Recently, the busy bees of the Asbury University student body and alumni have been sharing, signing and passing around an online petition to have Asbury University move their spring 2020 semester to a pass/fail grading system. In most cases this would mean that if your midterm grade is higher than a “C-,” you would receive an automatic pass for that course for this semester, allowing you to either graduate, or continue on in your program.
Upon reading this, I thought “Bet! Sounds like a plan.” But that night, the ghosts of Dr. Kinlaw, Z.T. Johnson and E. Stanley Jones visited me in a dream and smacked me around a little bit. When I came to, they sat me down with Ale-8 in hand and explained to me why this would not be a good decision. I’m not sure if it was the beating or their reasoning, but one way or another, I was convinced. I then took to Twitter and shared a comedic video in protest to the idea of implementing a pass/fail system.
But all jokes aside, I fully stand by the decision to not move Asbury to a pass-fail system for the remainder of the semester.
Between Twitter updates, daily briefings from governors and the president, CDC notifications, CNN, FOX News, your conservative uncle sharing memes about how this is all Obama’s fault or your liberal auntie wanting to storm the White House because the blame lies with the current administration, there is no shortage of bombardment about our current pandemic. It’s everywhere you look. Every app, every store, every channel, every conversation, every group chat is a consistent pelting of discouragement and fear that slowly erodes at the mind.
Now more than ever, we need our minds to be consumed with something other than just this pandemic. We need the Dr. Vicki Bells of the world theorizing great music digests, the Dr. Daniel Straits exhorting great literature and philosophical implications and the Dr. Chris Boundses encouraging us in our faith and theological understanding. We need to be reminded that when this is all over, when the risk is lowered, life will continue on and the things that we love will still be there.
Let us not forget the purpose and educational experience that our liberal arts institution has been committed to providing us since 1890. Asbury’s mission, as stated on its website, “is to provide the best, rigorous education while also continually engaging students’ hearts for God.”
In other words, Asbury is training all parts of their students to be tough as nails. It is within these tough times that a student’s resilience grows. The college experience in itself is that of an educational one, even outside of the classroom. College students are learning budgeting skills, personal ethics, spiritual gains and losses, grief management, socializing with peers and professionals, and — most importantly — how to adapt, grit your teeth and work toward the things that make all of the hard work worth it.
To take away this time for many students to learn to communicate and do work in an online format would be to step away from the purpose that the university is committed to achieving. Whether you know it or not, the world will be forever changed by this pandemic. Businesses, employers and institutions of the future will not soon forget the great impact that these trying times have had. Rest assured, this most likely won’t be the only time in your life you’re asked to work from home.
There are other reasons, addressed by Provost Dr. Timothy Wooster in a campus-wide email, that students can reference as to some of the more academic and administrative arguments. There is equally strong reasoning financially for why pass/fail would not be a reasonable option.
However, there is always the opposing, practical argument that not all students are in the same boat — there are differences in equipment, internet access, time zones, health and job schedules. For special cases and circumstances, I am positive that both professors and administration will work case by case to ensure a mutual agreement to help support students at home and in their education.
This is Asbury University; have a little faith that you are, in fact, not just a number at a much larger school that is passing blanketed policy over thousands. This pandemic is affecting your professors too. I have confidence that in the cases that some students might need a pass/fail setup, the administration will make the right choice and always err on the side of grace.
Also, it appears no one has pointed to the very large elephant in the room, which is this: Regardless of what’s going on in the world right now, you’ll still need to know the information that you’re learning this semester. It is not worth potentially stunting students’ growth as both academics and leaders by throwing in the towel because grading an online format by the full scale is too difficult.
Asbury, I believe in us. I believe in our student body to be able to adapt. I believe (most of) our professors will figure out the challenges of technology. I believe that we’ll finish out this semester strong. To those graduating, we pray a special blessing over you, that as you leave our sweet community, you will never forget that you’ll always be an Asburian. To those returning, finishing out this semester online will strengthen our community and allow our time in the future to be even sweeter.
