 | The Cavalier daily Friday, April 13, 1973 |  |
First-Yearmen Prove Superiority By 4.0 G.P.A.
A full 100 per cent of the
first-year College class had 4.0
averages for the first semester:
an unprecedented achievement,
College Dean Irby B. Cauthen
told the Faculty Senate
yesterday.
"This clearly shows the
University's entering class is
better then ever before," Mr.
Cauthen told the faculty.
The perfect achievement
does not mean that courses are
too easy or that professors are
too lax, he hastened to add.
"Grades are an absolute
measurement, certainly not a
relative one," he said.
University officials have
long used upward-creeping
grade averages as a continuing
indicator of the year-to-year
improvement of the first-year
class.
Mr. Cauthen declined to
comment on rumors that the
higher grades were the result of
easier grading by the
professors, or that students are
less willing to tackle difficult
courses.
"These are just rumors. We
have not encouraged
students to expect at least a
B," he declared. "Besides, with
today's rising standard of
living, an A or a B has clearly
replaced a C as the general
opinion of what is average."
Pressed for explanation of
what one reporter termed a
"contradiction", Mr. Cauthen
refused to elaborate.
"Just look at the record,
boys," he said, 'Our students
are getting higher grades, so
they must be smarter. And if
they're smarter, they deserve
higher grades. So where's the
contradiction?"
| The Cavalier daily Friday, April 13, 1973 | |