Time to Abolish "3rd Class Honors" Degrees
Okey Iheduru
 SINGAPORE Top university calls time on ‘third-class’ degrees Yojana Sharma 14 October 2017 World University World News, Issue No:478 |
All undergraduates – except those studying medicine – graduating from NTU after January 2018 will no longer get first, upper second, lower second or third class degree classifications which is the norm in Britain and many Commonwealth countries; instead they will switch to classifications more common in the United States, and eliminate third-class honours degrees altogether.
Unlike the US system where specialisation occurs much later, undergraduate honours degrees are normally awarded to students completing a three-year university course in a specialised discipline with three- or four-year general degrees known simply as bachelor degrees without the honours tag.
The problem is that the lower level non-honours degree awarded with merit often sounded better than a third-class honours degree.
According to a communication to students this month from NTU’s Deputy Provost for Education, Kam Chan Hin, the new nomenclature is meant to "reflect the rising quality of student intake over the years" and would “better reflect and recognise the academic accomplishments of our graduates in an increasingly competitive global employment market”.
The current First-Class Honours will be known as Honours (Highest Distinction), Second-Class (Upper) Honours as Honours (Distinction), and Second-Class (Lower) Honours as Honours (Merit). A Third-Class Honours or a Pass with Merit will become Honours.
The change-over all but acknowledges the stigma currently associated with third-class degrees – an issue that has surfaced in other countries using the same classification system. But the much more complex issue of maintaining quality by changing the grade boundaries has been avoided.
The university said the academic standards and cumulative grade point average scores required to achieve each degree classification will not change.
“This is a small step towards breaking the decades of prejudice against those awarded a lower class of honours degree,” Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper said in an editorial on 12 October. “This former classification did have a negative impact, especially when a student sought to apply to other institutions for further studies.”
The National University of Singapore or NUS had already announced a similar change in 2014 – despite some opposition in academic circles – saying it wanted to “better recognise” its students’ academic successes. The first NUS students graduated with the new style classifications last year.
Tan Eng Chye, deputy president for academic affairs at NUS, who championed the change-over at that university told University World News: “Students who have gone to [study] honours [degrees] are really the cream of our students. To say that they are second class or third class does not sound nice, and that’s why we changed the names.”
Students hide their degree class
In applications and printed visiting cards which often include qualifications, “many students try to hide if they are second class (lower) or third class lower”, leaving off the classification entirely, he said.
The change was “a sensible thing to do; we do not have to stick to old practices”, Tan said, referring to the previous system stemming from the British colonial era. “But we did not change the standards at all. The standards are still based on the GPA [grade point average].”
He added the full transcripts that indicate how well a student has done are available. “Your degree should provide more information to employers and that is what we tried to do.”
But Singapore Management University or SMU said it was not intending to make a similar change, away from using Latin classifications common in US universities such as Harvard and Yale.
“We use an established system which is well familiar in the US and very familiar here,” says Lily Kong, provost of SMU, referring to summa cum laude and magna cum laude distinctions adopted by SMU since 2000.
Other Singaporean universities are sticking to the old British-style classification system, which includes the third-class honours degree.
With public-funded universities in Singapore now adopting different nomenclature in issuing degrees, some academics have suggested there may be confusion when students apply for postgraduate studies abroad. Kong defended the universities’ different approaches. Singapore has had at least two systems for at least 17 years when SMU began to use Latin nomenclature, she said.
Other countries, including the UK, have debated scrapping the third-class degree, in part because ‘grade inflation’, allowing two-thirds or more students to be awarded upper-second and first-class degrees, have meant that those awarded lower-second and third-class degrees feel particularly disadvantaged in the competition for jobs compared to the past when first-class degrees were much rarer.
Cornelius Hamelberg
I agree with Professor Iheduru in part and with the Singaporean authorities completely - although if all the third class degrees in whatever were to be scrapped forever - and that includes retroactively, some poor sods would suddenly be without their precious, highly coveted degree parchments, some of which are framed, some even worshiped as idols and decorated with garlands of flowers and perfumes around the frames and on which basis some of them have consistently discriminated against the “non-degree holders” . I’m afraid that in some places, should some men be parted from such degrees, it could lead to mass suicides.
