SINGAPORE - A professor's attempt to give all his students an A grade has received an F.

The Singapore Management University (SMU) had to review the grades for a module taken by 169 business students, most in their final year, after it found out that the lecturer, Professor Stefano Harney, had given all of them an A grade with the same numerical score.

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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/educ...-all-of-his-169

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SINGAPORE -A professor's attempt to give all his students an A grade, has received an F.
The Singapore Management University (SMU) had to review the grades for a module taken by 169 business students, most in their final year, after it found out that the lecturer, Professor Stefano Harney, had given all of them an A grade with the same numerical score. SMU, which had described the grades as "bogus", told The Straits Times on Friday (May 24) that this was the first time this had happened. "The university has in place strict protocols with regard to grading and takes a serious view when protocols are not adhered to," the spokesman added.
But Prof Harney defended himself. The Canadian, who was informed in April before the incident that his contract would not be renewed, told ST he wanted to spare students the pressure to achieve high grades and did not want to "artificially" restrict the number of As through a bell curve. Given that he was due to leave the school on June 30, this gave him "the opportunity to teach the course and grade it in the way I thought would be best pedagogically, without fearing the consequences from the school".
The 57-year-old, who graduated from Harvard and has a doctorate from Cambridge, has been at SMU since 2012 and is the professor of strategic management at its Lee Kong Chian School of Business. He taught and graded a module called The Capstone: Studying Business Through the Classics, which involved two essays which made up 40 per cent, and a video project which made up the rest of the grade. Generally offered in the fourth year, the module helps students see connections between humanities, for instance works by Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, and business.
But when students across his four classes got their grades earlier this month, the grade for Prof Harney's module was missing. A few days later, SMU notified them it was recalculating their grades. A senior professor who "taught the same version of capstone right from the very start" was called in to help with the re-grading.
SMU associate dean (undergraduate programmes) Michelle Lee explained in an e-mail to students: "There is no variation to the scores he (Harney) assigned, even though the variation in work submitted is plain to see."
Each student could choose whether to keep the adjusted grade or have "pass" reflected on the transcript. The latter option would not impact their grade point average. SMU would not reveal to The Straits Times how many students got a grade lower than the initial A.
The SMU spokesman said that while the university does not use a bell curve, there are guidelines for faculty members to refer to when grading. This is to ensure "fairness and consistency".
Prof Harney said the guidelines "are really rules - that no matter how many students do well, the number of As is strictly limited to a third of the class". And "artificially restricting their grades on a bell curve" was not his style of teaching, he added.
"These are fake ways to make your course seem serious. The real way is through deep engagement with the materials, ideas, and ourselves."
SMU students ST spoke to said he was well-liked and was known to be "chill", or laid back. A 23-year-old student who declined to be named said: "In the first class we attended, Prof Harney said he believes that all students should be able to get an A if they put in hard work, and he feels that it shouldn't be a competition."
The undergraduate was given a B+ after the adjustment, and chose to retain the grade.

This post has been edited by iSean: May 24 2019, 10:37 PM

His students must had serviced him really well for that to happen

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Smu low standard. My uni lecturer will only give b+ max to limit the 'A' student. Only less than 5% in my course get A only.

fixed

He must have piap so many girls and boys to be that happy.

Typical angmo expat, lazy to grade just give everyone A's

>> Last sem teaching, contract ended no renewal.
>> Most likely give students his blessings before departure.
>> Possible F u to uni for not renewing his contract.

Silly because when you apply for positions/scholarships--you will lose out to easy universities

Graduated from Harvard and doctorate from Cambridge can also be like that

Bell curves are wayyy overrated

lelz, katak betui... smu is an elitist school in singkie land, even more highly perceived than nus or ntu... their fresh grad probably makes more than your whole family combined

Converted from SGD to MYR. of coz.
But still not Top 10 QS Ranking

Prof Harney said the guidelines "are really rules - that no matter how many students do well, the number of As is strictly limited to a third of the class". And "artificially restricting their grades on a bell curve" was not his style of teaching, he added.

LEL .. ada kuota A rupanya
Lai lai lai.. come yell meritocracy .. come come

Duh


If everyone get A then A is just new C

some lecturers inspire you to study, others inspire you to ponteng.

so is insead

My family business is earn more than 20k per month. Based on your post u must be never went to a uni before kek. Probably a fat loser in real life based on your username lel.

Must be lazy to mark, straight give all same score/grade.

hahaha, good good.. .hope that gives u and ur family comfort... here's a cookie for u (@)