It's so strange - another classmate of mine, who is a much more experienced teacher and who has actually won teaching awards, told me today that he has had large numbers of withdrawals from his class. Today is the deadline, and so a lot of kids are coming in under the wire trying to withdraw. I only had two withdrawals, but I did have a large number drop the class after the first day. And I'm not alone - the same thing happened to another student teacher friend of mine. So I don't think it's just something unique about my class. It seems more general, although that's just based on my limited perspective. Some people have speculated that the HOPE scholarship - which pays a Georgia resident's full tuition if they maintain a 3.0 GPA - could be driving some things like this. As students realize they may not get a B, or even an A, in the class, they face incentives to drop the course. They also speculate that the HOPE scholarship has resulted in increased enrollments in "softer" subjects where a 3.0 in more ensured, and has led to a drain from the harder subjects, like engineering, mathematics, physics, etc. where it is much more difficult to maintain a 3.0. Yet, from the perspective of Georgia as an economy, and the nation as a whole, if this is true, then it represents a subsidization of liberal arts. And while I love the liberal arts, it's not clear to me whether it's better for the economy for there to be less investment in science and technology at the human capital level.
Of course, I could just be rationalizing the fact that I am not a good teacher.
Posted by scott at March 5, 2004 09:05 AM | TrackBackHey careful there Scoot your treading onto one of my HOPE papers. Since it is the cottage industry of our deparment I have like 2 or 3 ideas for papers based on Cornwell and Mustards work. One is looking if the HOPE causes a misallocation of Human Capital Investment.
Posted by: Robi at March 5, 2004 01:10 PMOur department a couple of years ago forced a distribution in all classes: 2.4 for lower division, and 2.7 for upper division. If all departments maintained this standard, it would be much more difficult for students to shirk the GPA requirement (though the material might still be easier in some fields). It is funny though, how difficult it is to get it out of the students minds that is does not matter how much easier the other class, or other professor's students had it, or that might even be advantage to some of them, especially the ones that bother to go to class by spreading out the distribution. I was skeptical at first, but I think it is a brilliant idea--there is no grade padding now, and an A really means something.
Posted by: Matthew at March 5, 2004 02:33 PMI was a graduate student teaching at UGA when the HOPE went into effect. The impact was almost immediate, with students dropping classes or (worse yet) coming at the end of what was then the quarter to barter for higher grades - with the HOPE as the excuse. At the time there was no grace period after falling below minimum GPA requirements - which I think exists now.
As a young, budding economist I claimed that I was most likely not the marginal course - that is there was some other course that they did poorly in - and five students (over the course of a year and a half) actually proved to me that my class was the marginal course. This proved to me that students were less than fully capable of recognizing risk or they overestimated my sympathy.
The HOPE has all sorts of moral hazard problems, but in the end you will not want to reduce your standards as a teacher (as mentioned by Matthew). Actually, having a reputation for being "hard" will insure that you get self-selected students. This is good during your first tenure-track job in that it will reduce your office hours burden, but be sure not to kill classes or you might lose your first tenure-track job :-)
Posted by: Craig at March 6, 2004 12:34 AM