Joan: "What's these stashes of newspapers?"John: "They are the Kendall Brown, Gallaudet's underground newspaper."
Jason: "Why Kendall Brown?"
John: "There were a lot of construction going on at Gallaudet at that time."
Joan: "I read the Buff and Blue, why is there a need for an underground newspaper?"
John: "Kendall Brown is an outlet for us radicals to express our viewpoints without fear of censorship, it's an open forum where we can discuss our opposition to the war in Vietnam, even if we don't have draft cards to burn, generational gap, our drug cultures, environmental issues, to endorse McGovern, anything that is of concerns to us."
Joan: "Radical students were unheard of decades before DPN, but we were there!"
John: "Don't ever think that because we grown up in an Deaf institution, that we are isolated from the rest of the world."
Joan: "I hope that the Gallaudet archives have them."
Jeffrey: "Mom, you married a radical!"
John: "My friend, Smokey, written them and send me copies to encourage my interests in journalism when I was young, he influences my way of thinking, that I admit."
Joan: "That's why I love your Dad, he's so creative."
John: "Let me read one article at random:"
At the end of this semester, you'll probably see many students all over campus comparing each other's grades. It seems to be part of our college tradition around here. I wonder why? There seems to be too much emphasis on grades, rather than what we are learning. If you are in college for the purpose of getting good grades, I suggest you go now to the Dean, and announce your decision to withdraw from college. If you're here to learn, you're in the right place. Please remember this, you're in an Institution of Higher Education, not an Institution of Higher Grades! I certainly hope it's all clear to you all.
Many of us probably didn't realize that there is some differences between the two words: learning and grades. First, learning is a process of how we understand information received from the outside world through our senses. There, of course, many theories and their application made in the field of psychology. I think it's important to understand my definition of learning to avoid any further confusion. Anyway, you would not be able to learn geometry without any background in algebra. Therefore, the theory is that learning is a process where in this case you must understand algebra before you're able to learn geometry.
Secondly, grades are how you've met the instructor's expectations. This is where the problem is, most of our students worries about grades instead of what we've learned. Therefore, grades do not reflect our ability to perform in a position that we're hoping to acquire after graduation. In this situation, motivation is an important factor, not grades. I would support the fact that if your future career choice is related to your major, it will be logical to expect your grades in your major to be higher than those liberal-arts requirements. But still the definition of grades remains the same.
However, we shall look at the values of a liberal-arts education. In our technological society, there is an emphasis on specialization. The prospective employers, probably would be more concerned with what courses you have taken in your major to prepare for the job, the electives are irrelevant. So because of this, I felt the grading system imposed on us should be changed to a system that allows us the opportunity to learn rather than focusing on grades that causes stress. I think that Gallaudet should establish a Pass-Fail system for all liberal-arts requirement as well electives. But the traditional grade system remain on your major which I think are more important that we put all our efforts into. I'm not suggesting that we get rid of the liberal-arts requirements because those courses enabled the students to explore the different fields their interests, in deciding a career, or changing majors.
If the Pass-Fail system is established, it is believed that the dropout rate will be reduced. As a result, there will be a significant increase in our GPA, because we are concentrate more on our majors. I hope the administration will realize the advantages. Of course, it wouldn't be realized until a pilot program is established. But I think the system will greatly reduce apathy which has struck us like a hurricane on campus, because it would enabled us to gain more experience by increasing our participation in activities outside the classrooms. This would aid learning since 60% of our education occurs outside of the classrooms, according to one source. This would be in agreement to the educational philosophy of Mark Twain, a well-known American writer, who once quoted "I never let classroom interferes with my education." It's about time that our minds, the prisoner of our present grading system, be set free. It's about time that learning achieves its rightful place. It's doesn't matter to me now as I'm about to graduate, so I leave the subject open for discussion for those left now. I am finally free!
Jeffrey: "I saw Kendall Oil being sold at a gas station next to Gallaudet so I wonder if..."
Jason: "that Gallaudet once have an oil field with its reserves larger than Saudia Arabia."
John: "If so, maybe they ought to drill there on campus, not in the Alaskan wilds."
Joan: "Kendall was a Postmaster under Lincoln that donated the land."
Revised 5/09/08
This is Smokey, stay tuned for the next episode of Deaf Anthology. Good Night, Deaf America!
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