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Show 6 -- NEWS DIXIE SUN WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 8, 2004 honors Grade point averages rising at colleges DEX receives BY ERIC WATSON Sun News Editor Dixie KRT NEWSPIRE PRESS -A UNC Chapel Hill study this year confirmed grades at the campus keep rising Forty-onpercent of the university's e grades were A s in spring 2003 compared with 38 percent four years earlier Chancellor James Moeser pledged to so do something about it, though no mapr changes have happened yet. And this fall, administrators are keeping their eyes on one of their elite peers, Princeton University, which decided this spring to limit the number of As professors could hand out because students were earning too many Students decried the move Rut those education lead 1'is are also asking more i luest ions Are students gel ting; higher grades lor the s, me w, ,rl. a phi 'in nnem n tn 'U n as ade iiglahun' di in link a n x dv hi s f sill e s. ml W.ivne '( s pn ol ist alroii sa h n s si ire that if he looked at a I'- Mil he Si si a ml rest ana n class es. il would show heir CPAs rising lUil dial uoesn mean die siudenis are getting grades that area usl died, lie said Scores on the SA f and "I t '( 1' 1. i ' i t t t t ATTENDANCE continued from page 1 Croshmv said he is in l'avor of t he policy. Attendance has absolutely picked up," he said, which is a good thing, because students are here to go to class." The policy guidelines stipulate that each athlete is checked up on at least once a season, which has not been happening Tight-enWalter Nickel, a sophomore biology major from Tacoma, Wash., is one student who was specifically overlooked. high school CPAs are also up, Walcott said. "We're getting better students," he said. "Would we expect grades to go up? Sure " Some critics believe universities are boosting grades because of consumer pressures, both from families paying for competitive schools and students who get to evalu- ate their teachers. One of the staunchest advocates of a grade crack- down, Duke University profes- sor Stuart Roistaczer, has documented the rise in grades in his Web site His www.gradeinflation.com. study of 22 schools says the grade-poin- t from 2 and average rose to 3 09 between 1992 2002. Rostncer refers to arguments from grade inflation believers that grades rose in t tie tin ids lerause of laculty sympathetic to students who weri' avoiding the draft dining the Vietnam War Grades tumped again starting- m the lulitis. If gstai or said, due lo oni nine pn ssui es Some i ise grades as incen lives and give students high grades hr making vast improvements, even if all the work isn't excellent Some never got checked on last year or this year." Nickel said Another athlete who has been overlooked by the policy is running back Danny Gifford, a sophomore sociology major from St. George, who was also skipped last season. In addition to being inconsistent, the benefits of the policy may be shortlived, once the season is over, some students tend to fall back into old patterns. I got a better GPA in the fall because (I knew they were checking attendance and then it decreased in the spring," Nickel said. I was-- n t the only one; by spring, argue their courses are tough and that anyone who survives deserves a good grade. Others still believe they do a good job of distributing A s, C's and Fs to the students who deserve them. The problem with giving more high grades is that it damages some of these incentives, said Peter Gordon, the UNC Chapel Hill professor who led the latest campus grade study. Duke Provost Peter Lange said Princeton's decision didn't raise many eyebrows in his campus. That's probably because Duke already had this fight. Seven years ago, former Duke statistics professor Val Johnson devised a weighted grading system to calculate grade-poin- t averages. As, for instance, would count less toward a student's CPA if everyone in the class receives an A The A would muher more m calculating grades if some sludents received Ps Gordon said Johnson's proposal was like ranking college loot ha teams by the strength of opponents in their schedule, although that comparison, he said, is somewhat II oversimplified. Four Dixie State College students recently earned national recognition at the Delta Epsilon Chi (DEX) Career Development Competition in Nashville, Tenn. With more than 2,000 students from across the nation competing in 19 different marketing and management events, Kim McKamey, a sophomore health occupations major from Midvale, and Amanda Morby, a sophomore business major from Salt Lake, competed on the first and second place teams in the Management Institute team competition. In addition, Erika Sarria, a junior business major from Ivins, and Melissa Gold, a freshman business major from Salt Lake, were finalists in Retail and Hospitality Management; both placed second in their categories at the state competition. DEX adviser Phillip Lee was also recognized nationally for his 25 years of service to the organization. "Dixie always does well in national competition." Lee 1 an international marketing club centered around turning business students into busiDEX is college-leve- l ness professionals. In order to achieve this transformation, state and national competitions are designed to simulate real-lif- e business scenarios, Lee said The Management Institute team competition featured the Nashville Sharks hockey team this year. The Sharks official management team provided various managerial problems, leaving it up to the competing DEX teams to find the best possible solutions. Since this particular competition is made up of randomly selected teams, students were forced to work with members of different schools. "If you went to work for a big organization like the Nashville Sharks hockey team, then you would have to work with people you didnt already know," Lee said. "This gives students a sense of real DSC student elected president of SkillsUSA-Vic- a BY ERIC WATSON Sun News Editor Dixie Dixie Stale College's Bryan Doxford was elected national president, of killsUSAA ICA June 25 in Kansas City, Mo., at the organization's annual National C h a m p i o n s h p s Though a DSC student has served on the national board in the past Aaron Bodell served on the board in is the first DSC student to ever be elected to the presidency. He is a senior from Salt Lake City in DSCs r business administration program. Chapter adviser Jay Slade said having two national officers in the last two years is great. Bryan is a terrific kid, Slade said. Hes just a good all around kid - the kind of kid you would like your own kids to be like. Doxford will serve as president for one year. During that time hell help train the state officers and other students, attend state training laboratories, and travel around the i d half the guys weren't even coming." It has been proven the tracking is completely random, regardless or status or scholarship amount. The athletic department administration realizes that though it is important to win, students' foremost and ultimate goal is to get a degree, which is why the policy is supported, Croshaw said. For some, attendance tracking is the only way to get motivated to go to class. wish it wasn't there so I didn t have to go to class, but it is definitely good for the student athlete," Nickel said. Nobody wants to get said. "In my 25 years of advisement, Dixie has made it to nationals at least 21 of those 25 years." four-yea- nation to speak to various groups. He will also manage 14 other national officers. Doxford served as Utahs SkiilsUSA state . president in SkiilsUSA is a national organization for high school and college students enrolled in technical, skilled, service and health occupations. It averages a membership of 264.000 high school and college students annually. Its National Championship constitutes the largest student competition in the 2003-04- world. Everything you see in America that is built, whether its building your car, building your house, building your computer, or building your future, SkiilsUSA has had a hand in its production, I guarantee it, Doxford said. MOur organization has been around for 40 years. DSC has participated in SkillsUSA-VJCA- , formerly known as Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA), for more than 20 years. |