The Bum’s B. A worked like this: four students (preferably male) share an apartment on campus and compete to see who can do the least work possible and still pass his year. Independent observers would tabulate relative idleness; hidden cameras would make sure no secret cramming was going on. Other subtleties: any efforts in pursuit of academic success would count against you, but not labour in pursuit of idleness — e.g., if you borrowed “a girl’s notes,” the reading of those notes would count as actual work, but the borrowing wouldn’t. Plus you could recoup the studying penalty by going to a movie, say, or getting drunk the night before an exam. The more we talked, the more enthusiastic we got.
“We can’t do it till I graduate, though,” my son said. “No, till they mail me my diploma.”
He gave me a look. He was right, I conceded; if they knew, they’d probably just flunk out everybody in the apartment.
His look grew stranger. “What are you talking about? Nobody flunks out at McGill.”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. “Come again?”
“I don’t know anybody who’s ever flunked out of McGill. Dropped out, sure, but not flunked out. They don’t let you flunk. They put you on probation, or give you extra time, or let you take your degree in six years instead of four. I know one guy who took seven years. That’s even better for them — more money.”
“But why would a university do that?”
“The tuition money and the government funding. Plus they’ve got a ton of students coming from the States they make a fortune from. They don’t want them thinking there’s a risk that they’ll get thrown out if they fail.”
“But I thought the whole thing with McGill was the high standards,” I said. (I may have been getting shrill.) “How hard it was to get into.”
“Right. Hard to get into. Harder to get kicked out of.” He looked at me. “Seriously, I can’t think of anyone who ever flunked out.”
Breakfast and the conversation frittered away at that point, but I couldn’t shake the sense of scandal. It wasn’t just that this derailed our reality show (if nobody flunked, how could you pick a winner? ), or the thousands of dollars we’d spent ourselves sending him to the “Harvard of the North.” It was the larger principle involved. If it was impossible to fail, what did passing amount to?
Not that I was an innocent. I’d read Ivory Tower Blues, by James Côté and Anton Allahar, two professors at the University of Western Ontario who had chronicled what they dubbed the crisis of “credentialism” at Canadian and American schools. They’d argued that the new sense of entitlement among undergraduates, unchallenged by college administrations, had resulted in a proliferation of empty degrees, inflated grades, and professors cowed by student evaluations (not to mention calls from parents and threatened lawsuits) into easy marking and buying cheese Danishes for their classes. I knew about David Weale, the University of Prince Edward Island history prof who, facing an overcrowded class, had promised students a 70 percent grade if they agreed not to show up or do any coursework at all. (Weale had twenty takers, and was subsequently “asked” to resign by the upei administration.) I knew that Côté himself had tried the same experiment at Western and found that guaranteeing students a mark of 80 percent was enough to convince virtually his whole class to walk out. And I was aware that these stories were viewed as symptoms of something deeper in the culture — a reluctance to judge today’s students negatively, to have them fail, which meant that they were being “deprived” of an important life lesson in dealing with the kind of setbacks they would eventually have to face. But I’d always thought that all this breast-beating over the “failure to fail” was largely metaphorical. I never thought it meant no one flunked out anymore.
The next morning, I sent out a simple query to every person under thirty on my email list, some fifty people: did they know anyone, or know anyone who knew anyone, out of all the students enrolled in Canadian universities (815,000 in total) who had ever flunked out? By that afternoon, I had nine answers, all remarkably consistent. The first came from the son of a friend, who had graduated from the University of Manitoba the year before and was now living in Winnipeg with a fellow graduate. “Shannon and I are stumped. It’s weird. No one comes to mind right away. We’ll ask around and let you know if we can find anyone.” The second email was from a fourth-year phys. ed. student at Waterloo. “At lunch I told a lot of my friends about your email. We all know kids who have taken extra time to graduate, and who have goofed off to the point of doing zero work, and of course some who’ve dropped out. But nobody who was actually told to leave.” The third email was from my niece, a third-year psychology major at York University: “It is very difficult to get kicked out of university. They put you on academic probation and continue to take your money. I do know one kid who took off a year because of the situation. But he didn’t flunk out.”
Comments (29 comments)
Anonymous: Even as a recent uni graduate, I'm not exactly sure what the right answer here is. Although I did meet two people throughout my university career, who did indeed flunk, but both might confirm the impossibility to fail idea. The first was a fully-fledged 18 year old alcoholic who got a zero in everything in his first year. The kid was thrown out, but his lawyer father managed to legally change his son's name, which erased academic failings, and then send him off to a rival uni. The second was a girl who was thrown out of her science degree for poor grades. The only way to get back in, which she eventually did, was sign an academic contract that promised a certain grade point avg. She had to restart though and pay all over again, however, this didn't seem to matter to her as her mom worked for the uni and she got a whopping 50% discount.
