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| DOUGLAS COLLEGE

aReuniéee LY Noe Nai,

 

 

 

 

A NEW OPTION TO FAILURE

One of my students left the examination room just before Christmas with only the following note

on his answer paper: "Having ignored this subject for the past few weeks, I sit here in the harsh
glare of reality being unable to and indeed, not having the heart to write this examination." This
particular student has some rather noble ambitions as to what he wants to do once hehas completed his
education but is being held back by his inability to pass the preparatory courses in mathematics.
Other students have approached me in the past week and have seriously suggested that 1 give them

a passing grade because they are being held back from studying the really interesting higher level

courses in other disciplines.

It occurred to me that, in requiring them to pass certain standards in mathematics, I was exercising
a form of censorship on the possible career choices the student could make. In light of the public
outcry against any form of censorship in areas such as the media in particular and moral choices

in general, why should we, as instructors in this college (or any other college for that matter), be
allowed to continue our own form of discrimination against students on the basis of their academic
qualifications? ls there not some inconsistency in teaching a student in philosophy that there are
no absolute standards and then grade that student's performance in that same course and absolutely
deny credit to the student if he has not met the standards set by the instructor? We have freed
ourselves up to the point where we can commit adultery without public censure but we still get
hung up on dangling participles and misspelled words in an English essay. Individuals who take
their chosen lifestyle for granted for some strange reason become incensed when they detect a
grammatical error in the Mad Hatter. If we are pro-choice in one area of our society why should
we continue to stand in the way of persons and their chosen professions through the application of
arbitrary standards? Consistency would require us to drop all forms of examinations. The students
who approached me to arbitrarily up-grade their marks have begun to see through the facade even
if we haven't. The lessons of relative values learned from moral philosophy can and should be

applied in all areas of our society.

Al Harms