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 (@)

Kesian whole family business make less than fresh grad ibd analyst from smu

Lol someone’s tercabar have to call in daddy’s credit card to help

I've been in a programme with a bell curve. Sure, it would mean out of 14 people in my class, only one qualifies as outstanding.

It also meant one of us WILL flunk each semester.

Ka si chan la macha

U is from smu study ibd? If not you are just some old uncle who likes to talk cock only. Probably have a misarable life so come here to talk shit to others.

His protest against the bell curve is valid

But to give them all the same score is stupid

He deserves to be misunderstood

Kesian bodoh tak faham maksud bell curve

Memanglah meritocracy, bengap, yang terbaik dapat A, yang terburuk dapat C

Ni lah hasil budaya tongkat ni, camne nak maju, otak kat lutut sebab tu kena pakai tongkat

So if all bodo, the best bodo will be guaranteed an A?

Get A gooding ma, in the end also work for C student.

I'm very sure azhan82 understands bell curve. He was merely quoting one part and then giving his 2 singkie cents worth of sarcasm I think. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows

This post has been edited by hotjake: May 25 2019, 12:10 AM

But then Architecture course, I thought normal to flunk papers?
Or my IPTS Department like failing students.

Heard they need to resit a couple of papers each year. And students literally sleep in Studio.

its a canadian thing lor....

He wants to let people know that there's no point competing

Work hard together better

My masters was in Virtual Env. Basically computer science with a dose of design.

But yes, it's very normal to flunk architecture. We hold the record of the worst performing programme when it comes to graduating on time

Bell curve is the worst thing to happen because I need to give my bad students an 'A' grade

He's just a racist fucking idiot that's all

lol business school

TIL uni grading also bell curved

what the fuck

Bell curve practice is damn stupid

Must give Singaporeans and International Students that there is Quotas in Life that people that need to work hard to achieve an A.
This is not a tongkat quota

The principles of the Gaussian distribution (bell shape curve) is valid only if n reaches a suitable size, and actually represent the general population....

In a cohort of a few students, it is never representative of the general population, and while ploting marks may get a similar curve, it will be a skewed curve.... therefore using it to assign grades becomes arbitrary....

So if this lecturer's cohort actually lies, say on the upper 2SD if a population curve, and he thinks they deserve an A grade, that's not wrong.....

In other words, if his students are all A students, what's wrong with giving them all the A grade accordingly?

A curve is stupid because every year the students can be different.

If Lee Chong Wei playing years at peak was to have 20 players of Lin Dan's capability. LCW work rank and performance might be affected.

For a particular good year - a good student might not get an A while
for a bad year - an average student might get an A.

So both were to compete for a job (at least for first filter before interview) - that good student might not get a chance for interview.
Of course both will still get the interview - but chances might be lesser.
In term of bragging right - that would be unfair, haha.

Yup

Same applies to employee performance appraisal which is most commonly on a bell curve

But this is nothing new, and everybody accepts the pros and cons of the method

He want to protest, it is his right, and I sympathise with his protest, but his method of doing it is utterly irresponsible, and a disservice to all the students in his class

Padan muka kena public reprimand

P.S. and whatever some jerkoffs may say, it is still a meritocratic process, the grades are given based on ability, nobody is being elevated because of bright future or tongkat or correct skin colour

Why *is* u so triggered?

This is standardised testing for u. Fact is that once u come out werk in non high lvl stem fields noone going to care ur greds

He is fighting d good fightin increase awareness of one of d systems flaws. Even if student deserve A they r artificially held back to maintain uni reputation. This is most true these day when errbody can has paper degree. Uni act like cartel n restrict no. Of A given out to inflate d value.

Eduation is zillion dollar industry so ofc d uni quick to act to maintain "high STDs". Watajoke.

come i give you A. Virtual university.

How many A u want i also give, scare you no money only

I was told stories that lecturers at your place were instructed to regrade student marks based on bell curve. That happened many years ago.

A is for angmoh. He'll be hailed a hero in local unis here. By the time his action discovered after audit..probably 10 yrs hv pass.

This post has been edited by alanyuppie: May 25 2019, 10:34 AM

cukur ada tongkat

owai

itu scientific publish ISI thompson SCI index say one.....when large sample, confirm bell curve...or u no believe?

Lulz seems like he trying to critique bell curve but epicly fail at the execution.

Fuwah Singapore also got quota man! Let's follow!

Well he, you and others are correct to point out that the system is flawed. But that's the nature of things. There are pros and cons to everything. At this point, despite the cons, bell curve is the best possible method known to mankind, all said and done. Which is why it is also the most used method in employee performance appraisal.

But the way he protest in the end only brings disappointment to his class. He is just making a public protest which has no hope of success, and in the process his students' grades are delayed and they have to go through re-marking, there is emotional disappointment, etc.

Meanwhile he isn’t affected because he is leaving anyway and doesn’t care any more. And obviously he knows his future prospects are not affected by this stunt, that’s why he dares to do it. Plus he gets famous as the Great Rebel, the one who dares to speak up, and he gets the praise for it… at the expense of everyone else of course. Which is super selfish of him because he is the only winner in this story and everyone else is the loser.

Including his students he supposedly "cares" for.

In reality they are sacrificed so that he can get a cheap shot at glory.

This post has been edited by KLthinker91: May 25 2019, 11:00 AM

Lol

Orang meritocratic tak nak ikut, orang tongkat mau ikut

This is nothing to do with tongkat or quota, jangan ingat dunia ni bodoh, malas dan tamak macam Malaysians

Meritocracy is racist!! Capitalism is racist!!!

Let's go with socialism, Communism or feudalism! Those are the best systems there is, look at how awesome Russia and China has become because of Communism!

