To the Editor:
Andrew Chapin’s “GPA: what’s the point?” is certainly correct in stating that some classes are a lot harder than others, if by this he means that standards differ from professor to professor.
Over the past two decades Fairfield has seen consistent discrepancies among the grading patterns of individual professors, departments, and schools: discrepancies that cannot be explained by any differences in student ability. Between 1993 and 2002 average grades awarded by the School of Business faculty were higher than those given by the College of Arts and Sciences for every semester session but two, when the grade averages were even. This consistently higher pattern for Business existed despite comparable SAT scores for its entering freshman classes; indeed entering Business freshmen scored fifteen points lower than Arts and Sciences in the combined SAT average.
Within the College of Arts and Sciences the hard-science departments predictably graded lower, but there were also substantial differences between departments within the humanities and social sciences, while grades assigned in summer and in winter-intersession courses averaged consistently above grades assigned in the regular fall- and spring-semester courses. While I have no figures available for individual professors, there clearly are differences within departments as well.
In seeking more “laid-back” professors and less stressful classes, however, Mr. Chapin appears to be unaware of how “laid-back” this campus already is. Senior exit surveys from 1997 to 2001 have shown that the average student workweek at Fairfield, including time spent in class, was approximately 25 hours, while 17 percent of the Fairfield graduating seniors reported that they spent fewer than seven hours per week studying outside of class. It is doubtful that student work habits have improved much since then; indeed, the ongoing trend was downwards, as the percentage of Fairfield students who spent more than ten hours per week studying outside of class declined from 49 percent in 1997 to 32 percent in 2001 (Senior Exit Survey – Fairfield University, 1997-2001).
I would remind Mr. Chapin that the average blue-collar workweek is 40 hours, and that people in white-collar careers such as medicine, law and business spend many more hours than that. Does he want a Fairfield degree that will prepare him for the real world?
In stating further that some Fairfield professors “haven’t given an A since the Reagan administration,” Mr. Chapin is unaware that, over the sixteen-year period between 1986 and 2002, the average undergraduate grade at Fairfield increased from approximately 83 percent to 86 percent. With the average grade at Fairfield now higher than a B (85 percent, or 3.0), it is far more likely that there are Fairfield professors who have not given a D since the Reagan administration, rather than professors who have not given an A.
Sincerely, William Abbott Department of History
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