Herald wrong about plus/minus

That famous phrase essentially sums up the past week’s comments from SGA and the Herald regarding the proposed implementation of the plus/minus system of grade point averaging.?If I weren’t limited to 250 words in this letter, I would give a point-by-point dissection of the Oct. 21 editorial of the Herald as well as the front-page, leading story about SGA’s dissention.?

Several things are erroneous in their reasoning:?(1)?Every major college campus in Kentucky uses the plus/minus grading system except Western, which is opposite the editorial’s statement (editor’s note: the Herald editorial said only that most colleges in general don’t).?(2)?The plus/minus system would doubtfully be additional work on Western instructors, unless the Herald editors believe A+, A, and A- are beyond the quick comprehension of our beloved professors.?(3)?The contention that current students couldn’t be grandfathered in is purely ludicrous, seeing as how the Law School Admission Council already reconfigures a student’s grade point average.?(4)?No self-respecting professor would give a student who made an 89.4% in their class an A.?(5)?An A+ is a 4.0, an A- is a 3.7 – there is a difference of .3 GPA points, rather than the stated “no difference” in the editorial.?And finally, most employers in this region know there is a difference between a Western 3.0 and a University of Kentucky 3.0, because Western rewards those who do “just enough.”?Get mad at the next tuition hike, something we should all be ticked about, rather than actually having to do some work.

Nathaniel Butts

Bowling Green junior

A few more thoughts on Hell House ads

I would like to add my two cents’ worth to the controversy over the Hell House ad.

I support in spirit the student who complained about the ad.

However, I question her word choice. In my experience, fundamentalist evangelicals are often mean-spirited and intolerant, but I would stop just short of applying the word “hate.”

A different writer who defended the Hell House ad and the overall mission of its parent ministry repeatedly used the word “lost” to refer to those people who don’t satisfactorily comply to a presumed set of Christian values. Again I think this is a poor word choice. I am not a Christian but I know exactly where I am and who I am, and resent the implication to the contrary.

Finally, although I fully and wholeheartedly support the separation of church and state, I also support the Herald’s right to publish any and all sorts of advertising regardless of how offensive it might be to my personal values.

Mark Heinz

Nolin Lake sophomore

Plus/minus system is going too far

For starters, whether it may be a 90 percent or a 100 percent, an A is an A. If you object to this being the case you are probably not a current student of Western. The proposed thought of the plus/minus system is supposedly geared toward increasing student effort. What? We’re not giving enough effort as is? Please. There are plenty students who give more than enough effort and still can’t quite reach the 100 percent level. Think of the students who use their time getting involved to help out the university. Think of the students who join as many things as possible because they are told it will help them out in the future. Think of the students who must work two jobs just so they can pay for books, tuition and the clubs they desire to join.

College is about time management and experience. Employers will not be looking at fractions of grades when looking for a deciding factor to hire one person over the next.

The plus/minus system is elementary. It is a way to show a second-grader how to strive to do their best while learning that education is important. We came to college because we knew that education is extremely important in today’s society. Data supposedly shows that the plus/minus system will not cause grade point averages to drastically change. For a student who works exceptionally hard to keep their KEES money coming in every semester, every little .2 matters. Students depend on that extra incentive. The plus/minus system is going to take away from the hard work that students put out each and every day here at Western.

Allyson Vena

Louisville junior