Responding to growing concern that students are overworked, the Oberlin Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC) has proposed three major policy changes. Planned changes include increasing the length of reading period and reducing college graduation requirements, as well as replacing the credit/no entry grading system.
“As a group, Obies are very dedicated and hardworking. Still, the faculty observe that many students are capable of going deeper into their academic material than they end up having time to do,” Robert Geitz, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said. According to Geitz, excessive class loads prevent students from developing the depth of intellectual experience expected from Oberlin education. Geitz feels that it is now the College’s responsibility to address a number of serious concerns, meaning that faculty must be willing to change policies, student concerns must be evaluated, and reasonable solutions discussed.

The College’s current system encourages students to seek out one credit classes to bring up their credit loads. When students are taking five full classes per semester in addition to private readings, lessons and ExCos, many find themselves unable to give the attention they should to their major classes. “As a result, they take a surface level of learning from each class rather than developing the depth of understanding necessary for the development of critical thinking,” Geitz said.
Additionally, Oberlin requires more credits for standard progress toward graduation than any of its peer institutions. “Other liberal arts colleges generally require 32 courses for graduation; Oberlin students typically take 35 or 36 courses to meet our requirements,” Geitz said.

Some students also expressed concern that Oberlin’s reading period is shorter than its peer institutions. “While it is true that Harvard has a very long reading period, this is achieved by putting off finals in the fall semester until after the winter holidays. Harvard uses the old academic calendar that most schools dropped in the 1960s. Students on this calendar have no real break from academic pressure between the start of classes in the fall and the end of finals in the spring,” Geitz said.
Among liberal arts colleges, Oberlin’s three day reading period does not look particularly short. Carleton has a one to two day reading period, while Bowdoin’s is four days. Currently OC administration is considering a five-day reading period, but this may come at a higher price than people are willing to pay. The proposal raises questions ranging from where to find extra days to add to the reading period to whether students are willing to start semesters earlier, thus shortening breaks and extending the school year. Last year this issue was addressed by making final papers due during finals, rather than at the end of reading period.
Credit hours are also a major concern. Most courses in the humanities and social sciences carry three hours of credit, causing many students to enroll in four or more classes per semester. Many faculty members feel that this results in individual courses getting less attention then is deserved. The EPPC is considering a change in the graduation requirements that will allow students to graduate with 32 courses, while permitting students in good standing to take up to five courses a semester. Peer institution classes meet three or four hours a week and have papers and exams comparable to ours. However, most of our “comparable” courses are worth three credit hours to their four. A possible plan would increase the credit level for a course from three to four. This would allow a full Oberlin load of four classes, or 16 credit hours. The minimum hour level would be 12 hours, or three classes, and the maximum would be five classes, or 20 hours. The faculty believes that this will give Oberlin students more time to focus on their studies.
However, some students feel that credit value is not the problem. “Oberlin courses place greater emphasis on the quantity of the material covered rather than on the quality and depth of classroom discussion and student work. I think that’s more an issue to be dealt with by the faculty in planning their syllabi, than by students in choosing their course load,” junior Jacob Bacharach said.

Oberlin’s A+ to C-, No Entry (NE) grading system dates back to 1971. “At that time, many schools were experimenting with alternative grading systems to encourage experimentation and to relieve excess pressure on students to achieve ‘good’ grades,” said Geitz. Over the years most schools returned to the standard ABCDF grading systems. Oberlin and Brown are the only remaining schools that do not enter failing grades on student transcripts. “Most faculty that I know believe the No Entry grading system is a disservice to students. It encourages a sense of non-accountability for classes, it confounds notions of dropping a course, and it leads students to fail courses as a means to improve grade averages. At any other school that I know of, the request ‘I’d rather fail a course than get a C in it’ would seem ludicrous” Geitz said.
Oberlin’s No Entry rate is seven percent; the failure rate at other liberal arts colleges is well under one percent. Also, administration believes that having a nonstandard transcript may adversely affect applications to graduate schools, jobs and internships. “If you take a semester with only 12 credits, do you want a graduate admissions officer wondering whether you failed a course that doesn’t appear on your transcript for this semester?” Geitz said.
The proposed plan would revert to a standard grading system that would still encourage experimentation. This would mean a system with letter grades A+-C-, D, F and a Pass/Fail option. The drop date for courses would also be pushed back to somewhere around the middle of the semester. To discuss these complex issues, the EPPC is going to have a student forum on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 4:30 in Wilder 101.

Overall, it seems that faculty and staff believe that putting our graduation and curricular requirements in line with other schools would improve the Oberlin educational experience and increase student learning. Yet, if the proposed credit changes will affect the humanities and social science courses, science courses may become under weighted. “It is good in theory, but it won’t benefit everyone,” Junior Daniel Staub said.
“Other schools have found ways to do this; we can as well,” Geitz said.