I managed to graduate in exactly four years, dodging at every turn the fine print which would make me pay for another year. If you want to work hard at university, you can get a good eduction. Doesn't mean that all the high school idiots you thought you escaped won't sit right beside you. March 14, 2008 18:39 EST
Anonymous: Back in the 80's, I was flunked out of the University of King's College in Halifax, NS. More for not passing in work than getting bad grades.
In fact, I ticked off the College when I went and sat for my verbal exam and did well but refused to submit the required papers. The result was I was banned for one year (maybe two) from all Canadian universities that subscribed to the same accreditation council.
They did the right thing and booted me out for a year. Would most universities now do the same thing? I doubt it because then they would lose my money. March 17, 2008 10:30 EST
Anonymous: I don't know where you were looking, but a friend of mine got expelled from U of T for failing the same calculus class 3 times. Feel free to e-mail me if you'd his name to interview him!!! Now he can't attend any university in Ontario, and would likely be declined at any other university in Canada. Fortunately for him (although not so fortunate for our education system's terribly low standards) he was still able to go to Algonquin College in Ottawa to do a technical program. March 17, 2008 10:35 EST
GF: Bravo!
It's all about bums in seats. Retention. Image. I work in a university writing center and am assessed for my—wait for it—"customer service."
A drastic decline in public funding has created a circus of corporate branding at universities. Trent uses an image of a smiling student in an African village (give now: great white hopes need a student centre). Queen's has the nerve to put a homeless person on their fundraising literature.
Nifty hyper-text, an oblifatory dusky Other in the brochure.
Who gives a damn about standards?
That's downright modernist, medieval in fact... an elitist Ivory Tower artefact.
I am a fierce supporter of access... yet believe in standards. Let everyone in... but they have to achieve to graduate.
HOWEVER, ultimately, does it matter that someone can tell the difference between "it's" and "its" ? And too much critical thinking might undo the mighty engine of consumption... or, for that matter, an increasingly privatized university system where the kustomer iz allways rite...
March 17, 2008 12:59 EST
KO: I'm not sure how my experience fits into the concept of "flunking out", but I thought it would at least be worth a mention.
Six years ago, I began my post-secondary career at the U of A in the Faculty of Science. Although my high school marks had always been A-range, they had always come to me fairly easily and as such my work ethic was quite underdeveloped. At the end of my first year, I received a spirit-crushing GPA of 4.4 (on the 9 scale), including two of the aptly titled "you failed, asshole" grades in Chem courses. I was then informed by the University that I would be put on "academic probation", which meant that the following year I would have to earn a 2.0 (now on the 4 scale) to be allowed to stay on at the U of A. That second year, I earned myself a GPA of 1.9, and consequently I was told that I was Required To Withdraw, with no chance of return.
That last point was severely emphasized by the student councilor, which caused me to question whether I was cut out for academia. After one year off working retail, two years at a local college and a lot of growing up, I contacted the Registrar's office and reapplied to the faculty that I probably should have started out in- Arts. Lo and behold, I was accepted (with a few conditions) and I plan to graduate in April 2009. So I suppose you could say that I flunked out, but somehow the story found a happy ending.
I guess I came away from the article wondering how I could have ended up in my situation when it seems so difficult to fail, but at the same time it was the failure I experienced that was the cold water wake-up call I needed to really get my act together. Maybe I just needed to learn the hard way; and since I have a hard time believing that I'm the only person out there like that, I hope the universities learn to deal with poor students accordingly so that they might also get the kick in the ass they need to figure themselves out. March 18, 2008 18:28 EST
Anonymous: Excellent piece. Professors at our universities are told to manipulate grades to ensure there are paying students in the seats. Instead of evaluating individuals, profs have to ensure a certain percentage of students have this grade or that grade - and rather than give out failing grades to those who deserve them, profs will boost marks to make sure only a certain number will fail. A prof friend of mine says she is disgusted by how she has to manipulate marks. No wonder students are entitled, spoiled and poorly educated. March 19, 2008 10:54 EST
Anonymous: My own experience was the same as "KO", above. I entered U of T with a 4-year scholarship and very high marks, but no personal discipline. By second year, I was skipping classes and exams and not handing in work. They put me on academic probation, and when I didn't perform any better, I had to sit out for a year. I returned, under the same probationary status, and did not change my ways; had I not finally dropped all my courses before withdrawal deadline, I would have failed and been sent down permanently. It's been many years since - I have no idea whether they'd still let me return, since technically, I'm still just on hiatus. March 19, 2008 12:00 EST
Anonymous: The timing of this article is quite peculiar, in that in hinges directly upon a day in which I decide whether to "IP" on the last five courses of my degree or to soldier on through, complete my remaining 21 assignments in the next two weeks of school, and walk away with a degree I do not feel comfortable with earning.