^ lol bodoh Resmi Dutt whatever. Sounds like those fat feminists who anti "shaming" because they weigh 200kg

Ironically we are basically a socialist country

We have all the hallmarks of a Communist system but Malaysia style, that is justified with religion

This post has been edited by KLthinker91: May 25 2019, 11:27 AM

We're a capitalist country la, govt has to spend money to acquire companies that eventually becomes GLC, not GCs. that's why we're so racist.

In a Communist country, the Govt runs the economy via it's GLCs. Economy is mainly decided by Govt decisions which industry to invest in, and the leaders of the industry are usually GLCs. There are few major 100% private players in the market.

Sound very familiar?

Unlike a capitalist country where a Govt has a more hands off approach, of course it does have policies which nudge the country one way or another, but it would not have such a major direct hand in investment etc.

In commie country, govt OWNS the company, not link with company. The only way for govt not to own the company is if you jilat some commie leaders didi, give him a shitload of under table money, and maybe even allow them to tiap your wife then you get to own your own company.

agree with prof as student shud all deserve A. same goes when grading subordinate yearly kpi. which translate into increment and bonuses.

and there are quotas to met with company financial situations.

these grading is really difficult bcoz basically some families survival depends on few hands which are not theirs.

All of which is very familiar too no?

Our Govt does have significant holdings through MOF. Who controls (or at least is the dominant player) in the rice industry? Agriculture? Car? Heavy engineering? Defence? Telecoms? Not to mention the obvious - petroleum.

Not really a standard bell curve. A weird curve the president championed.
Max 15-20% below 40 marks, depending on the subject.
Average marks 55-65.
Standard deviation between 8-12.

Re-mark until you hit the stats.

For the SMU guy, I think it's the lecturer's prerogative if he feels all students deserve an A, but if they all get the same marks then it probably means he wasn't doing his job. Show proof of marking and the grading scheme.

my uni did this.. no mater how good u are.. only 3 guys will get A.. the curve graph curse..

Macam mana boleh lepas at UEC and also senate, this 1 mesti vetting not properly after result release then kelam kabut re-grade balik.

LEL triggered

Look at yourself with all the hatred.

It's not hate, it's love

I love my country and don't want to see it hurt, so I speak out and point out practices which destroy it

Some supposedly patriotic people only think of their own profit, so keep asking for tongkat

Govt dipping its finger into some industries does not make it a socialist economy. Most businesses are privately owned. You're making the mistake of thinking the exception is the rule, it is not. E.g: just because there's Obamacare does not mean the US is a socialist country. Get it?

Sure

But the question of whether an entity is capitalism vs socialism is not absolute; it is measured in degrees. A capitalist market is not 100% free, nor is a socialist market 100% command

Even the USSR at the very height of Communism obviously had some small degree of capitalism - there was still a system of buying and selling and investment in small mom and pop businesses

And even the USA, arguably world leader in free market capitalism, has some Govt owned businesses such as the infamous Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and the US Post

And social welfare support of all types is socialist in nature. The more social welfare is provided by the Govt (paid for by taxes), the more socialist it is. See for example the famous Scandinavian country model.

So where does Malaysia lean to?

In terms of economy, well the Msian Govt is the single largest shareholder in Malaysia. It is a monopoly or effective market leader in several industries which I highlighted above. Through tight fiscal and regulatory policy it dictates who the players are and very strongly influences movement. It is not merely "dipping a finger" at all.

Plus of course for nearly all of Malaysia's history we have pursued a national policy of transferring wealth from the perceived rich to the perceived poor. Exactly as dreamed of in the Manifesto.

In this regard we are quite strongly a socialist country.

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries...list-countries/

See for yourself.

I think LSE and LBS also outside of the top 10 right?

"the module helps students see connections between humanities, for instance works by Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, and business."

The professor's method of implementing what he's teaching in class may have gone a bit sideways. But his reasoning is quite sound though. If they follow the bell curve, it's quite unfair to students who worked as hard as their peers but slightly came up short in the exam grade. It's SMU students, so they can actually be confident that the students aren't actually slacking and have put in the effort to obtain their grades. Knowing that all the students worked hard for their grades would justify giving the students an A in a way.

The only issue is that if this was implemented in society as a whole, it'll fail as history showed because some people would benefit from the hard work of others. Which would then reduce the incentive of the hard workers to keep working hard. Textbook microeconomics.

Bell curve is obsolete

Most big companies in the world already removed bell curve from their KPI scoring

This is where intuition triumphs statistics. Kahneman has a chapter on that.

Actually what stops the Harvard professors from giving A to the whole world? Like that everyone happy ma. One class only mana cukup?

A source must be reputable. Ideally it should also show how it derives the information.

What measurement is this ranking based on? Don't know

Who is "world population review"? Don't know

What makes this website more trustworthy than any Tan Din and Harith? Don't know

This post has been edited by KLthinker91: May 25 2019, 06:08 PM

Oddly enough, your only source is you.

Bell curve is fuckong stupid, same with KPI

This happened once to me at my university..

The lecturer, who was also the dean of my faculty messed up a 40 mark question making it unsolvable.. so everyone had to redo the test and everyone passed because everyone just studied the last question again. From what would have been a B grade, I received a near 100%.

Lol.

This post has been edited by Liamness: May 25 2019, 08:04 PM

So what your sources then if you disrepute ppl source credibility ?

Your opinion that just because the gov dip their hand on the market make us 'socialism' bit far fetch when SG gov which Temasek have bigger dip is considered 'capitalist' by everyone

And MY ranking in the usual top 20 trading nation and ease of business means we actually hovering towards capitalism instead






Source : 2019 economic freedom index

Ok good argument. U has convince me of his selfishing. Good effort. Thx