Pass or Fail at Yale

After a year-long study, the faculty of Yale's undergraduate college last week voted to drop its present 40-to-100 numerical grading (60 is passing). Starting immediately professors instead will give one of four possible scores: fail, pass, high pass or honors. While many schools now give students a choice of taking a few courses on a pass-or-fail basis, Yale is the nation's first major university to abandon specific grading for undergraduate courses.

Yale's action reflects a widespread dissatisfaction over trying to apply numbers, or letters with pluses and minuses, to something as inexact as student performance. Explained Professor William Kessen, chairman of the committee that recommended the changes: "Whether a man gets a 72 or a 74 just doesn't reflect his performance, his knowledge, or anything." The new system, however, presents Yale students with one potential problem: in competing for entrance to graduate schools, they will have neither class rankings, nor point averages to present, will have to depend heavily on faculty recommendations and interviews.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.