A lot of my decision rests on the Sk. Government budget announcement this afternoon, which may decide for me. They may make an announcement regarding student loans that will affect my ability to continue school.
Just to be clear, should I neglect to finish my assignments, I will be turfed from my professional program but not from the university. I'm a little different in that I am nearly finished my degree and prior to this year had a fairly solid academic record. It seems not to be a matter of choice, however, as it is really hard to get kicked out. Really hard.
Interesting article. March 19, 2008 13:08 EST
Anonymous: I attended Mc.Gill over forty years ago. Then, people did 'flunk out'. Because I came from an under privileged background, it was a real challenge for me to finish the degree course. Although I had to repeat a couple of courses in third year, I did obtain my degree within the required time period.
Now, whether my degree was of any benefit to me, given the fact that Mc.Gill caters to those of the upper class, ergo, tries to deter or discourage those they have judged unequal, is another topic. In fact, it is a good topic for another article in Walrus.
Thank you for the opportunity to voice my comment. March 19, 2008 16:48 EST
Brucefur (Broo SUH fer): I can't really comment as regards to the state of Universities in Canada and how they grade, but I can say that although many consider me to be the smartest person they know, I have never even graduated; despite my many relatives in the teaching profession including both parents.
Like most of those above, I didn't "flunk" High School, although I did get a fail in English 9 from a teacher I still greatly respect, which forced me to improve my spelling and also failed Science 9, largely because I was commuting half way across Vancouver to keep my same High School and tended to sleep through that course.
The REAL reason though why I didn't graduate was because I refused to have my potential defined by a piece of paper. A piece of paper which I felt really only served to prove what courses held my attention as interesting and didn't bore me. A good case in point was photography, which I applied myself to until I knew all about F-stops, burning and dodging in the first term, but after that turned into a coffee break because I had gotten what "I" came for and not the artsy-fartsy stuff that comprised the following two terms (although I do still admire a great sunset!). I do know that when I left High School I was reading at a University level and had been for many years, but that many other classmates who did graduate were still struggling to read basic sentences.
Immediately after leaving High School I took a Real Estate Diploma course at UBC. No one that ever looked at my resume ever asked beyond that as to whether or not I had completed High School, because the Real Estate degree gave the illusion that I had.
In a gentle stroke of irony, I was the co-chair of my High School's 20th year reunion in 2005.
As a last note I think that this country would be much better served with a federally administered education programme which would allow a degree in BC to be equally valid in Ontario and vs/vs. March 20, 2008 01:36 EST
Kossie: One of my issues with this article is that it doesn't even define, right from the start, what exactly it means by "flunking out" or "failing". Thus, when the email responses come to the author, former students are mentioning they know a person who took seven years to complete a degree. And this should be compared to failing WHY? Not everyone can do the standard four-years-and-done degree. Not everyone has the luxury of concentrating primarily on school for four years. There are countless reasons a person wouldn't complete a four-year degree in four years, and academic performance may be entirely unrelated to the time it takes to complete a degree. The suggestion that it took 7 years to complete a degree and somehow this fits into an article on failing to fail—this doesn't make sense.
To take a semantic approach to definitions: just because the terminology has changed, does that mean people aren't failing? If someone has been "requested to withdraw", doesn't that count? Let's face it: if terminology used today *doesn't* include, quite explicitly, "YOU HAVE FAILED" on a report card—which I'm pretty sure it doesn't—I don't think the author will be satisfied that anyone has failed. Even if they have. And what about common academic procedures in the past? When someone was booted out of university in the past, I'm sure a rich parent could have "rearranged" things just as easily as now. Who was ever booted out for good in the past? If you want to convince me that things have changed, show me someone who failed out of school in the past and wasn't allowed back in again, though he or she pursued multiple options. How can I be convinced that things have changed if we don't have details of earlier years?
That being said, I think university has a different meaning these days from even just a few decades ago. People don't necessarily see it as a privilege anymore, where the lucky high school grad jumps into the real world by continuing education. Now, university seems like a continuation of high school. It's just what people tend to do. No maturity required. Even