This spring, Kookmin University changed its policy regarding taking courses and the grading system, and some Kookminians have been divided into pros and cons. At the beginning of this spring semester, all students are only allowed to drop courses before the second week of the semester. Before the new policy, they were able to do so in the third or fourth week of courses. In addition, there has been a change in KMU transcripts where some F grades will be shown. These changes have been carried out for half a year so far. About this revision, some students are sensitive because they might get some disadvantages while enrolling in certain recruiting processes. Even students from other colleges have expressed negative thoughts on this. “That would be a big problem if I were in their shoes. Subjects with an F grade are also counted in my school. I am worried that the hiring personnel might frown for a while when he actually see the grade “F”. I hope I don’t, but if I were to get an F even in one subject, I would be driven into a corner when applying for a certain company. The job market has been getting so competitive these days. So in my opinion, the little difference might make a huge difference in getting a job,” said a senior from Chungang University.
However, there are some Kookminians claiming that it is not necessary to be way too upset about this new change. “At the beginning, it was so annoying for me. However, this new rule has driven me to not only be more careful in choosing suitable classes, but also to work harder for a better grade. Therefore, thanks to the school’s new policy, I think I have become more responsible in school matters,” said a Kookminian majoring in Business administration. Surprisingly, as this interviewee said, there have been some students who have taken advantage of the changes. Some others shared similar thoughts as they have experienced a dramatic decrease in the number of the students enrolled in courses just after the withdrawal period. This phenomenon has made some professors to be confused about their role as an educator and some students to be discouraged. This is because the loss of the attendees also affects the chances for students to get an A, since there is a standard and limited proportion for grade distribution. This may be one of KMU’s intentions in changing the grading system and having students manage their own class schedules. However, as we previously discussed, there are seemingly more discontented voices around our campus. Most of the complaining students are those ready for pursuing the start of their careers. Yet, there are also young students with different reasons for being dissatisfied with the new grading and course choosing policy. “Last semester was the most terrible semester I have ever had. In fact, I failed to manage getting good scores in my classes, but especially one of my major courses turned out to be a most bizarre and unacceptable one. This is because there was not a syllabus at all, which made me feel very unsure about the lecture. So, if there was a withdrawal period which could have been my last resort, I would never have had that weird lecture and a really bad score,” said a Kookminian majoring in Advertising.
As you have read, the debate over KMU’s new policy seems very strained. So far, our college presumably wants students to be more responsible for making their own class schedule for the semester and to concentrate on their studying. However, even if all students do just as our school suggested, it will still be inevitable for some of those hard working people to get a poor grade. Furthermore, there are numerous Kookminians and other college students desperate to get jobs as soon as possible due to tough competition in the job market these days. If you were in a school official’s shoes, what would you do for the students?