As you may or may not know, colonialism succeeded very well, over there to the extent that I daresay without any prejudice whatsoever other than good judgment, that my impression is that most of the Singaporeans that I have met are very British, summa cum laude and magna cum laude. ( I was going to get a job there sometime after returning from Nigeria, went to a recruitment lunch at Gondolen , the chosen restaurant , which is located at highest point in Stockholm and commands a beautiful view of our city. What struck me most about our hosts was their body language , especially the body language and polite mannerisms that went with their English language, so very British ( in contrast with e.g French or Nigerian gesticulations or laid back reservation, reservedness , when unsure or feeling insecure with the knife and fork or soup spoon or in some cases, chopsticks.
Why Singapore? Because I’m impressed by them and the transformative leadership of their great man, Lee Kuan Yew , and without the stimulus from his type of thinking those universities in Singapore would not be making the kinds of adjustments that they are making today. I am especially impressed when you consider what we have been told time without number, that Sierra Leone and Singapore were at “ the same level of development at around 1958”. Well, just look at Singapore today and without long apologies and explanations about transfers of technology and the Confucian ethic etc compare today’s Singapore with Graham Greene’s Soup-Sweet Land
As you have already pointed out, the grading of degrees varies slightly from university to university.
I suppose that the more exact sciences such as maths, chemistry, physics can be assessed with greater precision?
A whole lot of Conservative MPs have distinguished themselves with firsts in PPE and Michael Crowder for example headed the Institute of African Studies at Ife with just that ( and some quality research and books in his portfolio)
A third class in anything, anywhere, I assume including anywhere in Nigeria is certainly a poor grade (as would be a third class in Theology or English from Oxford University for example) and as you say, probably the equivalent of no degree at all.
As was said of our Shakespeare, he knew little Latin and less Greek
A new theory of relativity in the making here Sir : About national standards or nationalising standards, consider some possible drop from whatever you may want to tout as a reasonable universal standard - even if you want to promote Trump’s “ make America GReat Again” system as your most desired standard. And you know why we have to compare: because entry requirements to postgraduate studies also vary from place to place.
Consider/ reconsider: A first class honours in English from Nsukka is possibly not necessarily always on par with a first class honours or a first first from Oxford/ Cambridge (and in any given year, scores of people are awarded firsts - nine papers taken into consideration, that kind of quality in all nine. I’m told by more that one such person that at Oxford/Cambridge, along with donning academic robes etc there is a certain transmission of culture that’s part of the university breeding , a certain degree of acculturation, you know what I mean. There are some people who have a string of degrees which they wag behind them like a long, supposed to be elegant tail and yet can be quite dull and boorish personalities who don’t even know how to boast in a “civilised” way
Professor, what do you think about all the above nonsense?
Assensoh, Akwasi B.
Brother Okey:
Thank you very much for the important educational news! Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) news is both refreshing and welcome. Hopefully, Africa-based universities will start a re-examination of their degree-awarding processes and, as Spike
Lee would say, "do the right thing"! I totally agree that our universities back home are as good as many overseas universities, but there is need to do something drastic about some of the colonial educational relics inherited from the time of colonialism!
In fact, I know a young man from an African university on the continent, who was penalized because he beat his Mathematics Department Head in a game of Checkers (called "Dame" in some places in Ghana). The department head (a well-known guru in the game of Checkers)
was easily beaten by the young man in a campus game watched by the entire department. Therefore, the Head of Department made sure that the second-year student eventually received a B.Sc. (or B.S.) degree in mathematics, with Second Class Lower degree designation.
As a result, he was turned down by the department when he applied to do his postgraduate (or graduate) studies in Mathematics. Originally, the young man had provisionally or tentatively been rated to graduate with either a Second Class, Upper (or even a tentative First
class) degree in mathematics.
"I will show you where power lies," his Head of Department threatened the student after the widely-watched checkers' game in the department.
Out of anger, some of us in the U.S. heard about the incident. Therefore, we got the young man accepted at a major U.S. university, with a full scholarship, to come and "repeat" the mathematics degree. Upon his arrival, he was so good in his first year that,
by his second year, he had already been appointed a Teaching Assistant (T.A.) in mathematics. He graduated in three years from the B.S. (or B.Sc.) degree program in mathematics, summer cum laude; also, he did receive an accolade (i.e. a medallion)
from the U.S. Actuary Science organization due to his superior performance in mathematics, etc. Then, in less than 3-4 years later, he earned his Ph.D. in mathematics! He is a tenured Associate Professor now! This is what will make my Hausa brothers and sisters
exclaim, "Haba"!!
