Well, we are at that time of the semester again; that’s right — early warnings. Hopefully you were fortunate enough not to receive one.  If you did, try not to worry about it too much.  You have some time to pull that grade up. This came as a surprise to me, because I never really thought about it before; only classes of the 100 to 200-levels are eligible to receive early warnings. I was always under the impression that you could receive an early warning no matter what the class level was, but clearly that’s not the case. So here’s the question at hand: is this fair?

All students, no matter what course level they are in, should be held accountable for their own grades. We’re in college now and we are adults; we need to keep after ourselves. However, I don’t agree that early warnings should only get sent out to 100 and 200-level classes. While higher course numbers can signify that the course will be harder, that doesn’t mean that a 100 or 200-level class is any less challenging.

The way I see it, the higher the course number you are in, the closer you are to your desired major or minor. With this in mind, I personally would feel more pressure to do my absolute best and want to know how I am doing in those classes, because they are preparing me for my future career. Yes, keeping track of your own grades yourself is important, but just out of consideration, professors should let you know how you are doing.

Professors have their own techniques and ways of doing things. This means that they each tend to grade differently. I know I’ve had my fair share of professors who don’t weigh a test grade as heavily as a project.

So what if it’s the beginning of the semester and you do a terrible job on a test? It’s only worth five percent of your grade. You convince yourself that you’ll just make it up on the project. But wouldn’t you want to know exactly how much more effort you have to put in for the rest of the semester as opposed to simply guessing?

I get that the first test in a class is hard, and it can be frustrating when you studied so hard and it doesn’t seem like it paid off in the end. The next thing you know, you get an early warning and it might be really discouraging, but that doesn’t mean you should just give up. I think that early warnings are kind of a saving grace in a way. I mean, if you think about it, they can be like a wake-up call.

Now I don’t know any first-years who are taking or have taken a 300-level class their first spring semester.  But I personally could not imagine having the pressures of being in a higher level class and then not knowing how I was doing in that class.  All of that lies on top of adjusting to a whole new level of academia.

I think, to some extent, we can all agree that school is stressful the way it is, so why should we be burdened with the additional fear that we are not doing as well as we would hope? The ultimate goal should be to do as well as possible and to be able to keep track of your own grades to the best of your ability.

However, I think that all academic grading standards should be the same. If 100 and 200-level classes give out early warnings, then 300 and 400-level classes should as well. Students have the right to know how they are doing by checking their own records with their professors’ records.

It only happens twice a year and it may be a stressful time waiting to see how you are doing, but remember, it is only twice a year. Early warnings are not the end of the world. There is time to get that grade up; you just have to try.