Encouraging intellectual exploration on campus

As I start the second semester of my junior year, with 29 classes now accounted for and six left for senior year, I do have regrets about how I have handled my Princeton education.When my summer job applications ask me to discuss my transcript and explain my course selection, I can't help but notice that, with the exception of my freshman fall, I never really experimented with classes or explored a subject that was completely foreign to me.

While this is slightly disheartening, I am comforted by the fact that the two bolded numbers we are all required to report on resumes, job interviews and law school applications are ultimately more important in these selection processes than my having taken a class in statistics. Is this, however, the attitude that Princeton should be fostering among its students? As we enter a new era of Princeton grading policies, with the ever-elusive A now that much more unattainable, there is a concern that the importance of grades may slowly begin to supercede the importance of a diverse education.

The student body is constantly being reassured by Dean Malkiel that the outside world of jobs and graduate schools will understand the new grading policies. But to assume that the Princeton student body, a group of students who have for so long prided themselves on academic perfection, will peacefully settle for anything less is simply naïve. The University should be concerned that, with the increased emphasis on grades, students will be less inclined to take risks and experiment with a different subject matter out of fear of ruining their GPAs. If the University is really going to reform grading policies it needs to change the culture of grades at Princeton, so that the importance of a strong GPA does not transcend the importance of a diverse Princeton education.

What I propose is something similar to what Johns Hopkins University does with regard to freshman fall: have what are called "covered" grades. During freshman fall a student receives a letter grade for each class he or she takes, but these grades are solely for internal records and are not distributed to graduate schools or calculated into the GPA without the consent of the student. And while each transcript only contains a Pass or Fail letter for these classes, students can still be placed on academic probation or the Deans List in light of their performance — an incentive not to blow off the semester.

While this strategy does put an enormous amount of faith in new college freshmen's ability to resist the urge to constantly party, it ultimately allows students to get adjusted to a new academic environment without the pressure of building or maintaining a certain GPA. Just as importantly, however, it allows them to take courses that they might not otherwise have taken out of fear of the unknown. As the Johns Hopkins academic handbook argues, this policy allows you to explore and find out that, "you may dislike classes you liked in high school — or you might like ones you hated. You may discover activities and subjects that you didn't know existed."

As I now mail out my transcript with countless job applications, I can't help but be annoyed that my worst semester, by far, at Princeton was my freshman fall. I came into the academic life of Princeton eager to experiment with courses and subject matter I had never taken before, and ultimately suffered as a result. My freshman spring, determined not to make the same mistakes, I receded into the comfort of courses that had been a constant part of my high school education.

While the PDF option does in principle try to compensate for this very concern, PDFs cannot all be used freshman year as a means to become adjusted to the academic rigors of Princeton life. Having "covered" grades for the freshman fall would not only benefit students academically and socially but would further heighten the strength of a Princeton education by encouraging students to explore subjects that, with their GPA in mind, they would otherwise have been disinclined to take. Chris Berger is a history major from London. He can be reached at cberger@princeton.edu.