A.B. Assensoh.
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2017 4:01 PM
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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Time to Abolish "3rd Class Honors" Degrees
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Dear Wofa Akwasi ,
Long time no hear , long time no see
But, appealing to your unfailing sense of humour (Baba Ijebu) please excuse my butting in here and doing the right thing thereby, you know, as a “struggling black man trying to keep my dick hard in a cruel and harsh world”.
First of all I should readily agree with you as I usually do, albeit this time, with your perception slightly re-worded and qualified this time by a rather pedantic me, that it’s only SOME but not all - NOT ALL “our universities back home are as good as many overseas universities”
You must agree that you give a totally wrong impression when you say that you “ totally agree” with Professor Iheduru who himself never stated in as many words, that “our universities back home are as good as many overseas universities”
Be that as it may, but what’s this about the head of the Maths Dept. in one of Africa’s great universities penalizing one of his brightest students for publicly thrashing him at a game of draughts ?
( BTW , no draughts champion am I but in the early days, I was taught the game and spent long hours at it, playing against nightwatchmen, some expert students and neighbours in Ahoada among other places.). First of all, I don’t think that any head of Dept would be so mean-spirited because he was publicly humiliated by one of his students at a mere game of chess, although I must confess that there could be some who could deliver the most unkindest cut of all - even murder if he were to discover that the unfortunate student had been screwing the living daylights out of his his wife or his favourite campus mistress, when he was not around. Heaven help us all ! With his mere pen, it would be time to take out his machete on that student's upper and lower head not to mentions that the poor student’s examination papers would also be at his mercy and there he would fuck him up good and proper if he could - I don’t know if you would, but thank God - there are also external examiners. Of course when it comes to professional male predators ( professors and lecturers) on Nigerian campuses - as has been discussed in this forum., in such power relationships, female students are liable to submit or fare a lot worse…. sad...
In my not so humble opinion , that’s the wonderful thing about grading some of the more exact sciences such as mathematics: not much can go wrong, unlike some other subjects such as philosophy, English Literature - poetry - even history where opinionated obsessions , even well-substantiated ones are not subject to such strict categorisations of 100% right and wrong. And I know because after A level A -s, two of my secondary school classmates James Braithwaite and Sylvester Abimbola Young were awarded first class honours in Mathematics by the University of Durham. What else to expect from such geniuses when the question paper that they are facing says, “ Attempt any five questions” and within the three hours alloted, our champions have easily wiped out the five and for good measure done three more bringing their total score to an average of at least a 150% score in each and every paper. Try doing that with Chaucer or with Modern American Literature or something more difficult ( 16th - 18th centuries ) in the time allotted ( maybe you know too much and given the allotted time you don’t have enough time to unload it all - or - opinions aside, such as Lawrence will not be easily forgiven by the Brits for exposing what they least want to be honest about - sexual malaise in the upper classes and / or spend too much time quality time on the first two questions and with time running out you have to do some emergency rescue operations and as much justice as you can to three more questions in the given time remaining. I’m only imagining these kind of scenarios - to the one-time events known as examinations where man has to cover his nakedness, if he can. Perhaps there should be oral exams as well, in those subject areas , where matters could be discussed in a very amicable, friendly atmosphere, with respect and tolerance from both sides, even if the examiner - God forbid has an Abacha - type personality. And in Nigeria, I suppose that tribalism could rear its ugly head as the history or political science student advances his reasons to Professor MUhammadu Baru as to why Biafra should cut loose and be free…
This is already getting kinda long so I’ll wind up here by just adding that whilst all this fuss is being made about Buckingham Palace English - and these dictionaries are so conservative and so quickly outdated - so many new loans words have not yet entered through their gates , but it is Nigeria that has provided the world SCRABBLE champions in the last few glorious years - the equivalent of those guys beating their Professors of English at a mere game of Scrabble for which Nigeria should be heartily congratulated !
On a more personal note Wofa Akwasi, the other good news is that after a long silence Brother Obama has re-entered politics this time in support of a Democrat candidate in the gubernatorial race in Virginia, the scene of the ugly Charlottesville confrontations in which the monster president said that there were “good people” on the KKK side,,,
Pray for us!
Best Regards,
,
Cornelius