system for undergraduates and give up GPA is to leave more time for students to improve their quality, such as listening to some famous lectures, taking some humanities courses, participating in scientific research and social practice, and so on.
Photo/Biology students in the lab. Image source: Peking University newspaper
On the 21st, China Youth Review issued an article saying that of course, some people are worried that the GPA ranking has been canceled, the essence of the university "paper" has not changed, and there will still be students who will work hard for the grade grade. However, replacing the excessively thin grades with "thick lines" has sent a clear signal: there are various directions for becoming talents, and it is not the goal of university training to "roll" scores on one track.
The WeChat official account "Capital Education" mentioned in the article that in fact, whether it is a grade point system, a 100-point system, or other assessment and evaluation systems, it is a kind of "external view", and what is really important is "internal view", which is self-realization and growth.
Photo/Peking University Biology students designed and completed the "If you give specimens a day" script killing game set. Image source: Peking University newspaper
Cancel GPA,
What do you think?
China Youth Daily Comprehensive: Capital Education, Guangming Daily, China Youth Review (Written by Wang Zhong's), etc.